Song Analysis: Make It Stop

This song is a wakeup call for America to set a better example for the next generation. People are hurting other people. Some are paranoid of what will happen next. Life should not be scary, but there are people afraid to walk out and be among the chaos. Everybody is against one another, and they are not willing to compromise. “It’s time we stop” and look at what we are doing and what has become of us. There are wars for ignorant reasons, there are people hurting, there are innocent children watching, WAKE UP AMERICA! The riots and wars are not worth all of this pain and suffering.

For example, Smash Mouth writes,”i ain’t the sharpest tool in shed/ She was looking kind was looking kind of dumb with her finger in her thumb.”(Smash Mouth) This lyric describes the singer’s personality. He might not be the smartest person and people might judge him, but The singer is smart enough to make his own decisions. This is a great example of a hypole. Another examples of literary devices in the song is,”Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running.”(Smash Mouth) This lyric is an example of personification. It’s personification because it’s giving human traits to the rules. The lyric give detailed information about the singer listening to the rules, but people make fun of him for listening to every rule. That will not stop him for doing his best.

Aging is something in life that everyone will have to face and sometimes it's tough to age and go through life events. In the song 100 Years by Five For Fighting it talks about how in one dream there are 100 years to see how life turns out. The trick is it only shows the important events throughout a life time. The singer is expressing their song by talking about how anxious the person is about seeing whats next in their life.

A person’s heartbeat changes to mimic the music they listen to. Different types of music portray an emotion or specific memory of an individual. Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe is a story of pre-colonial times in the Niger villages. The protagonist’s, Okonkwo, ideals of masculinity are challenged by various forms of misfortune portrayed through the music in his community, Gbo. The music highlights the key points of Okonkwo's village and culture as it looks ahead at the disintegration of their values, because there is no longer a harmony between the flute and drums.

This book Pray the Gay Away by Bernadetta C. Barton discusses about certain areas in the United States called Bible Belts were they have made absolutely no progress in securing rights for gay people. They lag behind the rest of nation were people are accepting homosexuality (Pray the Gay Away 15). Barton argues that in small towns were Christian institutions serve as a foundation for both passive and active homophobia in these areas (Pray the Gay Away 19). This article is related to the play because the two dominant religions discussed in the play was Judaism and Mormonism and both religions strongly oppose homosexuality and this lead to homophobic attitudes and themes within the play.

I selected “Can't Stop” by Red Hot Chili Peppers because it composes multiple transcendentalist properties. The Red Hot Chili Peppers use transcendentalist themes such as individualism, a free spirit, and being advantageous of life to demonstrate optimistic achievements regardless of doubts are truly derived from self expression. Within this song individualism is emphasized as a vital part in obtaining success, as non-conformity to society allows an individual to morally fulfill life. Additionally, a free spirit is related to individualism because it allows the individual to speak what is on their mind in addition to pursue individualistic beliefs to define themselves. Finally the third major transcendentalist belief identified in this song

This song implies that individual’s are violating the norms and values of society. They start the song with a verse that expresses

Many songs that we listened to sounded like they came right out of Brave New World. The ones I liked most would have to be “Can't Feel My Face”, “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” and “I Am Produced”.

The bad news in our lives at the time, of course, was our dad being sick. With that being said, this song gave us hope that, that bad news would someday bring about good news and that we should not worry. When Megan heard this song a different lyric stood out to her. “And we'll all float on OK”. She picked this lyric out, specifically, because it made her think of the time she had gotten in a wreck, pulling out of her high school parking lot. She said that she had to stay positive and remain optimistic because she knew that one day, everything would just ‘float on’.

Suicide rates among LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) youth are some of the highest in nation today. The traumatic end result which has lead lgbt youth seeking an ultimate peace to their life is a saddling fact that is becoming all too real too often in society today. The impact of these young lives being loss has sparked a social shift in the appropriate direction yet the rates are continuing raising throughout the country. As with any shifts it has effect, such in the music world, of once untouched speaking through chord, vocals, and beats have taken center stage. Artists such as lead vocalist, Tim Mcllrath of melodic hardcore, punk band Rise Against song, “Make it Stop (September’s Children)”, album entitled End Game (2011) address the youth in the month of September 2010 which saw a huge spike in lgbt suicides-related deaths, and the need for change in society. Forwarding to the modern day of 2015 and the stride the lgbt has made since then, yet lgbt youth continues to be the leader in youth suicide, artist singer/song writer Pauley Perrette’s, “Beautiful Child” independent single (2015), brings about a light in a pit of darkness as the youth turn to thought of suicide, that light is there and that it can get better for them. Both songs provide a glimpse of the reality of the lgbt youth and the struggle they experience during everyday life. The issue of lgbt related suicde is one that spans over many years, kinds of people and through these lyrical works, we

Let It Be” by the Beatles has many references to along with a huge faith based theme. The reason this song was such a good choice for this assignment is due to how Paul McCartney uses his relationship with his mother and plays on the relationship Mother Mary, our saint, has with us. Throughout scripture we see a theme of God and saints helping people in their times of trouble. This song uses that idea and also brings a personal hidden connection with the singers life and relates them to these ideas in faith. This song can really help someone look deep and think about themselves and others in need. The part that brings it all together is the connection felt with the song writer when the deeper meanings are revealed.

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.

When Will It End was written by Felicia Brown. The night that Felicia sat down on her couch and thought, "Wow I have a twenty-year-old. " She felt heartbroken with all the gun violent cases and mother's and father's losing their child/children to gun violence. Felicia stated "I don't know what I will do if something happens to my daughter.

As the power of a song resides completely in its lyrics, it is no longer surprising that music can be healing, inspiring, or even motivating. After introducing this insight to my life, it became very rare for me to listen to any Imagine Dragons’ song without it leaving an impact on my life and my perspectives. Imagine Dragons is a rock band whose music tends to address both personal and social issues. It’s Time, one of their biggest hits and most influential songs, was written by the band’s lead singer Dan Reynolds during a difficult time in his life. “ I was not very happy with who I was, I guess, and I wanted to make some changes” says the singer in an interview with Purevolume , in which he addresses It’s Time as a poem he wrote to express

All throughout the summer a song was constantly blasting through speakers singing about blurred lines, but what lines are being blurred?