The song I chose to represent as an American Nightmare was a song called American Dream by MKTO. I chose this song because it is a perfect example of our world today. It shows people that everyone thinks America is great and perfect but it isn’t. Everyone takes America for granted and just want more and more things that they “need’ when really, they don’t need it at all. People don’t want that white picket fence, they want what they can’t have, which is money and fame. They want to make a name for themselves and don’t care how they get it, as long as they get it. The song begins with, “We broke down, trying to leave town, flying down the road to change. We were born to run, Cali here we come, escape from nowhere U.S.A.” I believe MKTO is trying to say that everything they …show more content…
Cause Jack left Diane 30 years ago. The world is spinning too fast for you and me. So whatever happened to the American Dream?”. It’s saying that the song isn’t the same anymore because it now a fantasy that’s harder to achieve. Too much has happened and they expected much more in the present and there isn’t enough time now. Jack and Diane are examples that show us that divorce rates are rapidly growing. In the last two lines, it basically states that there are so many challenges you are going to have to face and you will have to defeat them in time. In the 6th verse, it says, “This ain’t the same summer song that you used to know. So baby, let's live and die before we get old. You know that nothing is the way it used to be. So tell me whatever happened to the American dream” It is saying that people nowaday are only worried about “living” and they don’t care about society. Living basically means that you are loving life by having and doing everything. “Nothing is the way it used to be” because we can make our own American Dream how we would want it to be, not for others. Most people have the same American
...from the dullness of schoolwork to many possibilities. The next lines poke fun at the value of education and celebrate their street learning. ?Lurk late,? ?Strike straight,? ?Sing sin,? and ?Thin gin,? contradict any possibility for mental growth. Symbolism comes in the picture in the next line, ?We Jazz June,? which has many meanings. The word ?Jazz? signifies sexual intercourse. Then the word ?June? becomes a female. The tone of the poem dramatically changes when the reader learns the dropouts die soon. The group end in the last line, ?Die soon,? the final consequence of trying to be cool. Seemingly having fun in the beginning being cool, they are now completely powerless because they are dead. The poem really gives an obvious picture of what young African-American males are driven to do under the impression of trying to be cool. Since their minds are headed straight to corruption, they have no clue because they are having so much fun being cool. Leaving school, staying out late, singing sin, drinking alcohol, and having sex apparently are the only things that are important to them. With this mentality, more and more inner city males while continue hastening toward their death.
The lyrics sung slowly, the instruments aided by the mournful violin and harp, all gave the song a haunting quality. Its lyrics, while simple, hold depth. The first three verses are repetitive, the first verse talks about Abraham Lincoln, the second refers to John F. Kennedy and the third is about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The verses explain how one day the men were no longer around because they were shot and killed. It then says how he freed a lot of people, that is referring to the fact that each man was an advocate for civil rights. Finally, it sums up the verse explaining how the good die young and each man died suddenly. The next, fourth verse, changes a bit. It states, how each man stood for a valuable cause and saw the good in people. it also states hope that their dream of equality will one day be achieved. Finally the fifth and final verse starts similar to the first three remembering Bobby Kennedy. It states, how he died for his beliefs and in doing so, joined the men who had done the same before him, including his older brother, John Kennedy. It was not a shock when the song did so well on the music charts. While rarely heard on the radio in the twenty-first century, in the decade following its release Abraham, Martin, and John was constantly playing. Numerous bands have done covers of the song as well, including a popular version by Whitney Houston.
In this song, she sings about events that have oppressed the African American people and other ethnicities in the United States for many years. In the song she states (line 60) “Mafia with diplomas keeping us in a coma trying to own a piece, of the "American Corona”, The Revolving Door, Insanity every floor, Skyscraping, paper chasing, What are we working for? Empty traditions, Reaching social positions, Teaching ambition to support the family superstition?” In this part of the song she is saying that everyone today is trying to be successful and trying to accomplish the American dream. She says that trying too hard to be successful is toxic and it will mess with one’s traditions that he or she does. She also is saying that in some ways it will mess with one’s social abilities with one’s family and friends. Success is only good if one is doing good and feeling good in the end. It is not good when there is no good in involved. Therefore, that’s why she calls it
This song implies that individual’s are violating the norms and values of society. They start the song with a verse that expresses this concern. “What’s wrong with the world, mama/ People livin’ like they ain’t got no mamas…” (lines 1-2). This makes one aware of the disobedience of values that are held in the family. Values are “standard[s] of judgment by which people decide on desirable goals and outcomes.” (Newman, 32) Another verse in this song that illustrates how society is defying norms and values is when they sing: “People killin', people dyin'/ Children hurt and you hear them cryin/ Can you practice what you preach/ And would you turn the other cheek…” (lines 50-53). These lines utter that society has failed to act in a sane and coherent way that society once viewed as correct. The actions affirm that individuals are not living up to society’s norms. Norms are similar to “rules of conduct” and suggest how an individual “should” act. (Newman, 34) In the song they question the acts that would be taken that violate certain norms. Another example of the infringement of society’s norms and values is expressed when the s...
The Casting Crowns’ song “American Dream” presents the idea of corruption within the American Dream of working to a fortune. The song tells the story of a father who is constantly working to give his family the finest things. Since the father is so busy with work and trying to catch up on sleep, he has no time to spend with his family. A stanza of the song brings up an instance where the father says “Not this time son I've no time to waste//Maybe tomorrow we'll have time to play//And then he slips into his new BMW//And drives farther… away” (Casting Crowns 1). This suggests the child’s feeling of neglect from his father who is trying to fill his absence by presenting his kids with expensive gifts. Casting Crowns really does an incredible job
This song to me is about rising from the ashes, or defeat and fighting back. Also, that he can't allow his problems to slow him down or even hold him back; he must only let them go and move on with his life. Only when you let go of the past you will be able to push through and move on to having a better future. The line “Now I'm back on my feet" means that he let his defeat in the ring go and moved on to finally
In the opening verse of the song, the speaker discusses the need to see her childhood home at least once more before moving on with her life. She shares with the current homeowner some of her experiences while growing up in the house. For instance, she says, “I know they say you can’t go home again, but I just had to come back one last time.” This shows that the speaker realizes that returning “home” is going to be a different experience than it was when she lived there, but she cannot resist the temptation of a final visit to the “house”. The speaker says that “Up those stairs in that little back bedroom, is where I did my homework and learned to play guitar. And I bet you didn’t know, under that live oak, my favorite dog is buried in the yard.” This indicates some of the significant memories the speaker has of her time in the house, such as honing her...
Ever since people started coming to America they all had one common thing in mind which is the American Dream. Yes the American dream is possible, however it is different for everyone and in most cases not realistic. The American dream is a complex work of art that only a handful of people get to truly experience. Out of all the songs that were published on this topic homeboy sandman’s song “America The Beautiful” really showed how diverse the American Dream really is. The song talks a lot about the privileges that Americans have that other countries do not. One of the lines in the song says “ Okay the streets aren’t paved with gold At least they paved tho” (America, the beautiful) which means that even though it is not perfect at least there is something. The song is all about appreciating what America has to offer, however the whole song is about a person who lives in poverty and is trying to make the most of public school and the blessing it is to have food stamps however these people that live that way have a lesser chance of getting out of that situation and succeeding in life, meanwhile there are people who are born into the upper class families that are given the opportunity to go to prestigious private schools and are
This song to me has many different historical and cultural contexts. To start with the historical context, this song has many components that are involved with the history of rock and roll. The first thing that comes to my mind about this song is that, because of the different types of music that are in this song it is clearly from current period of rock and roll. When I say current period I mean starting in the 1980s or so and onward. In the 1980s rock and roll took on a heavier sounding voice, bands such as Metallica, The Grateful Dead and many others emerged during this time. This song contains many of the same elements as those other artist music. Then in the 1980s along with the 1990s rap and hip-hop began to take off. Rap and hip-hop
This is a documentary film review of the nightmare, which explains the cause of sleep paralysis through the eye witness of several different people. These people are stuck between sleeping and waking. They are unable to move but still knows what is going on around them. As a horror film, its absolutely terrifying and its makes you not want to sleep. But as a documentary it was not a god one because it doesn’t offer any scientific point of view. They could have put Doctors in the film to tell what causes sleep paralysis to happen. But that would have taken away what made the movie scary in the first place.
It shows the view of how it a lie and the way you could reach the dream is survive of the fittest, to pretending to love the American dream when deep inside it something that make you feel like it is a nightmare.
The literal meaning of the lyric also makes sense, but to be able to understand why the author put this lyric in the song, you have to see it as a metaphor. In honesty, you really only hate fighting with people when you miss the good memories. A third literary device that was used in this piece is Personification.Personification is the application of human characteristics to something that is not human. This makes the reader enjoy the piece more by adding descriptive adjectives to something that is not applicable.Passenger, in his song wrote, “But dreams come slow, and they go so fast.” The lyric in its literal form implies that dreams are moving and they are slow or fast. In reality dreams are not physical, and therefore cannot move. To understand this lyric, we have to think of it as a literary device. The author implies that dreams take a lot of hard work and time to achieve. Though those dreams may be pleasant at the time, they leave quicker than you think, so enjoy it while it lasts. Don’t ever take anything for granted because at any time, it could all disappear. If you think of the song that way, the meaning and message of the song becomes a lot clearer.The
The lyrics,”On the boats and on the planes, They're coming to America, Never looking back again, They're coming to America” is basically talking about how it feels when a foreigner is traveling to America. Another person could infer this as how a American must think it feels to first arrive in America. All this can be backed up by the lines,”On the boats and on the planes.” The lyric,” Never looking back again.” States that if a foreigner does come to America , that he would not regret making this decision. One would say that Neil Diamond is accepting
The American Dream is the ideal that we can achieve our dreams if we aim to improve ourselves and get rid of our fear of failure. For over a century, people have been consumed by materialism and have lost sight of their imagination. But with Gatsby’s fulfillment of success, he redefines the American dream. If Gatsby were alive, he could change reality with his determination and create the world as he imagines it. Gatsby has enough passion to pursue anything he wants, a characteristic which relates to the “Impossible Dream” from Man of La Mancha. The message of the song is to persevere no matter how difficult the goal is, for if we do not succeed we can rest assured knowing that we tried everything we could. Gatsby represents the impossible dream because he never gives up when he comes across any difficulties; instead they motivate him and make him
Honestly the American Dream means very little to me all I really care about is having a future job that pays a good amount of money the money is what actually gets you whatever you want in life.I am sure that i’m not the only one that agrees.For other people the American Dream is a perfect life where society has no wrongs.A regular family a mom, dad,kids.Their kids are smart and successful.The parents are well off owning a nice car and a big home.The family probably takes vacations together. Its that really cliche view of a life that has no stress.A song that is against the American Dream is by Kendrick Lamar called ‘Untitled #3’.In the song he discusses some problems in America between ethnic groups where they would be taken advantage of by