Top 10 Songs

Top Songs

1. Livin’ on a Prayer- Bon Jovi

2. Hotel California-The Eagles

3. Boulevard of Broken Dreams- Green Day

4. Welcome to the Family-Avenged Sevenfold

5. Afterlife-Avenged Sevenfold

6. Animal I have Become- 3 Days Grace 

7. Stairway to Heaven-Zepplin

8. Sweet Child o’ Mine- Guns n Roses

9. Don’t Stop Believin’- Journery

10.Carry onward Wayward Son- Kansas

Lyrics For Top Song Defense

Once upon a time
Not so long ago

Tommy used to work on the docks
Unions been on strike
He's down on his luck... it's tough, so tough
Gina works the diner all day
Working for her man, she brings home her pay
For love - for love

She says we've got to hold on to what we've got
Cause it doesn't make a difference
If we make it or not
We've got each other and that's a lot
For love - well give it a shot

Chorus:
Whooah, we're half way there
Livin on a prayer
Take my hand and we'll make it - I swear
Livin on a prayer

Tommy's got his six string in hock
Now he's holding in what he used
To make it talk - so tough, it's tough
Gina dreams of running away
When she cries in the night
Tommy whispers baby it's okay, someday

We've got to hold on to what we've got
Cause it doesn't make a difference
If we make it or not
We've got each other and that's a lot
For love - well give it a shot

Chorus

We've got to hold on ready or not
You live for the fight when it's all that you've got

Chorus

Link to Song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDK9QqIzhwk

Fiction Writing

Jake Hallgren

Period A

Poetry of Song

December 7^th, 2012

                                                                Fiction Writing

Walking through a dark, damp and dangerous Boulevard, George and his parents walked by many different stores. In the Boulevard there are many candy shops, ice cream parlors, clothing stores, and toy stores. George loved this Boulevard, he wanted to visit every store and every shop and parlor. Whenever he asked his parents if he can go in one they always say, “not now maybe later this week” but when that passes he just adds that to the list of places he has been promised to go to but then can’t go to. Every time he wants to go anywhere in there his parents promise they will but then they never do creating another broken dream for George. Even though the boulevard is full of gangs and drug deals, George loves that boulevard; to George that boulevard is full of candy, fun, ice cream, and broken dreams.

                Another day he is walking through the boulevard all alone and he sees something at the other end. He sees a sign that says “Grand Opening”; he knows he shouldn’t go inside without his parents so he doesn’t. George looks through the window to see what type of store it is, it is a new Pizza Shop with a huge oven right in the middle of the shop. He runs home excitedly to tell his parents about the new shop on that boulevard. When he reaches home he starts to describe the pizza shop to his parents and they say their normal answer, “Oh cool, we will have to go their soon!” George knows that that really means he will never go to that new pizza shop. The next day George decides that even though he has no money and he can’t buy anything he wants to go inside and he does. When inside he sees that the pizza shop has way more food than it does pizza. The pizza shop also had calzones, salads, chicken, steak, burgers, hot dogs and lots of pastries. George knows there is no chance so he runs out of the store. He runs home and sits in his room for 3 hours trying to forget the boulevard.

Back-masking/reverse Speech

Many old and new songs such as Stairway to Heaven, Hotel California, Imagine, Another One Bites The Dust and Beat It have a secret hidden message that when played in reverse you can hear a phrase. Back-masking is obviously the more used way to hide messages because it is crystal clear and easier to understand. Most back-masking is purposefully added to music to hide these messages that bands want to eventually be discovered by someone. Reverse speech is a more complicated way and is also harder to understand a find the phrase unless you have the lyrics. Reverse speech is mostly not purposefully done.

In Imagine by John Lennon when he says “Imagine all the people” there is really a secret message in that, when played in reverse it says “The people war beside me”. The secret message is clearly heard even when you do not know the lyrics, which is an example of back-masking. This is a clear example of back-masking because it is so obvious and clear, it was also obviously put in the song on purpose because it was crystal clear other than the guitar interfering with the voice. Stairway to Heaven by Led Zepplin is probably one of the most famous back-masked songs. It has a few examples of back-masking in it. At the end of the song in reverse it says “Play backwards. Hear words sung” so that is the first thing you hear if the song starts to play backwards. Also Zepplin says in reverse “Oh here's to my sweet Satan. The one whose little path would make me sad, whose power is Satan. He'll give those with him 666, there was a little toolshed where he made us suffer, sad Satan.” This gives even more evidence that this was purposefully done and meant to give a demonic Satanist message. This is another prime example of a back-masked song because it is clearly made to show a message it even says to play the song backwards for a secret message. The song backwards is almost crystal clear which is how back-masking is while reverse speech is unclear and hard to understand and hear.

Also, Another One Bites the Dust by Queen when he says “another one bites the dust” repeatedly he is saying backwards “its fun to smoke marijuana.” This can easily be believed that it was purposefully done because Queen is known to have done drugs like most bands do. This example is not crystal clear and is hard to hear, hinting at reverse speech but it also hints at back-masking knowing the bands history. I do believe however because of how hard it is to distinguish this phrase that this is reverse speech that in the song the singer says ‘In the middle of the night, just to hear them say” but in reverse it says “Satan he hears this. He had me believe in him.” When knowing the lyrics it is very obvious but when you do not know the lyrics it is hard to tell what he says. The message is not completely the hardest thing to hear but it is not crystal clear and was purposefully put into the song from what I could tell. Both sides of that phrase works with the song in reverse and in regular playing. I do believe that this is another example of back-masking because it is easier to understand then most reverse speech examples.

            Back-masking is obviously the more used way to hide messages because it is crystal clear and easier to understand. Most back-masking is purposefully added to music to hide these messages that bands want to eventually be discovered by someone. Reverse speech is a more complicated way and is also harder to understand a find the phrase unless you have the lyrics. Reverse speech is mostly not purposefully done. Many old and new songs such as Stairway to Heaven, Hotel California, Imagine, Another One Bites The Dust and Beat It have a secret hidden message that when played in reverse you can hear a phrase.

Parrallel Songs

Jake Hallgren

November 20^th, 2012

Poetry of Song A

Parallel Song

                From Long Beach California, Avenged Sevenfold is known for their creative mixes in tone and their fast paced beats. The Eagles, pioneers of classic southern rock, tend to us much slower beats that create a calm and soothing atmosphere. Avenged Sevenfold is able to expand and use influences of other genres whereas the Eagles tend to stick with their blend of country and rock. While using 3rd person and 2^nd person point of view, Avenged Sevenfold and The Eagles are very much a like in their songs utilizing 3rd person point of view, alliteration, and end rhymes.

In their song, “Welcome to the Family”, Avenged Sevenfold uses a frustrated tone while The Eagles use a more confused tone in “Hotel California”. The tones help add to the songs effects and shows how the bands normally are. An example of the frustrated tone in “Welcome to the Family” is “Why won’t you listen?/Can’t help the people you’re missin’” shows that Avenged Sevenfold is frustrated because they can’t help someone if they don’t listen to him. The Eagles show a confused tone when his “head grew heavy and my sight grew dim/I had to stop for the night” could be explained by saying he got so confused that he wasn’t able to do anything and had to go to bed to be able to continue to do anything.

     Avenged Sevenfold in “Welcome to the Family” uses the 2^nd person narrative to show that they are talking to and about different people. The Eagles utilize an extended metaphor throughout their entire song. Avenged Sevenfold uses questions in their for example they ask, “What’s with the violent aggressions?” and “Why won’t you listen?” to not only display their tone but also gets the main point of their song to the listener. Avenged Sevenfold utilizes a lot of personification to add to the effect of how crazy the family really is. The Eagles demonstrate wordplay and oxymoron when they creatively tell you that “she got the Mercedes bends” which sounds like she has the car but really they are talking about the curves on her body, which adds a silly effect but at the same time makes you know that you do not want to stay at that hotel. Before the end of both songs the bands slowly funnel to a realization that they are stuck. Also, for fun and to make the songs more interesting both bands use end rhyme to entertain the listener.

     In  “Welcome to the Family” and “Hotel California”, Avenged Sevenfold and The Eagles utilize 3^rd person point of view, alliteration, and end rhyme to show the listener that everyone is stuck inside something and just wants to get out of it in the end. Avenged Sevenfold uses a more indirect way of saying they want to get out while The Eagles directly say “Last thing I remember, I was running for the door” which directly proves that they wanted to leave that hotel as soon as they could.

     

Song Analysis #1-Livin' On a Prayer

Lyrics:
Lyrics to Livin' On A Prayer :

Once upon a time
Not so long ago
Tommy used to work on the docks
Union's been on strike
He's down on his luck...it's tough, so tough
Gina works the diner all day
Working for her man, she brings home her pay
For love - for love

She says: We've got to hold on to what we've got
'Cause it doesn't make a difference
If we make it or not
We've got each other and that's a lot
For love - we'll give it a shot

We're half way there
Livin' on a prayer
Take my hand and we'll make it - I swear
Livin' on a prayer

Tommy got his six string in hock
Now he's holding in what he used
To make it talk - so tough, it's tough
Gina dreams of running away
When she cries in the night
Tommy whispers: Baby it's okay, someday

We've got to hold on to what we've got
'Cause it doesn't make a difference
If we make it or not
We've got each other and that's a lot
For love - we'll give it a shot

We're half way there
Livin' on a prayer
Take my hand and we'll make it - I swear
Livin' on a prayer

We've got to hold on ready or not
You live for the fight when it's all that you've got

We're half way there
Livin' on a prayer
Take my hand and we'll make it - I swear
Livin' on a prayer

Analysis:

Shifting from a sad tone to a optimistic tone in Livin' On a Prayer, Bon Jovi uses plentiful rhyme, depressing imagery, and tone-setting first person point of view to show that because times are tough they are "Livin' on a prayer".

     If you look at Bon Jovi's song carefully you can see that he used a lot of rhyme at the end of every phrase. In the second stanza you can see the four out of five endings to the lines rhyme. Then again in the third stanza all the endings rhyme together with him using, "there","prayer","swear","prayer." Throughout the song Jovi uses the creative use of rhyme to make the song flow and be as cathy as we all know it to be. Every stanza has a little bit of rhyme in it. Even though the rhyme follows no particular pattern it still helps the song stay in our minds.

    At the beginning of this song Jovi uses depressing imagery to paint a picture of the times that these people are going through. Jovi describes a lady that works at a diner to bring money home to support her family, "Gina works the diner all day", is the exact line that starts the talk about the family and what they have gone through. Also even though "Tommy used to work on the docks", times are still rough because his "Union's been on strike", so he has been out of a job getting no money. "Gina dreams of running away" because of the tough times she and her family are having, but "Tommy whispers: Baby it's okay" to comfort Gina and keep her from running away. Bon Jovi paints a picture visually and you can also hear it using his imagery.

     Bon Jovi uses tone-setting first person point of view to put the reader in the position these people are in. Halfway through the song the point of view switches to first person. All of a sudden the reader finds themselves whispering in someone ear to comfort them and remind them "We've got to hold on ready or not" and whatever comes our way we can face. Also you are found saying no matter what happens we still have a love each other, "We've got each other and that's a lot /For love." Then you are offer some encouraging words and offering to be the leader, "Take my hand and we'll make it - I swear " if she just takes your hand you can get her through any trouble that she might face in her life.

     So when shifting from a sad tone to a optimistic tone in Livin' On a Prayer, Bon Jovi uses plentiful rhyme, depressing imagery, and tone-setting first person point of view to show that because times are tough they are "Livin' on a prayer".

Little Green Song Analysis

      Shifting from second to third person point of view in "Little Green," Joni Mitchell uses naturalistic imagery, powerful repetition, and quiet personification to portray that she loves her child and "sometimes there'll be sorrow."

      Joni Mitchell uses naturalistic imagery to show the world in away meant for a young child. Mitchell uses "color when the spring is born"  to represent the birth of her child. What she means for that line to say in reality is "your birth was like the colors of spring, and most people will agree that spring is the best looking time of year because of all the colors. Also Joni says "like the nights when the Northern Lights perform" also to show that her child's birth was a great and beautiful thing to her. As you can now see Joni Mitchell was very creative with her naturalistic imagery.

     The artist also uses powerful repetition to get it stuck in your head that this song has a deeper meaning than a regular listener would recognize. Throughout the song Mitchell rapidly repeats the words "Little green" to show the deeper meaning in those two words. The word little green is supposed to represent her child. The whole song is singing indirectly to her child, so she uses "little green" as her child. Throughout the song Mitchell uses her repetition to get across a deeper meaning.

     Mitchell uses quiet personification to try to hint that the "little green" is a really a child. By Joni saying "Born with the moon in cancer" she is trying to say that a child was born during the spring time. She does hat because the song wouldn't be as interesting if she sand directly to her child. If she did the song directly to her child then she would use a lot more "you" and "i" which can completely ruin a song with the overuse of that couple words. That is how Joni uses personification throughout the song.

     So as you can see Joni Mitchell's use of naturalistic imagery, powerful repetition  and quiet personification  to show that she loves her child and "sometimes there'll be sorrow."