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Norah Jones's 'Don T Know Why'

Decent Essays

Mitchell Kimbrough’s “Sky” shows how life will pass one by. People oftentimes fail to make decisions or pursue dreams, but life does not wait for them nor run in reverse. The words and images of the poem, combined with the lyrics of Norah Jones’s “Don’t Know Why,” somberly explore the regret of missed opportunities as time passes. The text of Kimbrough’s poem evokes a sense of lost chances. He distinctly presents such words as “didn’t,” “might have,” “could’ve,” and “almost had” to evince feelings of loss and regret (Kimbrough). At the end, the speaker hopes for “tomorrow” and “next time,” but repetition of these hopes indicates that more opportunities are likely missed instead of seized upon, compounding the speaker’s regrets (Kimbrough). …show more content…

Her first line reveals that the following emotional breakdown is a result of standing by as an opportunity comes and goes (Jones qtd. in Kimbrough). Jones wishes that she could go back and make a different decision, but it is too late. The speaker proceeds to lament the missed chance with a lover, her regret made evident in the repeated line, “ I don’t know why I didn’t come” (Jones qtd. in Kimbrough). Presented simultaneously with the text, the song strengthens the idea that failing to take action leads to sorrow. Kimbrough introduces the significance of time to missed opportunities through the animations. The scene opens on twilight fading to night, the slow moonrise indicating the unrelenting progression of time (Kimbrough). Later, a flower grows only to lose its petals and die (Kimbrough). This scene displays the swiftness of life, and asserts that inaction leads to lifelong regrets. These two images demonstrate that life does not stop while events come and go but instead pushes one forward. The three media present in “Sky” each support a message about missed opportunities. The depiction of the passage of time contributes to the melancholy mood, established by the lyrics and text, that accompanies this theme. Kimbrough demonstrates that not only do people fail to take action but also that with repeated inaction, life passes them by as, full of regrets, they approach an inevitable

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