Big Mama Thornton, like many other early blues musicians, made music that was reflective of that time in history. Her lyrics tell a story of which her fans have the ability to relate their lives to. For example, Big Mama Thornton’s “Hound Dog” is an extended-metaphor of a man who is bad for a woman. The first two lines in her song say, “You ain’t nothing but a hound dog, Been snoopin’ ‘round my door.” This line is comparing a dog to a man in a relationship, more specifically a hound dog. A hound
Music offers a soundtrack for life. It has the power to, "to elevate the mind, body and character of individuals and the spirit of the nation as a whole" (Suisman 19). Along with its profound effect on people, music is also derived from endless sources and contains an infinite number of messages and purposes within its given context. Musical genres are often created to standalone as their own entity, but songs are also sometimes intended to represent multiple influences and alternate styles. As exemplified
Some people may call him “The King”, Elvis Presley is a well-known musician who stepped out of the norm and created a different kind of music. Presley combined pop, country, gospel, and black R&B to create his musical style. Presley caught everyone’s attention with his dance moves and musical talent. Elvis Presley led the way for many musicians, and has impacted the lives of many people. At the age of nineteen years old Presley began his music performing at the “Hillbilly Cat.” After being discovered
Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, reflects on the idea of, everyone is in control of what they decide to do with situations that occur in their lives. Sometimes we lose sight of the idea of people we surround ourselves with can influence our choices. I can relate to this inference, I believe in the saying of people can impact their own outcomes. My mom helped influence the turn out of my problem with my fear of heights, and Emily’s parents and George helped Emily get through her struggle of identity. I
My uncle was the definition of a big teddy bear, loving and hugging everyone. Little did I know he would keel on the pavement and his wonderful life would end in a split second. No goodbyes, no last-minute preparations, nothing. This is the definition of life. I, on the other hand, come into the picture by relating the relationships between him, myself, and others compared to that in the novel Our Town. Throughout the novel Our Town, written by Thornton Wilder, Wilder displays three main important
Thornton Wilder created the theme, “appreciate the small things in life, there’s more of those than bigger moments,” when writing his screenplay, Our Town. Wilder portrays this theme in all three acts and also through his characters. This play starts in Act one with a normal day of the characters and Act two incorporates a few big days of these characters lives. Act three is more set aside, it shows that the little things mean just as much as the big things in life. The theme was not quite developed
went through numerous revisions in order to get to its final destination. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller were young songwriters that had the dream of making it big. They are wrote numerous songs that had been played in some garages, but nothing that was sticking to the mainstream. That was until they came across Willie Mae “Big Mamma” Thornton. She was an African American woman that had a passion for Jazz. She had been roughed up with scares on her face and a few extra pounds. When Leiber and Stoller
Elvis Presley changed the music world as they knew it back in the 50’s he came out with a wild new style unlike any other. Even to this day if you hear Elvis’ name you automatically think of his signature style or as the king of rock and roll. Hound Dog was controversial for it’s time and made extra controversial by Elvis’ moves and how the ladies would swoon and storm the stage to see him. Presley was so ahead of his time that most adults didn’t because of his so-called vulgar ways but the younger
Music Gives Me the Blues “The Blues are the roots; everything else is the fruits”-Willie Dixon. The blues has deep roots in American history, particularly African-American history. How can something so simple become a massive tree whose roots transcended through different genres? According to Biography.com, W.C. Handy, “the father of the Blues,” brought the Blues to the mainstream in1912 with the hit “Memphis Blues.” After the public heard the twelve note structure with the deep bass lines, the
Elvis Presley is known as the King of rock. He was a very big rock star from the start of the 1950’s. Elvis Presley was born in January 8th of 1935 in East Tupelo Mississippi. Elvis Presley parents were named Gladys and Vernon; mom was a sewing machine operator and his dad was a truck driver. Elvis Presley was the only child. His parents were going to have twins but sadly they were both stillborn. During Elvis childhood his father was arrested for writing bad checks; he was sentenced to three years
Essay question: What message do you think Alice Walker is trying to convey in the short story 'Nineteen fifty-five'? In Nineteen fifty-five, a short story written by Alice Walker, there seems to be a variation of different messages that she is trying to convey. As an author she relates the story to real life issues as well as using the character Gracie Mae to highlight the way in which black people have been exploited by whites. The story is set over quite a vast timespan, from 1955 to
Thornton Wilder was born on April 17, 1897, and died on December 7, 1975. He was born in Madison, Wisconsin to Amos Wilder, an American diplomat, and Isabella Wilder. Thornton Wilder started writing plays in The Thacher School in Ojai, California, and graduated from Berkeley High School in 1915. He served in the Coast Guard in World War II. After the war he attended Oberlin College, then Yale University where he earned his B.A. in 1920. His writing was honed at Yale where he was a part of the Alpha
a stage and have a room full of women scream at the top of their lungs with just one note. Doesn’t mean that he all those notes were his. For instance, Hound Dog, one of Elvis’s most recognizable songs was also a cover. The original artist, Big Mama Thornton, wrote the song in… and never got to see her version reach a fraction of the fame Elvis’s did. In fact “as to her royalties she says, “I got one check for $500 and I never seen another. (235)” Elvis’s version of Hound Dog sold roughly 2 million
DAVID McCULLOUGH, Host: Good evening and welcome to The American Experience. I'm David McCullough. At the start of spring in the year 1846 an appealing advertisement appeared in the Springfield, Illinois, Gazette. ''Westward ho,'' it declared. ''Who wants to go to California without costing them anything? As many as eight young men of good character who can drive an ox team will be accommodated. Come, boys, you can have as much land as you want without costing you anything.'' The notice was signed