I will be analyzing "Everything Must Belong Somewhere" by Bright Eyes
http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Everything-Must-Belong-Somewhere-lyrics-Bright-Eyes/E31E0631960282B548256F98000E8F23
Immediately noticeable is the end rhyme within the song. Rhyming words are grouped together, and the ends of three lines happen to rhyme. There is then a line break and three more rhyming lines. This is consistent throughout the song. The artist rhymes "wall", "hall", and "ball" in the first three lines. He also rhymes "sheet", "feet", and "street" in the next three lines. Later, the artist switches to slant rhyme, "Leave the horse's hair on the slanted bow/Leave the slot machines on the riverboat/Leave the cauliflower in the casserole today." None of those words rhyme, but the author uses pronunciation techniques to make them sound as if they do. The artist also tries to rhyme "kennel", "pedestal", and "fishbowl". This also adds emphasis on those particular words.
These schemes make the song more interesting to listen to as rhyme is naturally appealing to the human ear. It also makes listeners more tuned into hearing certain words, especially those that rhyme. This adds to the interpretation because the emphasis forces a listener to create a mental image of what's going on within the song. I can't help but to picture a miserable child or a cooling casserole. The song sort of falls apart at the end. The beginning has triplets that rhyme perfectly. When the listener gets to the last four triplets, they notice that the words don't rhyme so smoothly. I personally consider this to be a lesson that things tend to fall apart if we intervene too much.
I've never actually heard this song, but you noticed a lot of layers in it and the use of words that I wouldn't have noticed.
ReplyDeleteInteresting interpretation. Also, look for anaphora in the repetition of "leave the" at the beginning of each line, and some alliteration, like "leave the cauliflower in the casserole.
ReplyDeleteI like how instead of just writing random stuff down you wrote details that work with the song.I like how you called out words that other people wouldn't and it works really well.
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