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symbolism essays
Symbolism and interpretation
Symbolism and interpretation
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Bruce Springsteen was born on September 23, 1949 to working class parents in New Jersey where he was born and raised. His father, Doug Springsteen, had difficulty maintaining a steady job and his mother, Adele, worked as a secretary. Springsteen attended Catholic school and had a religious upbringing. Bruce and his father had a troublesome relationship that influenced his songwriting greatly. Bruce had stated that if his relationship with his father had been better, then “I would have written happy songs—and I tried it in the early 90’s and it didn’t work… Anyway, I put on his work clothes and went to work.”(Bruce Springsteen Biography 1) Bruce Springsteen’s songs are homage to the working class, are influenced by current events, and are full of symbolism.
“The Rising” is the story of a firefighter written in response to the September 11, 2001 attack and contains spiritual reference that show Springsteen’s religious upbringing. The album was released in 2002 and was clearly influenced by the nations mood after the terrorist attacks. “The Rising” tells the tale of a firefighter in one of the buildings trying to rescue people. “On my back’s a sixty pound stone on my shoulder a half mile line”(Springsteen) is a clear reference to a fireman’s equipment and hoses. A normal, everyday firefighter doing his job trying to save other normal everyday people that were at their place of work and were brutally attacked through no fault of their own. The song builds toward a crescendo as many voices join in, symbolic of the souls that are lost with the firefighters. Reference is made to seeing Mary in the garden, which is referring to Mary Magdalene when Jesus rose from the grave. The lyrics are haunting but the way the song is sung still leav...
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...orgettable. Research shows that “There’s this unifying force that comes from the music and we don’t get that from other things.”(Landau) Bruce Springsteen is a great storyteller and has captured some of the experiences of the American working class. Even when the lyrics are dark or the subject matter is depressing, he manages to provide hope, too. For as long as I can remember, my mother has been playing Springsteen’s music. When I hear a song of his now, it reminds me of driving down the road with the windows down belting out a song with my mom. As Dave Marsh from Creem Magazine prophetically wrote in 1975, “Springsteen’s music is often strange because is has an almost traditional sense of beauty, an inkling of the awe you can feel when, say, first falling in love or finally discovering that the magic in the music is also in you.” (Bruce Springsteen Biography 2)
Jerry Garcia’s life was filled with wonderful things, many of which he never expected in the first place. After an almost fatal heroin overdose in 1986, “ Garcia philosophically stated, ‘ I’m 45 years old, I’m ready for anything, I didn’t even plan on living this long so all this shit is just add-on stuff.’ ” (“Garcia”) This attitude shows why Garcia did all of the things he did and even how some of them came about. Garcia, who “functioned as the preeminent pied piper of the rock era,” led a life of great artistic ability which he used in many ways(“Grateful Dead_ Rockhall”).
Johnny Cash was born in Kingsland, Arkansas on February 26, 1932 (Enslow 19). He began to take an interest to music when his father bought a radio. His mother loved listening to music and his mother and Johnny would sing songs all throughout the house. Taught by his mother and childhood friend, he learned to play guitar (Enslow 19). Working hard and practicing, he became very good at guitar and singing. However, he grew up through the Great Depression and this was very difficult for him and his family. In Edward Enslow’s “The Man in Black” Johnny Cash states, “We were very poor, and I almost died of starvation as a child.” This quote shows how life was a struggle for Cash in his early life. Facing all the many challenges was difficult for him but he found a way through it. Through his older brother Jack, he was able to cope with his life growing up. Jack was a huge role model to Johnny growing up, he would teach...
Imagine attending a concert in which if you were to close your eyes, you would assume that the music you are hearing is being created by a cast of band members, each playing their respective instruments. Contrary to your assumptions, however, this band only consists of one member. Keller Williams, dubbed by critics as a one-man-band, is one of a kind both in his musical talent and his solo act. Very few solo musicians have mastered such a multi-dimensional sound and captivating live show as Keller, making him standout amongst today’s musicians. Keller’s ability to perform improvisational live shows, form a large and dedicated fan base, and share the beliefs and attitudes of the hippie generation has given him the musical identity of the jam band genre in addition to his personal identity of being a solo act.
Throughout poetry, there are many works that reflect society; however, few reflect it as it truly is. Among those few is “Wings” by Macklemore. Not only does this song express the emphasis that society puts on materialistic things, it explains that they are truly just materialistic items and nothing more. It does this through many lines of admirable imagery. Included is the line, “That air bubble that mesh… The box, the smell, the stuffing', the tread, in school… I was so cool… I knew that I couldn't crease 'em… My friends couldn't afford 'em… Four stripes on their Adidas.” Not only does it display imagery, but this line introduces the emphasis on materialistic items in our society, and implies that the shoes are what make a person great, and not raw talent. This is a key line in understanding the rest of the song, as it also exemplifies the fact that expensive items are what makes a person cool, as they are falsely related to enhanced
In closing, the undoubtable influence of music, more specifically of Rock ‘n’ Roll on American society is responsible for a number of changes to the status quo. These range from sexual liberation and racial desegregation all culminating with other influences to create an intergenerational identity. Despite the desperate attempts of older generations to smother these influences, these changes ultimately shaped the years that followed, molding the country into what it is today. Along the way these changes as well as individual involvement in them has also eased the lives of many through empowerment and a feeling of community and purpose. Despite a lull and renewal Rock ‘n’ Roll continues to serve as an agent of influence and change in today’s youth culture and continues to burn in the heart of past generations of loyal fans.
Springsteen wrote “Devils & Dust” during the Iraq War. He has been openly against the war and has been quoted saying to Rolling Stone, “As the saying goes, "The first casualty of war is truth." I felt that the Bush doctrine of pre-emption was dangerous foreign policy. I don't think it has made America safer.” The song itself could be interpreted as a soldier’s point of view about the war but overall it stands as a critique on our society betraying its own principles. The first couple of verses in the song already evoke the image of a soldier stuck in a war. “I got my finger on the trigger / But I don’t know who to trust” could be understood as a soldier’s experience in war but it could also have a deeper meaning. It could also signify that our society has to make these important choices that will end up affecting people’s lives but it is all too ambiguous, there just isn’t any certainty. We are left with the desperate feeling of not knowing what to do, not knowing wh...
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen was born September 23, 1949 to his parents Douglas Frederick Springsteen and Adele Ann. He was born and raised in Long Branch, New Jersey. He often references his childhood home and neighborhood in his songs. Growing up in a New Jersey town, baseball was a big part of that community. Bruce loved playing, and watching baseball (he also references baseball in his songs later.) Even though he loved playing and watching baseball, he didn’t like playing with the neighbor kids. In the Biography “Bruce some of Bruce’s neighbor kids described Bruce as a “loner” and said he would “often be alone.” (Bruce; Peter Ames Carlin; pg. 44) It is sai...
Robert Allen Zimmerman, A.K.A. Bob Dylan, was born on May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Mississippi to Abram and Beatty Zimmerman. At a young age it became very apparent that Dylan had an amazing musical gifted. By the age of nineteen Dylan could play the harmonica, piano, and guitar. While growing up, his friends and siblings would have classified Dylan as a “loner”. Though Dylan kept to his-self as a child, he had very big dreams and ambitions. Dylan longed to be more successful than one of his heroes, Elvis Presley. In a way Dylan achieved his goal. He became iconic. Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard were just some of the artists who gave Dylan his drive. He would later go on to schoo...
In 1995, Bruce Springsteen produced an album titled “The Ghost of Tom Joad”. Its title track brings out a lot of ideas from John Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Grapes of Wrath.
The year is1965, 8 years into the Vietnam war and 2 years in the shadow of a presidential assassination, marked the inception of an artistic vision, cut to Vinyl. Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 revisited is a testament to the state of America in the 1960s, using poetic devices, and engaging rock and roll music to capture the imagination of a breadth of people, unwittingly, it would seem, brought change to the minds of Americans. Opening their eyes to what was happening and inflicting a sense of new found justice in their hearts, Living vicariously through Bob Dylan’s intense imagery, due to the events unfolding in that period, People latched on to Dylan’s lyrics and imposed their own expression and feeling onto his songs.
He means you don’t have to know music, you have to feel music. He didn’t know a lot about music but he became famous for it. His work has forever put it’s mark on the world for trying to break through the racial boundaries of music in this time period, but very few people can listen to his music and see that he was breaking these racial boundaries or have listen to his speeches and realize this world is not okay in the sense that people are still being racist against people and the kind of music people listen to. people are putting music with race and he decided to combined them.
Ann Powers’ review of “Pumped Up Kicks” mainly focuses on what the words in “Pumped Up Kicks” are saying rather than looking at the song as a whole. Powers’ review also expresses an overall negative connotation toward “Pumped Up Kicks”. Powers works for National Public Radio (NPR) and she is one of the nation’s most notable music critics. Just as NPR has a reputation for being very professional and serious, Powers’ review reflects her working environment. Because of Powers review being published through NPR, her target audience would have been the people who wanted a professional opinion on “Pumped Up Kicks”. They would have wanted an in-depth review of the song, not just a surface level review of how popular “Pumped Up Kicks” was.
Bob Dylan was born as Robert Zimmerman on May 24, 1941, in Duluth Minnesota, where he spent the first six years of his life, and then his family relocated to Hibbing, Minnesota. By the time this musically inclined boy turned ten he could already play the harmonica, piano, and taught himself how to play the guitar. In his first year of high school, he formed a group, the Golden Chords. Dylan then went to the University of Minnesota for arts only to stay there for three semesters. After playing at various coffeehouses he realized school was not for him so he moved to New York, when he turned twenty years old and had hopes of meeting his idol, Woody Guthrie, who he visited many times at the hospital. (Bob Dylan Biography | Rolling Stone) During his time there, he signed with Columbia Records after being spotted by John Hammond, who he is still with today. In 1965, Dylan married Sara Lowndes and they stayed together for twelve years and had four children together, one of their kids, Jakob, is in a band called the Wallflowers. (Bob Dylan Biography) The first album he composed was folk songs with him singing while also playing the harmonica and guitar. This album self-titled, Bob Dylan, had only two of his original songs, “Song for Woody” and “Talking New York”. His second album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, inc...
His songs bring up a range of feelings, transmitting powerful energy which aims straight at the heart of all its listeners. Being honest in his songs and music is perhaps one of the greatest features of Gregory Porter and his musical talent. That is why his songs seem to be extremely touching and emotional. Gregory Porter commented on this property of his musical performance himself as he stated the following in an interview: “You’re very vulnerable, cos it’s just you, your body is the instrument” (McCormick). Never before have I heard such a precise depiction of what I have experienced during the concert as I watched Gregory Porter perform his songs. It felt as if he was no longer in the room, but somewhere far away, where his music was created. And as he drifted away further a sound after a sound, it seemed to me that he turned into the music himself, with every single note running under his skin, flowing in his blood, and going out as astonishing musical compositions. His performance is thereby highly inspiring, bringing one's spirit up to the highest
When I listen to music, I do so much more than just hear it. Every song is a story that I experience and let flow through me. If ever there was a song that triggered the strongest reaction from me, it would be “Handlebars” by Flobots. I feel as though that song is a masterpiece, a moving work of art that gets my heart pounding and my mind racing. “Handlebars” is a song I can relate to, a song that improves my mood, and even inspires me.