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Onerepublic's Counting Stars: Song Analysis

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“Money makes the world go round.” This popular saying, while portraying society as a whole in a rather negative manner, is undeniably true. Evidence of this is seen in our everyday lives, from mowing the neighbours’ lawn for 5 bucks to liquidating a multimillion international company. Money is in everything we do, directly or indirectly. However, some people are too busy chasing after money that they forget to live life. Yes, money is definitely necessary, but obsession with money can destroy one’s life. This omnipresent problem with mankind has plagued us throughout all of history and is even addressed within the Bible in 1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered …show more content…

However, small stories can be woven around these topics, which makes the song all the more enjoyable to listen to as well as allowing the listener to accurately dissect the messages behind the lyrics. “Counting Stars” tells the story of a troubled young man who deeply regrets his past and is unsure about his future. His foreboding tension is revealed within the first two lines, “Lately, I’ve been, I’ve been losing sleep / Dreaming about the things that we could be.” These lyrics echo his sentiments of the past; all the wonderful moments he pushed aside in favour of untold riches. He tells his wife that he wishes to be liberated from the never-ending pursuit of wealth which is the cornerstone of modern society (Lines 3 and 4). The man realizes that the more money he has, the more problems it brings and he expresses his desire to literally “Take that money watch it burn” (Line 45). The persona of the story is a young man who seeks refuge …show more content…

Literary devices are found in every song, or even every form of media for that matter. In “Counting Stars” there are twelve literary devices, each enhancing and diversifying the meaning of the lyrics in their own way. There are two cases of repetition in the song, one in the first line of the chorus and the other within the bridge (Line 16). The use of repetition is very prominent within songs and is probably the most popular literary device found within songs, even appearing in the children’s nursery rhyme, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” The employment of repetition helps the listener to cement a particular word or phrase in their mind (in this case “I’ve been” and “couldn’t I?”) while also generously filling the syllable count. Alliteration appears in the third line of the chorus, “But baby, I’ve been, I’ve been” reiterating the consonant “b”. The consonant appears five times in words within close proximity of each other. This use of alliteration creates a pleasant auditory effect for the listener as well as a gratifying verbal effect for the singer. In addition, it focuses the listener’s attention to that specific set of lyrics due to their catchiness. An allegory is used in the fourth line of the chorus, “Said no more counting dollars, we’ll be counting stars.” The use of allegory may not have an immediate effect like repetition or alliteration, but if one were

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