Music And Lyrics

"Music has been my playmate, my lover, and my crying towel." ~ Buffy Sainte-Marie

Indeed, it has.

For as long as I can remember, I have drawn inspiration from song, have found solace in music, have found deep meaning in lyrics. At times, it has allowed me a peaceful sleep; other times, it has allowed me to question life and its intricacies.

I have sought music, and it has enveloped me in its world.

For years, I have used music in the classroom - sometimes as metaphors, or as parts of the lecture process. And every year, I have my students do a social commentary lyrical analysis, where they need to choose a (clean lyric) song of their choice that has some connection to societal change, action or welfare, and present it to the rest of the class - complete with explanation of why or how it calls for social change, action or welfare.

Why do I do this? Because many today's musicians are the poets of the young, the voice of the disenfranchised teen or college-aged student. Much like the great poets and writers of the 1700s and 1800s - Swift, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats, Tennyson, etc. - were the voice of their generation, of their people. Sure, these writers often wrote of love and passion, just as many of today's musicians do; but they also wrote of the world around them, of wars and heroes, of societal problems, of the need for change in the status quo.

Despite the perceptions of others (usually the "older" generation), not all of the music people listen to is bubble-gum pop with seemingly nothing to offer other than a catchy beat. OK, some is. But musicians like Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Marvin Gaye, Edwin Starr, Joan Baez, CSNY and Woody Guthrie helped bring Vietnam to an end, giving the Woodstock generation a rallying cry. The past 25-plus years, artists like Bruce Springsteen, John Cougar Mellencamp, Rage Against The Machine, Tupac, Black Eyed Peas, Dixie Chicks, even Eminem, have been active (to varying degrees) in addressing social issues in their music.

I believe it is important for today's youth to recognize this.

This past year's song list was, as usual, an eclectic mix of styles, genres and voices. From "I Can" by Nas to "Seminole Wind" by John Anderson, from "Waiting on the World to Change" by John Mayer to "Electric Eye" by Judas Priest, my students analyzed legitimate calls for, if not social change, then social awareness. Their interpretations give me hope for the future, as they progress into the world beyond high school walls.

(Because I wanted to have a part in the process, when everyone else was done, I pulled out a song none had presented - "Catch Me Now I'm Falling" by The Kinks - and discussed its meaning for the class as a whole. The lyrics focus on the role of the United States in the world, and how when the US is in trouble, no other nation offers assistance, despite all the money and goodwill and volunteer forces America has sent overseas for decades.)

On a more personal level, I have been "interpreting" lyrics for years. Now, I realize this isn't a new concept; heck, Charles Manson interpreted Beatles lyrics in the 1960s, with tragic results. I've no intention of going that route. But I have often gained strength from this action. Unfortunately, it seems many of the times I turn to music for introspection are when I am in an emotional "down," when I am feeling at or near what I perceive to be a low moment in my life. I haven't done any studies or research on this, but I do have my own view - that because we, as human, generally focus on the negatives and gloss over the positives, it is during these low moments that we turn to the media - poetry, books, television, the Internet - or family and friends - for a listening ear.

Music allows this without being judgmental. We get to bring someone else's words into our hearts, our lives, as a method of coping, without being preached to or yelled at for our errors or problems.

A number of songs come to mind when I start thinking of music that has been my security blanket, my means of dealing with the "Why does life suck?" or "Is there a God?" or "What purpose does life have for me?" mode. Two of the songs, "Man on the Corner" by Genesis, and The Beatles' "Fool on the Hill," can easily be interchanged within terms of their theme, as each speak to the issue of loneliness and isolation. Like many, I have had moments of desolation, whether physical, emotional or some combination. Phil Collins' powerful vocabulary speaks to the heart and soul of this issue:

Looking everywhere at no one, he sees everything and nothing at all;
When he shouts, nobody listens; where he leads, no one will go.
He's a lonely man, there on the corner.
What he's waiting for, I don't know.
But he waits every day now,
He's just waiting for something to show ...

Now, compare this to the words of John Lennon and Paul McCartney:

Well on the way, head in a cloud,
The man of a thousand voices talking perfectly loud.
But nobody ever hears him, or the sound he appears to make,
And he never seems to notice,
But the fool on the hill sees the sun going down,
And the eyes in his head see the world spinning 'round ...

Do you feel their impact, the power of these outside observations, speaking to the inner soul? I certainly have, especially when I have been in an emotionally fragile state. The words call to me, tell me I am not alone, that there are others in the world in similar situations, with similar problems. And to me, the songs offer a form of spiritual cleansing, of empowerment. I gain strength from their messages, that life may be difficult at that particular juncture, but there is more to life than this. For if you review the lyrics more deeply, they speak of hope ... and while hope (according to Red in The Shawshank Redemption) may be "a dangerous thing," it can be sustaining as well.

A third song, with a slightly different theme, that has molded my life and been my crutch at times is "Basket Case" by Green Day. Now, this might seem strange, since Green Day has never been a band that I would ever consider one of my favorites. But I am open to new ideas and views, and this song certainly has the ability to be a personal mantra of sorts:

Do you have the time to listen to me whine,
About nothing and everything all at once?
I am one of those melodramatic fools,
Neurotic to the bone, no doubt about it.
Sometimes I give myself the creeps.
Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me.
It all keeps adding up, I think I'm cracking up,
Am I just paranoid? Or I'm just stoned.

Yes, I admit, there have been those moments in my life where I doubt everything around me: my job, my health, my social life, my God, my sense of sanity. This is normal, I believe; most people suffer various types of stress, and usually have some form of outlet in which to vent, whether it be a friend, a family member, a lover, or even an anonymous help line. (Blogging on the Internet is also a way of dealing with these kinds of stressful situations.)

Now, this is not intended to be a "woe is me" rambling of songs to be morbid by; I can also turn to powerful, inspirational, uplifting songs, with lyrics that speak of greatness and quests and positive mental attitude. Billy Joel's "The River of Dreams" is one such song; others include "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves and "I Can See Clearly Now" by Johnny Nash. Like the aforementioned songs, these - and many others - have different ways of speaking to the heart, to the mind, to the soul.

The main thing is to realize that music represents us as humans, as thinking entities. It allows us to express ourselves, through words and ideas and fantasies. It makes life worth living. And that's always a good thing.