Song Analysis: Famous Blue Raincoat By Leonard Cohen

As the time comes to induct new songs in the American Music Hall of Fame, I submit my three choices for admittance, and believe they reflect American culture and have artistic value.

Most audiences view music as a form of entertainment only, so society tends to overlook the messages behind the music. Some artists use music to promote their beliefs or inform their listeners about unnoticed issues. Music can spread awareness about misfortunes in the world, and Martina McBride uses her celebrity status to promote her own concerns about child abuse. In 2002, Martina McBride recorded a song titled “Concrete Angel” to spread awareness about child abuse. Her song addresses the general population, consisting of bystanders, because most people are aware of tragedies such as child abuse, but they ignore the problem. Through emotional appeals, characterization, imagery, and foreshadowing, “Concrete Angel” illustrates the story of a young girl’s abuse in order to call the bystanders to awareness of the societal problem.

I chose “Humble and Kind,” by Tim McGraw as my theme song. “Humble and Kind” is a very good song that has very unique lyrics. The song gives advice on how to live. There are many manners in this song that are very important. The song is a parent telling their child how they should live life. It seems that the artist wrote the song on how he wishes he would have acted when he was younger. One of the main messages of this song are that everyone has something in their lives, but you still need to be nice. Some of the lyrics on the song are about the 10 Commandments. Even though we grow up, we still need to remember our manners and how to live life. “Don’t hold a grudge or a chip and here’s why Bitterness keeps you from flying.” This is an example

In Natasha Trethewey’s poetry collection Native Guard, the reader is exposed to the story of Trethewey’s growing up in the southern United States and the tragedy which she encountered during her younger years, in addition to her experiences with prejudice and to issues surrounding prejudice within the society she is living in. Throughout this work, Trethewey often refers to graves and provides compelling imagery regarding the burial of the dead. Within Trethewey’s work, the recurring imagery surrounding graves evolves from the graves simply serving as a personal reminder of the past, to a statement on the collective memory of society and comments on how Trethewey is troubled with what society has forgotten as it signifies a willingness to overlook the dehumanization of a large group of people.

As the title of the paper suggests, I chose Kendrick Lamar’s song “Blacker the Berry” off the To Pimp A Butterfly album. When selecting a song, I actually took to Twitter to ask my followers what song I should write about. I personally do not listen to Kendrick Lamar so I decided to ask people who enjoy his music to recommend songs that an analysis should be written over. Several people mentioned “Blacker The Berry”. Although I did not hear the many rhymes and metaphors at first, after reading the lyrics along with listening to the song I was quick to realize how creative, witty and almost unintentional the rapping’s of Kendrick Lamar are. Another reason I decided on this song is because he raps about current violence of high profile crimes

The iconic number “Singin’ in the Rain”, introduces the scene with Don (Gene Kelly) giving Kathy a good night kiss, and then begins to sing about his joy of being in love. Which is why the song is carefree and has an upbeat sound, showcasing the songs vibrant and happy mood. The song is in a 4/4 time signature.The tempo of the song is moderato and allegro. The dynamics in this song first starts out quite soft and then it gradually gets louder and stays at that level. It eventually gets louder, mainly the instruments, at sudden points and goes back to a quieter sound. The dynamics goes through many changes from loud then soft then it ends on a soft point. Since the song is sung only by Don (Gene Kelly), the pitch of the song is at the alto.

The transition from the era of silent films to the sound era in the mid 1920s was a big transformation for the American film industry and mass entertainment in general. This phase initially brought about much excitement for movie goers who were thrilled with the expectation of hearing the voices of their favorite actors for the first time. However, such expectations were met with much disappointment when the highly fancied actors had voices that did not much the preconceptions of the fans. The technical difficulties and various issues that the American film industry faced during this transition are actually captured in the 1952 movie, “Singing in the Rain”. In part, the film is actually about movie making during the silent-to-sound era as its

This Social-Self manifest in Citizen: An American Lyric, “A friend argues that Americans battle between the 'historical self' and the 'self self’.”' (Rankine 2014). Citizen helps the reader understand that the small everyday acts of racism can accumulate and potentially become toxic, this includes: being skipped in line at the pharmacy by a white man, because he has failed to notice you in front of him; being told approvingly, as a schoolchild, that your features are like those of a white person; being furiously accosted by a trauma therapist who does not believe that the patient she is expecting could look like you. Written by poet, essayist, and playwright Claudia Rankine. Rankine discusses the microaggressions, which is defined as the

In my opinion, Kendrick Lamar, an award-winning rapper and songwriter, has one of the best abilities to describe his distressed and abused lifestyle in Compton, California. He is not your original cliché artist who does not speak about anything meaningful. Kendrick, also known as K. Dot, is one of the most well known and most respected rappers in this era. Not only does he speak about his gloomy past, but he also speaks about his fortunate future. His ability to give detailed representations of his struggles and his story telling allows me to, metaphorically, enter the mind of Kendrick Lamar.

The Vietnam war was a major event to America because it had major conflicts with personal opinions of the people of 1960’s. In this era, plenty of people were rethinking on why they were fighting in a war that they did not need to be fighting. and joined the anti-war movement. This can explicitly be seen from the type of music that people were listening to at the time. The song that I am going to be analyzing is “Paint it Black” by the Rolling Stones. This song resonated with the persona of the people for multiple reasons because it was a song that was about losing a loved one and dealing with the sadness.

In the song “Hallelujah” the author references the biblical story of Samson and Delilah. He first manages this during the second verse when he speaks of Samson being mesmerized by Delilah’s beauty in line 9. Stating “Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya,”. As well as, Delilah’s betrayal of Samson on lines 11-12 “She tied you too a kitchen chair, she broke your throne and she cut your hair,”. These lines inform me that Cohen is indeed talking about the story of Samson and Delilah. I know this because in the story, Delilah asked Samson what his weakness is, Samson states that his strength will disappear if he is tied onto a chair by different type of objects. This is where the “tying to the kitchen chair comes in,” Although, this fails because Samson was not being an honest man toward his lover. After extensive nagging Samson decides to tell Delilah about his true weakness, cutting off his hair. That night after Samson falls asleep, Delilah commences to cut off his hair. This is exactly what happened in the song “she broke your throne and she cut your hair,”. She then calls the Philistines upon Samson who promptly took him into custody. Delilah had betrayed her apparent lover Samson.

Blackbird is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney recorded in 1968. McCartney wrote this song about the civil rights struggle for blacks after reading about race riots in the USA. He penned it in his kitchen in Scotland not long after an incident in Little Rock, when the federal courts forced the racial desegregation of the Arkansas capital 's school system. McCartney told Mojo magazine, October 2008: "We were totally immersed in the whole saga which was unfolding. So I got the idea of using a blackbird as a symbol for a black person. It wasn 't necessarily a black 'bird ', but it works that way, as much as then you called girls 'birds '; the Everlys had had 'Bird Dog, ' so the word 'bird ' was around. 'Take these broken wings ' was very much in my mind, but it wasn 't exactly an ornithological ditty; it was purposely symbolic."(Principia, 2015) During the 1960’s black people were having very hard time with discrimination. This song is so deep and at the same time, so metaphoric that it can be used as a song of freedom in any circumstances. The song says that even if you are not free, if you live in darkness, if your wings are broken and your eyes sunken, you should always try to rise, fly and follow the light that shines even in the darkest night. Blackbird is song rich in figurative language that reminds African Americans to not give up, to keep trying even if they think there is no hope. McCartney writes about freedom

This song starts off very much like the Jimi Hendrix guitar solo in Purple Haze. The difference in this piece is that it tones down a bit so you are able to hear the lyrics of the song although it still feels that the guitar is the “star” or solo of the song. I believe Janis Joplin is also the lead singer in this song and she has an amazing voice. It is a rough, blues feel and she could hit some high notes. Her style of singing is amazing.

Stairway to Heaven is referred to by many as one of the best rock songs of all time, I am one of those people. Written by Robert Plant and produced Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, this song has topped many charts in its prime in the either 1970s or seventies. Having been placed 3rd in 2000 by VH1 in its list of 100 Greatest Rock Songs and 31st by Rolling Stone’s Magazine’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, shows just how influential and great this song is. This song is one of my favorites and it is in my everyday playlist along with several other great rock songs.

Floyd Dell’s “The Blanket” is a story about family and relationships; it is about Petey’s family. Petey is a grandson who loves his grandfather dearly. He tries to behave like an adult and saves his grandfather from a lonely life in an old folk’s home. The relationship between Petey and his dad got strained because his dad was sending his grandfather away in order to marry a women that Petey did not like.