“Hands Down”
By: Dashboard Confessional
Song Analysis
Everyone has that one song they can listen to over and over again. There are various reasons people press the repeat button, whether it be the sound of the singer’s voice, the quality of their musicianship, or their heartfelt lyrics and the story they tell. The song “Hands Down”, by Dashboard Confessional tells the story of a day-in-the-life of lead singer, Chris Carrabba, in high school. Carrabba has said that this song is about the best day he has ever had, and introduces it as such at concerts. Dashboard Confessional effectively uses paradox, irony, imagery, and repetition, to enable the listener to create a visual and experience emotions felt by the writer. “Hands
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The boy is hoping for something as simple as a kiss, and this simple action would please him so much that it would “kill” him. The boy is willing to give up everything in order to experience this kiss and end his life on a happy note.
Another literary device used in “Hands Down” is irony. During the middle of the song, this line sets the mood for the story and the presumed expectations of a teenage relationship.
“The words are hushed, let’s not get busted.
Just lay entwined here, undiscovered,
Safe in here from all the stupid questions:
“Hey did you get some?”
Man, that is so dumb.
Stay quiet, stay near, stay close, they can’t hear, so we can get some.”
In most relationships sex is an essential and expected part, even for teenagers. Many teen relationships are subjected to the scrutiny of their peers on whether or not they are “getting some”. This stanza is ironic because in the beginning it says how dumb the questions about “getting some” are, yet at the end it talks about doing just that. At the very end of the song, Dashboard uses imagery to describe the little things that you will always remember, and the one special night that was meant to be ordinary, yet turned out to be so incredibly wonderful.
“Hands down, this is the best day I will ever remember.
I’ll always remember the sound of the stereo,
Robin Thicke’s music video to his song “Blurred Lines” avidly contributes to the patriarchy, while portraying sexism, gender standards, and beauty standards. His music video can be analyzed from a feminist theory approach, as it’s evident that his song and video contribute to a patriarchal society and its inherently sexist and sexualized ideologies. The ideology behind the song and music video is purely sexual and about male dominance. The lyrics to the song and actions in the video exhibit extreme over sexualization and objectification of the women. Analyzing this piece of popular culture through a feminist approach opens up a provoking conversation about how popular culture functions in a patriarchal culture. Analyzing pop culture though a feminist theory can allow for a larger variety and more in-depth analysis about the social aspects and political agenda within popular culture.
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.
The song concludes by referencing George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel “1984” with the lines “Who controls the past now controls the future / Who controls the present now controls the past” (lines 49-51),
We see how these concepts norms, values, structure and social facts, and agency give an understanding to lyrics in a song for society and how the concepts tell the story in the song “Wrong way” by Sublime. Many important factors came from these concepts we have to see the role society (her father, brothers, and narrative) played in Annie’s life and what influenced her choices in life. Symbolic interaction theory effectively explains the narrative in this song because of the different views Annie and him see with her life, that her reality of her life is a good life, and that he does not see it as a good way of life but as a bad road ahead.
“We Found Love” is a popular song produced by Calvin Harris and features singer Rihanna. “We Found Love” reached the number one spot in the top charts in multiple countries in 2012 and the music video became popular very quickly after being filmed in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The music video features a young couple living in an impoverished council estate in West Belfast. Both characters portrayed in the music video are in their twenties and of mixed race, one parent being black and the other being Caucasian. Their relationship is distinguished by domestic violence as the couple is seen yelling, pushing and hurting one another, along with stealing from convenience stores, gambling and abusing drugs and alcohol together.
Ludacris does a remarkable job of portraying his message about the struggles that some adolescents are faced with. “Runaway Love”, by Ludacris, featuring Mary J. Blige (2007), represents the theme of struggle through hip-hop and rap music. It is about little girls who are “stuck up in the world on their own.” They have to take care of themselves because the people they are around do not care about them. They range from nine to eleven years in age, and their goal in life, at such a young age, is to run away from home. Ludacris is trying to get the listener to realize the struggles that even children have to face because adults are not the only ones who have problems, like most people believe. He is very successful in
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.
The tone of this song is hopeful. It tells women of all ages to stay true to themselves, even when everyone else around them is changing. This is mostly relatable to teenagers attending high school. In the song it says, “Hold on to your innocence, stand your ground when everyone’s giving in”. During high school, children are introduced to various new things, such as: drugs, sex, and alcohol. It is the students’ personal choice whether to give in to these new additions or not, but the song suggests they stand up even when everyone else around them has given in. The song has three stanzas with four lines. The rhyme scheme is grouped into pairs, rhyming the first two lines and the last two lines in each stanza. Rhyming two consecutive lines can make the song easier to remember. “This One’s for the Girls” is extremely catchy, not only by its meaning, but also its rhyme scheme. It makes an imprint on one’s brain.
The song I chose for the song explication is “Piece by Piece” by Kelly Clarkson. Kelly’s singing career started when she won American Idol in 2002. Since then Kelly has produced major hits that get stuck in your head and you can’t help but sing along. Though her song “Piece by Piece” is one of my favorite songs she has ever produced. Kelly opens up about her relationship with her father to her fans and the world.
In “Alright” Kendrick Lamar is speaking to the public about police brutality, or is he sending a deeper message to the people of minority. Kendrick Lamar released the song titled “Alright” in 2015. Upon release the song instantly blew up. It 's catchy and even though people got tongue tied trying to recite the song everyone knew the hook of the song which stated “We gon be alright do you hear me do you feel me we gon be alright.” I wonder did anyone catch the poetic verses Kendrick was saying before the hook. By simply watching the video you instantly think oh police brutality but I recieved a deeper message. I believe Kendrick wanted the song to inform the public about the brutality that seemed to be continuous at the time; and offer a bit of hope to those who didn’t feel there was any. That’s why the song was so famous, Kendrick performed this song on numerous award shows and talk shows because the people needed to hear it. Though some believe the song is in protest against cops or sending a bad message others believe it is an anthem for african americans.
The Weeknd is a newer artist that has an exceptionally diverse sound. So many emotions are infused with his lyrics and portrayal of the lyrics. Many people, male or female, ejoy his laidback aproach to an emotional subject, the subject of money and fame. In his songs he may talk about morally wrong subjects liek drugs and prostitutes, but his messsage is revered by those who look past the drug infused story telling to see the true meaning of his lyrics. The song i picked for this assignment is the morning by the Weeknd. It is a song describing an average morning in Toronto, with a story that echoes a lesson, how money controls and defines your lifestyle. He also has a way with his voice to empower your soul and lift your
The song "The message" by Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five depicts the struggle of young black adults growing up in society. The struggle to make it out of poverty can be compared to survival of the fittest in a jungle. Only the strong would survive and adapt to the changes to fit in. Trying their best to make a betterment with whatever little society offers. Being a young black African American in the early 1980's was not easy. It was easier to live the fast life and gain fast money by being part of the drug community. Drugs, guns, and money was glamorized and this is what the young adults looked at as a means of getting rich. In the songs, a young man talks about how he is trying hard to hold on to the little bit of sanity he has left in his soul. He talks about the struggle he endures while trying not to get pushed over the edge. He was born an innocent child who's blind to the ways of mind kind. Growing up he faced many challenges and had to fight
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to music critics Jackson’s album Thriller seemed to be inspired by “a mixture of several genres
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