Day: December 7, 2021

O Children

On By CASEY MIn Poetry2 Comments

Both music and poetry say so much while saying so little. In reality, the only big difference between the two is that song is put over instrumentals, while poetry’s rhythm comes from strategic breaks in lines. Poetry is made to elicit an emotional response from the reader, to allow them to feel for the speaker and the situation they encounter. Similarly many songs, but certainly not all, pull emotion from the listener by connecting their own experience to the vague yet telling lyrics.  

Similar to both song and poetry, Harry Potter immerses you into its world, I first found O Children by Nick Cave and the Bad seeds when it was in the soundtrack of the last Harry Potter movie. However, It has become a song in my regular rotation and extends much more insight and meaning than just a song from a movie track.

“O Children” is a song that could be debated to tell the story of Jewish people during the Holocaust. It follows those at the camp as they watch their friends get sent off to the gas chambers and in the end, the narrator does too. This disgusting time is portrayed in an elaborate but simple way because the lyricist never explicitly explains that this is what this song is about, you must dive into the lyrics to best understand the premise of the song

The cleaners are coming one by one

They are knocking now upon your door

You don’t even want to let them start

They measure the room, they know the score. 

They’re mopping up the butcher’s floor

Of your broken little hearts

In the following excerpt, it can be seen that the song only eludes to the subject but will not spell out the meaning behind the words. A few examples of this are shown above, “cleaners” are the Nazis supposedly cleansing the population, going from house to house to “measure the room”, they look for secret rooms or hiding spots. This same metaphorical language continues throughout the song. 

Another reason this piece by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds is poetic is that its vague, interpretable language and word choice creates a picture and makes the listener imaginative. The lyrical choice and background music work together to effectively create a heavy and ominous feel to the entire piece. The diction is displayed best in the following lines with “dim”  and “weeping.

We’re older now, the light is dim

We’re all weeping now, weeping because

There ain’t nothing we can do to protect you

Like any good poem, this can be interpreted in different ways, it could be deemed to have nothing to do with the Holocaust but rather that it’s about the lyricist’s view on the detriment of generations and recovery. However, I believe that this is the clearest interpretation where the explanation does not contradict other parts of the song. By the end, the artists illustrate the speaker being sent off to the gas chambers by train, while this is a devastating end, it has a happier light to it than the rest of the song. The speaker is content with death, they are able to meet up with those who were lost before them and finally be free of the Nazi’s hold.  

Separate from the interpretation of the song, I would like to talk about the deliberate choice of the song in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. In the film, there was a war that draws many parallels to World War two, as “purebloods” attempt to wipe out “half-bloods” and those with non-magic parents to take control of the magical society. This song is played as Harry and Hermione slow dance after listening to radio reports of numerous fallen wizards and as tension was high within their trio and the wizarding society as a whole. The song fits very well with the circumstances that took place in the film and it pulls a lot more meaning and perspective into the scene.

Bands and Balalaikas

On By Cory YIn Poetry2 Comments

If there was ever a song to represent the euphoric hope which existed near the end of the Soviet Union and Cold War, “Wind of Change” by the Scorpions from the album Crazy World would be that song. Written shortly after and based upon a music festival where the Scorpions performed in Moscow, Russia, “Wind of Change” is a power ballad expressing the experiences of connection and societal shifts occurring at the time.

The central theme present throughout “Wind of Change” is that changing circumstances and situations over time will inevitably result in larger societal changes, as the dreams and expectations of individuals shift inexorably. These changes, although sometimes drastic and wide-ranging, will generally tend towards being beneficial to those populations by allowing greater interpersonal connection. The song seems to deepen the experience of optimism and hope which permeated throughout Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union near the end of the Cold War, taken from an outsider’s perspective. Although the audience for the song seems to be music audiences from the West, and especially English-speaking audiences, the song’s more primary purpose seems to be in communicating its themes of change and experiences of hope to populations in the Soviet sphere of influence.

In the first verse of the song, the Scorpions use symbolism of the “wind of change” and vivid imagery to convey the sense of how societal changes have made their way through every aspect of life in Moscow and which are visible to even outside observers. The speaker sings,

I follow the Moskva

Down to Gorky Park

Listening to the wind of change

An August summer night

Soldiers passing by

Listening to the wind of change

The usage of “Moskva”, “Gorky Park”, and “Soldiers passing by” specifically create an image of a traveller going down the Moskva River through a controlled Moscow. This relatively calm setting is disrupted by an intermittent “Listening to the wind of change”, emphasizing how far that “wind of change” has seeped into the surrounding setting that it can not be ignored any longer. This idea is also reinforced by the usage of “wind” as the purveyor of change in the whole song – unless an individual lives underground or underwater, there is no way to escape the wind or what it brings. Therefore, everyone will take notice of changes occurring in the fundamental relationships of society, from visitors to soldiers.

The song directly addresses the audience with two rhetorical questions in the second verse to emphasize how the situation that the speaker and audience find each other in is entirely novel, and was essentially unthinkable until recently. This seems to parallel the dynamics between the West and East near the end of the Cold War, especially as the nations began to form more open and frequent connections. The speaker sings in the second verse,

The world is closing in

And did you ever think?

That we could be so close?

Like brothers

The two rhetorical questions quite literally emphasize how the societal changes occurring were inconceivable until recently and the new connections that outsiders are making with the population of Moscow. They also serve a dual purpose in making clear the intended audience of populations behind the Iron Curtain, as well as making it even clearer that the speaker is generally based upon the Scorpions themselves. Another notable line within this verse is, “Like brothers”, which also emphasizes the connection made between the speaker and the audience to the extent that they seem like siblings.

Though not directly related to the language, one other thing I would like to point out about this verse is how Klaus Meine sings it. His inflections and pitch of the rhetorical questions are nearly identical to the corresponding matter-of-fact lines from the first verse, which might seem to somewhat imply that the current situation would have been simultaneously inconceivable in the past and inevitable.

The ideas present in the second and third verses are tied fairly close together, with personification used to emphasize the idea that it would be inconceivable to stay stuck or beholden to the memories of the past, the inverse of the idea emphasized in the second verse. The speaker sings,

Walking down the street

And distant memories

Are buried in the past forever

Here, the lines “distant memories” being “buried in the past” emphasize how even though the current connections being made seemed inconceivable before, the memories of the past are now being stripped of their influence for better or worse. With changes in society come changes in how the past is viewed and interpreted and sometimes even remembered. Another notable device in the verse is the diction used for the words to describe the memories, being “distant”, “buried”, and “forever”, further emphasizing the large gulf between the past and present even if it was not necessarily too long ago.

“Wind of Change” by the Scorpions is simply powerful and powerfully simple. Through careful multilayered usage of symbolism, metaphor, and diction, the song conveys the indescribable atmosphere of joy and hope present near the end of the Cold War with large structural societal changes imminent. It emphasizes the seeming inconceivability and inevitability of such shifts and the interpersonal connections formed as a result. It has touched generations and will continue to connect with people in the future as a power ballad of hope, optimism, and change.

Everyone Knows “All Too Well” a Little Too Well

On By LYLA A.In Poetry5 Comments

At this point, we should all know the song “All Too Well” by Taylor Swift because it has pretty much blown up the internet and music industry. Taylor wrote this song and realized it in 2012. However, Taylors music got stolen from her, and she ended up recording the album Red except for this time, it is called Taylors Version. This has brought all of these older songs to the front of Tayor fans’ minds again. As I started to think about it, “All Too Well” is written as a poem. The overall meaning and theme of “All Too Well” is Taylor longing for the memories and feelings she got from a relationship that once was good but slowly fell apart in her hands. She goes back and forth, remembering every detail of the relationship a little too well. Throughout this song, Taylor flashes back to detailed and specific memories to show that relationships that start great and sweet can always turn bad and end up rotting. Taylor describes the early stages of the relationship using the simile, “autumn leaves falling down like pieces into place”, which shows how complete and whole she felt while with him. This line also references the time frame of the relationship, which would be autumn. Throughout the song, Taylor repeats the phrase “I remember it all too well,” this is basically enforcing her feelings and shows the listener that this relationship was impossible to forget, and she remembers every detail clearly because that is how much it had an impact on her life. She also mentions the heartbreaking details she remembers, such as “in the middle of the night, we dance around the kitchen in the refrigerator light,” which cleverly uses rhyme in “night” and “light.” Overall, Taylors song “All Too Well” was such a cleverly written song/poem that shows all of her feelings from the begging to the end of this devastating relationship.

Everybody Wants to Rule the World

On By Rachel C.In Beloved4 Comments

Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” (Songs from the Big Chair) is a multi-dimensional song, expressing the power-hungry motives of us as a society, the abuse of authority in the US government, and even our own personal ambition. Many people have debated the intent and meaning behind the lyrics, coming to the conclusion that there is a political message being expressed. The title is the message; every person, whether specifically striving for this goal or not, wants power and/or authority.

“Turn your back on Mother Nature”

The human species has developed a society that destroys the earth through large corporations and their participation in pollution, the mass consumption of animal products that increase green gases, and our overall involvement in destroying “Mother Nature”. The personification of Mother Nature and the action of us as a society backstabbing “her” emphasizes humans’ hunger for power, to the extent where we’re willing to wreck the earth.

“All for freedom and for pleasure

Nothing ever lasts forever”

As a society we strive for the most, even if it isn’t stable enough to last forever. This quote represents short-lived successes within our own lives, our communities, our families through the utilization of an allegory. The central idea of the stanza is that we indulge in things that make us satisfied and happy, but those indulgences usually don’t fulfill us for long enough. Following the idea is a hidden moral, encouraging us to seek out the stability in life, the things (whether they’re material goods or emotions) that are more than just pleasurable, and may last longer.

“Everybody wants to rule the world”

This hyperbole expresses Tears for Fears’ intent of spreading the idea that whether we agree or disagree, we all have the urge to be at the top, through authority figures, rankings in class, etc. It all goes back to the one central message that the human species’ history of war, genocide, the building of empires, societal expectations, racism, sexism, and any other uneven dynamic pasts have contributed to an overall overconsumption of power. How can we overcome this overindulgence and, instead, embrace the voids and still be satisfied?

Is Adele a Poet, Singer, or Both?

On By Amelia R.In Music, Music Poetry, Poetry2 Comments

Adele’s album 25, was released in 2015. This album was groundbreaking and was the fastest-selling US album ever. Once Adele finished her 25 world tour, she decided to take a break from creating a new album to spend more time with her child who was only three years old at the time. Six years later, Adele just released her new album 30 on November 19, 2021. This album already broke the 2021 sales record in just three days. Similar to many of Adele’s albums which address her love and breakups, this album focuses on her recent divorce. It takes the listener along with her on her journey of motherhood while she reconstructs her life. While many of Adele’s songs are powerful, I find “My Little Love” to be particularly moving.

This song demonstrates the complex feelings involved in a divorce, especially when a child is involved. Adele, as a mother, feels guilty for subjecting her son to the pain of his parents. Parents never want to inflict any pain on their children, but some emotional hardships are unavoidable. During these hard times, the parent-child dynamic is reversed. Adele is in so much pain herself that her child is actually helping her learn to navigate her new world.

Adele wrote,

When you lay on me, can you hear the way my heart breaks?

I wanted you to have everything I never had

I’m so sorry if what I’ve done makes you feel sad

Adele uses imagery to express the immense pain she is in. Her heart is literally broken and not only does she express visual images, but she also adds auditory elements and the sense of touch that listeners can relate to. This helps deepen the listener’s understanding of her pain and guilt. She feels like her son’s pain is her fault and hates that she has subjected him to any pain at all. In a way, she is trying to prove just how badly she feels for what she had done.

I don’t recognise myself in the coldness of the daylight

Adele juxtaposes coldness and daylight. This represents Adeles deeper feelings of isolation. She feels like a new person and is learning to live without her ex-husband. Her surroundings may have not changed but she feels a sense of internal displacement. Her son is one of the few consistent factors in her life, so she relies more heavily on him than ever before.

I’m having a bad day. I’m having a very anxious day

I feel paranoid, I feel very stressed

Um, I have a hangover, which never helps, but

Adele brings us into her own experience as she talks through the thoughts in her head. The short phrases demonstrate the chaos and emotional turmoil that she is experiencing. Her thoughts seem to be spinning and the listeners may be able to relate to times when their own thoughts may have been racing.

Adele in this album takes us on a deeply personal journey and through her words, allows us to experience some of her feelings. I think almost anyone could relate to either these feelings associated with the impact of a divorce on your own life, feelings of motherhood, or simply feelings of general pain and anxiety.