Simile/Metaphor

"Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd
The format of this song relates to a conversation between a doctor and a patient. Throughout the song, the narrator describes being comfortably numb, in which his feelings are gone, to represent his dreams being gone. One example of a simile is included in the song. When the narrator explains the "fever" he had as a child, he says, "My hands felt just like two balloons." This comparison between hands and balloons creates the idea of him being without feeling.

"Yesterday's Feelings" by The Used
This song is about letting go of worries from the past. The first verse includes one example of a simile. When the narrator gets rid of his worries, he can "See the changes, people's faces blurred out/Like sunspots or raindrops." In this simile, blurred out faces are compared to sunspots and raindrops. As he forgets about these faces, they gradually become less clear.

"I Am a Rock" by Simon and Garfunkel
Throughout this song, the narrator illustrates the fact that he is alone and without pain. Two metaphors are used several times to reinforce this image. The narrator says, "I am a rock,/ I am an island." An island can be compared to the narrator in this song because both are lonely in some way. The narrator is separated from other people, and an island is separated from other land. A rock can be compared to the narrator in this song because both do not feel pain despite being alone.

"You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC
This song appeared on the album "Back in Black" in 1980. The first line of the song is an example of a metaphor. The narrator says that "she was a fast machine." This is a metaphor because the woman that he sings about is compared to a machine without using the words "like" or "as." She is not literally a machine; he is comparing her traits to the characteristics of a machine.

Paradox/Irony

"I Can't Explain" ~The Who
This song includes a paradox with the phrase "I feel hot and cold." It is difficult to imagine feeling hot and cold at the same time because they are opposites.

"I'm A Believer" ~The Monkees
This song includes several examples of irony. The second verse ends with, "When I needed sunshine, I got rain," which could be considered situational irony. The contrast of the verses with the chorus could also be considered situational irony. Each verse explains the doubt that the narrator had possessed in his mind, but the chorus declares that now he has "not a trace of doubt in" his mind.

"Jumpin' Jack Flash" ~ The Rolling Stones
This song includes irony in the contrast between its verses and chorus. The verses describe horrible experiences of the narrator, but they all lead into, "But it's all right now..." This example could be argued as either situational or verbal irony because the reader could take it as either a sarcastic tone or as an unexpected situation occuring. It would typically not be expected that someone would be all right after being drowned and "washed up and left for dead."

Songs with Personification

The first song that I chose was "Last Kiss," written by Wayne Cochran. It was brought back and performed again by several different artists, such as J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers & Pearl Jam. The first verse, in which two examples of personification appear, describes the car accident according to the narrator's memory. In the car ahead, "the engine was dead." An engine cannot literally die because it would not have been alive in the first place. In the imagery used to illustrate the crash, the narrator mentions "the screaming tires." Tires can make loud noises, but they cannot literally scream like a person screams. These human qualities are given to the parts of the cars to contribute to the tone. The narrator is describing a past event that he does not like to recall and which makes him feel helpless in the present.

I also chose the song "Brain Damage," by Pink Floyd. The beginning of the song describes the "lunatics." Personification is applied with the phrase, "The paper holds their folded faces to the floor." The ability to hold something is a human characteristic; a newspaper does not have hands to hold anything in. Like all other lyrics, there are numerous ways to translate the meaning of each line of this song. However, one possibility is that the paper is given this human quality to explain how it keeps the insane people insane.

Point of View

"We Didn't Start the Fire" ~ Billy Joel
This song is an example of both first person narrative and stream of consciousness. Each verse is basically a list of allusions. In the chorus, the narrator uses the pronoun "we" in the lines: "We didn't start the fire/ No we didn't light it/ But we tried to fight it."

"Get Back" ~ The Beatles
This song is an example of both third person omniscient and second person narrative. In each verse, the narrator tells stories about different characters and knows their thoughts, although the narrator is not part of the stories. "Get back to where you once belonged" shows how the audience becomes the characters that are sung of in the previous verses.

"What Else Can I Say?" ~ Chicago
This song is a combination of first person narrative and second person narrative. The narrator uses the pronoun "I" to express his thoughts. At the same time, the narrator uses the pronoun "you" to refer to the audience. In the lines, "I can't follow you there/ What do you have in mind?" the narrator is still referred to as "I," but he speaks directly to the audience in his expressions.

"Hey There Delilah" ~ Plain White T's
This song is an example of epistolary narrative. It is written as though it is a letter to "Delilah." The lyrics, "What's it like in New York City?/ I'm a thousand miles away" imply that Delilah is a great distance from the man who wrote the "letter."

Hyperbole

I chose the song "You Found Me" by The Fray because it has two good examples of hyperbole. One example is "The early morning, the city breaks." This is a hyperbole because it is not meant to be taken literally; the city does not literally break. In another example, which also includes alliteration, the narrator asks God, "Where were you when everything was falling apart?" Of course, he does not mean that everything physically collapsed. This hyperbole is used to express the helplessness that he felt when he was faced with challenges in life. He feels as though God was not there when he needed God's help the most.

Songs with Alliteration

"Good Times Bad Times" by Led Zeppelin
- "means...man"
- "those things the"
- "when...woman"
- "still...seem"
- "when...whispered"
- "wish...was"

"She Will Be Loved" by Maroon 5
- "help her"
- "miles...miles"
- "can come"
- "things that"
- "back...begs"

"Gallows Pole" by Led Zeppelin
- "hangman, hangman, hold"
- "many mile"
- "some silver"
- "get...gold"
- "bring...brother"
- "brother...brought"
- "man, man"
- "yes, you"
- "blood...boiling"
- "sister...soul...so...see...swinging"

Songs with Imagery

I chose to analyze "Crippled Inside" by John Lennon. This song falls under the catergories of both my theme and genre, and it demonstrates many examples of imagery. At the beginning of the song, the lyrics are: "You can shine your shoes and wear a suit/ You can comb your hair and look quite cute...You can wear a collar and a tie." These phrases describe one's appearance when one makes the effort to look attractive, and the use of imagery allows the listener to create an image in his/her mind. "You can hide your face behind a smile" creates the image of a smile on one's face, while the word "hide" suggests that the smile does not truly represent his/her feelings. The same message is illustrated in the phrase, "You can wear a mask and paint your face," where the images of one covering his/her face with paint and a mask once again refer to "hiding." An example of imagery of both sight and sound is "You can go to church and sing a hymn." This line is included in the song to support the message that although one can try to have a good appearance on the outside, it is impossible to hide the fact that one is "crippled" on the inside.

I also decided to analyze "The Sun" by Maroon 5. This song also falls under the categories of my theme and genre, and it also demonstrates effective usage of imagery. In the first verse, the setting is established with: "Walking home/ Fresh dirt under my fingernails/ And I can smell hot asphalt/ Cars screech to a halt to let me pass." This first instance of imagery appeals to sight, smell, and sound. Visual imagery is created when the listener is able to imagine how we look "through photographs/ Trying to recreate images life gives us from our past." Another example of imagery is: "several miles from the sun," which could create an image of either being literally close to the sun, or being hopeful. The second verse includes the phrases: "Moving on down the street/ I see people I won’t ever meet/ Think of her, take a breath/ Feel the beat in the rhythm of my steps/...The rhythm of her conversation..." This example of imagery is employed to explain how much the writer has been positively impacted by his relationship with the girl he refers to.