Fifteen Songs On My Playlist Analysis

To start off, the first stanza in her song represents a sense of how unavoidable change is and how the confusion of the bond combined with the stress of the blame game can lead to a doomed

James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” conveys how music serves as a form of communication, both at a small and large scale. Charting the development of the communication between Sonny and his brother allows us to view how the unnamed brother fails to meet Sonny at his emotional level by not understanding his pain. I argue that the text introduces Sonny as someone who “has never been talkative” to set the foundation for his growth from being voiceless to speaking both vibrantly and effortlessly through music (Baldwin 113). Over the course of the text, the unnamed brother begins to listen to Sonny to discover the connection between music and emotion. Therefore, the text argues that music is a crucial mechanism to communicate with one another—more specifically

Throughout the poem, a number of literary devices are used. For example: “or press an ear against its hive”. Using this metaphor, Billy Collins is comparing the body of a poem to the hive of a bee. The hive of a bee appears to be something dangerous and unknown, just like a new poem, never before seen, with which one is unfamiliar. Using this metaphor, Billy Collins is

A multitude of people nowadays choose their favorite songs because of how they sound and the attractiveness of the singer. However, some people select their favorite songs because of its appeal by relating to their personalities and feelings. Just as songs can relate to people, they can express countless similarities with stories as well. When it comes to the story, The Diary of Anne Frank, there are a variety of characters and events that songs can relate to. The songs “Chocolate Rain”, “The Last Goodbye”, and “Lost Cities”, verbalize numerous commonalities with The Diary of Anne Frank.

In the memoir A Long Way Gone, author Ishmael Beah describes his survival journey as a lost child in his country, because of the civil war in Sierra Leone, then becoming a child soldier facing war daily, afterward the process that Beah went through during rehabilitation and finally in fear escaping the civil war. Ishmael Beah emotional journey has three stages of development in which Beah utilized music. In the first stage, Beah uses music as a survival mechanism to keep sane and safe. In the second stage, begins when he loses his brother and friends, Beah reaches the lowest point with the loss of his entire family again, some friends, music, and being forced to join the war. In the final stage, is the process of rehabilitation where Beah connects with music once again. Ishmael Beah exposure to music at a young age stayed with him throughout his life. (Beah, 2007, p. 5-218)

From the creation of harmonies to singing to instruments, music has been an abstract form of human expression. Although an auditory collection of pitches and volumes, musicians can manipulate the same notes and bring them alive for their audiences. The true emotion and energy that’s felt in music really comes from the player as feelings are transferred to and through the listener. This interaction between performer and the house is catharsis, the complete release of strong repressed emotions. Thanks to the musician, music has the ability to grasp people and cause them to sense emotions and feelings without lyrics or images even being necessary. Although it’s believed we can only hear with our ears, something about music makes it emotionally if not physically tangible. In James Baldwin’s short story “Sonny’s Blues,” a narrator certainly unaware of the impact of music invites himself to experience jazz for the first time. Baldwin uses the final scene of his story to argue that music has an effect on those who are able to experience it. Baldwin does this in one single moment by letting the fixed, practical minded, “well-intentioned” narrator experience catharsis from jazz as his growing, free-spirited brother communicates with him through jazz.

In addition, the songs allows the audience to sympathize with what the characters are going through. Overall, the twenty plus songs help to develop the story. They are not merely to entertain the audience but to shine to light the issues the experiences that many people face in

However, the listener is brought back to reality after understanding the portrayal of the character’s confusion, from the lyrics “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?”. Then, the character’s emotion changes to being nonchalant, with the lyrics “Because I’m easy come, easy go, Little high, little low, Any way the wind blows doesn’t really matter to me, to me”. The emotion next changes to realization, as the character registers what they have done (“Mama just killed a man, Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he’s dead”). After the character’s realization, the listener can perceive that the character is then washed over with regret and guilt for what they have committed. This is shown through the lyrics “Mama, life had just begun, But now I’ve gone and thrown it all away”. The incredible guitar solo that occurs afterward only further emphasizes the character’s remorse, for the sounds of the guitar resembles that of someone who is

So why would the band choose to illustrate such a serious stage of personal development with the nursery rhyme-like style of the song's chorus? Before we get to that, the song's emotional and psychological message must first be examined.

Victor Hugo once said, “music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.” Music can greatly influence a person, from the way they speak to the way they act. However, not all music can be considered a good influence and many adolescents waste away their youth by thinking, doing, and pursuing things that are more mature. Things such as seeking sexual attention, doing drugs, drinking, or hanging out in rough areas. These things are usually done because the child was hurt in some way, whether it be emotionally, mentally, or physically. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”, Joyce Carol Oates creates a fictional character, Connie, who illustrates a

The character openly feels empathy for his daughter, and near the middle of the piece the character seems to feel helpless as he describes the way his daughter “seemed to crave a companion, or an activity that would lift her spirits.” He soon discovers musical therapy as that exact activity and it gives him a feeling of hope. He has a way now to open a channel where she can express herself through music “in a way that she cannot express-has never been able to express-in

In the Twenty One Pilots song “Car Radio” it expresses how the world has all different types of distractions to keep the people from the truth that is happening around them. In the perspective of the singer and songwriter Tyler Joseph, the distraction in the song is the car radio. With the car radio being out of the way, he explains the realities that weren’t being noticed, are now being realized. When the reality starts to hit, his lyrics start to show the escape from distraction with “I ponder of something terrifying, Cause this time there’s no sound to hide behind… And it’s that we’re all battling fear, Oh dear, I don’t know if we know why we’re here, Oh my, too deep-please stop thinking, I liked it better when my car had sound…” (Joseph).

The depression that the girl is fighting shows through in the writer's description of the war. The song states, “Because the keys to the kingdom got locked inside the kingdom and the angels fly around in there but we can't see them.” When the writer says, “…keys to the kingdom got locked inside the kingdom…”, he is talking about depression

Simple claim: In these lines, we view a teenage girl, who is in a rebellious stage. She is lives being ignored by her father and constantly criticized by her mother. She develops bad feelings toward her mother and wishes her to be dead. She feels misunderstood and alone that she wants to die.

I really enjoyed both the playlist activity and the documentary that we viewed in class. I have often thought about how cool and interesting it is that whenever I hear certain songs that I always think of certain things. I can think of extremely vivid memories in my head for all three of the songs that I chose. I enjoyed listening to my playlist in class and writing about how those songs make me feel. I always experience the feelings from those songs, but I never have tried to put the feelings into words. It was very fun Before doing that activity, I truly thought I was the only one who had vivid images attached to songs. Well, I was completely wrong! I found the documentary extremely interesting and that the therapy was such a cool process.