Pick a song and answer question

Song lyrics assignment # 8 is due by 5:00p.m. You are to choose one song from this song packet. Choose one question from that one song. Answer everything next to that one question in paragraph form. Type the name of the song and the number of the question you answer. Your answer must have at least five different sentences in it. These songs begin with the song, “Crazy Love” and end with the song, “Last Year’s Man.” This assignment is worth a maximum of 50 points. You might want to find these songs if you are able to do this on YouTube videos by the original artists and listen to them. These songs follow this paragraph in my syllabus. You will also be writing a five paragraph essay using these same songs a little later in the semester.

Song Lyrics Assignment # 8

  Song # 1: “Crazy Love”-Poco

Verse !: Tonight I’m gonna break away

               Just you wait and see.

               I’ll never be imprisoned by

               A faded memory.

Verse 2: Just when I think I’m over her,

               This broken heart will mend.

               I hear her name and I have to cry,

               The tears come down again.

 

Chorus 1: It happens all the time.

                  This crazy love of mine,

                  Wraps around my heart

                  Refusing to unwind.

                  Ooo  Ooo   Crazy love

                  Ahh   ha

Verse 3: Count the stars in a summer sky,

                That fall without a sound.

                And then pretend that you can’t hear

                These tear drops coming down.

Chorus 2: It happens all the time.

                  This crazy love of mine,

                  Wraps around my heart

                  Refusing to unwind.

                  Ooo   Ooo   Crazy love

                  Ahh    ha

Verse 4: Tonight I’m gonna break away

                Just you wait and see.

                I’ll never be imprisoned by

                A faded memory.

Chorus 3: It happens all the time.

                  This crazy love of mine,

                  Wraps around my heart

                  Refusing to unwind.

                  Ooo   Ooo    Crazy love

                  Ahh    ha

Chorus 5: Tonight I’m gonna break away.

 

Questions:

1. Describe the type of love the songwriter had when he wrote this song. Is this more of a healthy love, or is it more of an unhealthy love? Explain. Use quotes from the song to illustrate your points.

2. What are the triggers that are causing so much misery in the songwriter’s feelings for this woman? How can he break out of this sadness and misery and move into a better space in his life? Explain. Use quotes from the song to support your ideas.

3. In your opinion, is the songwriter imprisoned by a faded memory of the love that he once had and does not have right now? Explain how he might be imprisoned in this way. Use quotes from the song to illustrate your points.

Song Lyrics Assignment # 8

Song # 2: “Lodi”-Credence Clearwater Revival

Verse 1: Just about a year ago I set out on the road,

               Seeking my fame and fortune, looking for a pot of gold;

               Things got bad and things got worse,

               I guess you know the tune.

Chorus 1: Oh Lord, I’m stuck in Lodi again.

 

Verse 2: Rode in on a Greyhound, I’ll be walking out if I go,

               I was just passing thru, must be seven months or more;

              Ran out of time and money,

              Looks like they took my friends.

Chorus 2: Oh Lord, I’m stuck in Lodi again.

 

Verse 3: If I only had a dollar for every song I’ve sung,

                And every time I’ve had to play, while people sat there drunk;

                You know I’d catch the next train

                Back to where I live.

Chorus 3: Oh Lord, I’m stuck in Lodi again.

 

Questions:

1. Describe the songwriter’s life when he is in Lodi. Does he seem to be enjoying himself while he is there? Explain. Use quotes from the song to illustrate your points.

2. What was the songwriter looking for when he came to Lodi? Specifically, what is the songwriter disillusioned by in Lodi? Explain. Use quotes from the song to support your ideas.

 

Song Lyrics Assignment # 8

Song # 3: “If I Had a Hammer”-Pete Seeger

Verse 1: If I had a hammer, I’d hammer in the morning,

               I’d hammer in the evening, all over this land.

Chorus 1: I’d hammer out danger,

                  I’d hammer out a warning.

                  I’d hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters

                 Ooh, All over this land.

Verse 2: If I had a bell, I’d ring it in the morning,

               I’d ring it in the evening, all over this land.

Chorus 2: I’d ring out danger,

                  I’d ring out warning.

                  I’d ring it out love between my brothers and my sisters

                  Ooh, All over this land.

Verse 3: If I had a song, I’d sing it in the morning,

                I’d sing it in the evening, all over this land.

Chorus 3: I’d sing it out danger,

                  I’d sing it out a warning.

                  I’d sing about the love between my brothers and my sisters

                  Ooh, All over this land.

Verse 4: Well, I’ve got a hammer,

                And I’ve got a bell,

                And I’ve got a song to sing

                All over this land.

Chorus 4: It’s a hammer of justice,

                  It’s a bell of freedom,

                  It’s a song about the love between my brothers and my sisters

                  All over this land.

Questions:

1. What do the three objects mentioned in this song have in common (a hammer, a bell, and a song)? What do they represent in this song? Explain. Use quotes from the song to support your points.

2. What is the songwriter warning people about in this song? What danger is he implying exists in this world? What solution is he offering to offset this warning and this danger? Explain. Use quotes from the song to illustrate your ideas.

3. What are a hammer and a bell normally used for in this world? How is this different from the uses that the songwriter is suggesting for these objects? Explain. Use quotes from the song to support your points.

 

Song Lyrics Assignment # 8

Song # 4: “For a Dancer”-Jackson Browne

Verse 1: Keep a fire burning in your eye,

                Pay attention to the open sky,

                You never know what will be coming down.

Verse 2: I don’t remember losing track of you,

               You were always dancing in and out of view,

               I must have thought you’d always be around,

               Always keeping things real by playing the clown;

               Now you’re nowhere to be found.

Verse 3: I don’t know what happens when people die,

               Can’t seem to grasp it as hard as I try;

               It’s like a song I can hear playing right in my ear

              That I can’t sing-I can’t help listening.

              And I can’t help feeling stupid standing ‘round

              Crying as they ease you down,

              ‘Cause I know you’d rather we were dancing,

              Dancing our sorrow away,

              Right on dancing.

Verse 4: No matter what fate chooses to play,

               There’s nothing you can do about it anyway;

               Just do the steps that you’ve been shown

               By everyone you’ve ever known,

               Until the dance becomes your very own.

               No matter how close to yours

               Another’s steps have grown,

               In the end there is one dance you’ll do alone.

Verse 5: Keep a fire for the human race,

             Let your prayers go drifting into space,

             You never know what will be coming down;

             Perhaps a better world is drawing near,

             And just as easily it could all disappear,

             Along with whatever meaning you might have found.

Verse 6: Don’t let the uncertainty turn you around,

                The world keeps turning around and around,

                Go on and make a joyful sound.

 Verse 7: Into a dancer you have grown

                 From a seed somebody else has thrown,

                 Go on ahead and throw some seeds of your own.

                 And somewhere between the time you arrive

                 And the time you go

                 May lie the reason you were alive,

                 But you’ll never know.

Questions:

1. What kind of relationship did the songwriter have with the woman who passed away (the dancer)? Explain. Use quotes from the song to illustrate your points.

2. What suggestions is the songwriter offering in this song to people? Do you think these suggestions are reasonable and helpful suggestions to human beings who are experiencing sorrow due to the loss of loved ones? Explain.

3. What effects do you think it had on the songwriter to write this song and express his grief for the loss of a loved one in this way? Explain. Use quotes to support your ideas.

 

Song Lyrics Assignment # 8

Song # 5-“All I Really Want To Do”-Bob Dylan

Verse 1: I ain’t lookin’ to compete with you,

               Beat or cheat or mistreat you;

               Simplify you, classify you,

               Deny, defy or crucify you.

Chorus 1: All I really want to do

                  Is, baby,  be friends with you.

Verse 2: No, and I ain’t lookin’ to fight with you,

                Frighten you or uptighten you;

                Drag you down or drain you down,

                Chain you down or bring you down.

Chorus 2: All I really want to do

                  Is, baby, be friends with you.

Verse 3: I ain’t lookin’ to block you up,

               Shock or knock or lock you up;

               Analyze you, categorize you,

               Finalize you or advertise you.

Chorus 3: All I really want to do

                  Is, baby,  be friends with you.

Verse 4: I don’t want to straight face you,

               Race or chase you, track or trace you;

              Or disgrace you or displace you

              Or define you or confine you.

Chorus 4: All I really want to do

                  Is, baby,  be friends with you.

Verse 5: I don’t want to meet your kin,

               Make you spin or do you in;

             Or select you or dissect you

             Or inspect you or reject you.

Chorus 5: All I really want to do

                  Is, baby, be friends with you.

 Verse 6: I don’t want to fake you out,

                 Take or shake or forsake you out;

                 I ain’t lookin’ for you to feel like me,

                 See like me or be like me.

Chorus 6: All I really want to do

                  Is, baby, be friends with you.

 Questions:

1. What does Bob Dylan want from this person he is addressing in this song? Explain. Is this a reasonable request? Explain. Use quotes from the song to support your points.

2. The songwriter mentions a lot of things he does not want to be or do with this person. Are these things he mentions in the verses part of most friendships, or are these things that will hurt and destroy friendships? Explain. Use quotes from the song to illustrate your ideas.

3. How do your requirements for friendship match up with the songwriter’s ideas about friendship? Explain. Use quotes from the song to support your points.

 

Song Lyrics Assignment # 8

Song # 6: “The Dangling Conversation”-Paul Simon (Simon and Garfunkel)

Verse 1: It’s a still life water color

               Of a now late afternoon

               As the sun shines through the curtain lace

               And shadows wash the room.

               And we sit and drink our coffee,

               Cast in our indifference, like shells upon the shore;

               You can hear the ocean roar.

Chorus 1: In the dangling conversation, And the superficial sighs,

                  The borders of our lives.

Verse 2: And you read your Emily Dickenson

                And I my Robert Frost,

                And we note our place with bookmarkers

                That measure what we lost.

                Like a poem poorly written,

                We are verses out of rhythm, Couplets out of rhyme

                In syncopated time.

 Chorus 2: And the dangling conversation, And the superficial sighs,

                   And the borders of our lives.

Verse 3: Yes, we speak of things that matter

                With words that must be said;

                Can analysis be worthwhile?

                Is the theater really dead?

                And how the room is softly faded,

                And I only kiss your shadow, I cannot feel your hand;

                You’re a stranger now unto me.

Chorus 3: Lost in the dangling conversation, And the superficial sighs,

On the borders of our lives.

 Questions:

1. Based on the words in this song, describe the relationship between this couple. Do they seem to have more of a healthy relationship, or more of an unhealthy relationship? Explain. Use quotes from the song to illustrate your points.

2. What feelings did the songwriter have when he wrote this song, based on the lyrics? List at least eight different feelings he might have had. Explain how he had each of these feelings.

3. The songwriter is describing a couple who seems to have lost their positive connection with each other. Explain how this song illustrates this idea, Use quotes from the song to support your ideas.

 

Song Lyrics Assignment # 8

Song # 7-“I’m a Loser”-John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Chorus 1: I’m a loser, I’m a loser, and I’m not what I appear to be.

 

Verse 1: Of all the love I have won or have lost,

               There is one love I should never have crossed.

               She was a girl in a million, my friend,

               I should have known she would win in the end.

Chorus 2: I’m a loser, and I lost someone who’s near to me,

                  I’m a loser, and I’m not what I appear to be.

Verse 2: Although I laugh and I act like a clown,

               Beneath this mask I am wearing a frown.

               My tears are falling like rain from the sky;

              Is it for her or myself that I cry?

Chorus 3: I’m a loser, and I lost someone who’s near to me,

                  I’m a loser, and I’m not what I appear to be.

Verse 3: What have I done to deserve such a fate,

                I realize I have left it too late.

               And so it’s true pride comes before a fall,

               I’m telling you so that you won’t lose all.

Chorus 4: I’m a loser, and I lost someone who’s near to me,

                  I’m a loser, and I’m not what I appear to be.

 

Questions:

1. Explain why the songwriters (this song was primarily written by John Lennon) felt like losers. Use quotes from the song to support your points. Have you ever felt like you were a loser? If you have, explain what caused you to feel this way. If you have never felt like a loser, explain why you have never felt like this.

2. In the second verse , the songwriters say these words: “My tears are falling like rain from the sky; Is it for her or myself that I cry?”. Explain what this quote means. How do you think the songwriters would answer this question? When you cry, do you most often cry for other people or for yourself? Explain.

3. The songwriters say in the chorus the following words: “I’m a loser, and I’m not what I appear to be.” What do you think the songwriters appear to be to other people? What are they really? What kind of masks do you think the songwriters put on so that people will not see how sad they are? What kinds of masks do you wear and for what reasons do you wear these masks? Explain.

 

Song Lyrics Assignment # 8

Song # 8-“Military Madness”-Graham Nash

Verse 1: In an upstairs room in Blackpool, by the side of the northern sea;

               The army had my father, and my mother was having me.

Chorus 1: Military madness was killing my country;

                  Solitary sadness comes over me.

Verse 2: And after the school was over, and I moved to the other side;

               I found another country, but I never lost my pride.

Chorus 2: Military madness was killing my country;

                  Solitary sadness comes over me.

Verse 3: And after the wars are over, and the body count is finally filed;

               I hope the man discovers, what’s driving the people wild.

Chorus 3: Military madness is killing the country;

                  So much sadness between you and me.

 

Questions:

1. Explain what the title means in relation to the words in the song. Use quotes form the song to illustrate your ideas.

2. Explain what the following words from verse 3 mean: “And after the wars are over, and the body count is finally filed; I hope that man discovers, what’s driving the people wild.” In your opinion, are these things likely to happen in your lifetime? Explain.

3. How do you think the songwriter would respond to this statement: “Wars are sometimes a necessary evil in this world, and do sometimes serve a good purpose.” Would he agree with any part of this statement? Explain why he either would agree with all or part of this statement.

 

Song Lyrics Assignment # 8

Song # 9-“Saturday Night”-The Eagles

Verse 1: Seems like a dream now, it was so long ago,

               The moon burned so bright and the time went so slow.

               And I swore that I loved her and gave her a ring,

              The bluebird was high on the wing.

Chorus 1: Whatever happened to Saturday night?

                  Finding a sweetheart and holding her tight?

                 She said, “Tell me, oh, tell me, was I all right?

                 Whatever happened to Saturday night?

Verse 2: The years brought the railroad, it ran by my door;

                Now there’s boards on the windows, and dust on the floor.

                And she passes the time at another man’s side,

                And I pass the time with my pride.

Interlude: What a tangled web we weave,

                Go ‘round with circumstance;

                Someone show me how to tell the dancer

                From the dance.

Chorus 3: What ever happened to Saturday night?

                  Choosing a friend or losing a fight;

                  She said, “Tell me, oh, tell me, are you all right?”

                  Whatever happened to Saturday night?

                  Whatever happened to Saturday night?

 Questions:

1. In the songwriter’s past, what was special about Saturday night? What happened in the songwriter’s past on Saturday night?

2. The songwriter has experienced some changes in his life. Describe these changes, Use quotes from the song to support your points. Are these mostly positive changes, or are they mostly negative changes? Explain.

3. How would the songwriter answer this question from the Interlude? “Someone show me how to tell the dancer from the dance.” Explain.



 

Song Lyrics Assignment # 8

Song # 10-“Last Year’s Man”-Leonard Cohen

Verse 1: The rain falls down on last year’s man;

               That’s a Jews harp on the table, that’s a crayon in his hand.

               And the corners of the blue print are ruined since they rolled

               Far past the stems of thumb tacks that still throw shadows on the wood.

Chorus 1:  And the skylight is like the skin for a drum I’ll never mend,

              And all the rain falls down, Amen, on the works of last year’s man.

Verse 2: I met a lady, she was playing with her soldiers in the dark,

               Oh, one by one she had to tell them that she her name was Joan of Arc.

              I was in that army, yes I stayed a little while,

              I want to thank you, Joan of Arc, for treating me so well.

Chorus 2:  And tho’ I wear a uniform, I was not born to fight;

              All these wounded boys you lie beside; good night, my friends, goodnight.

Verse 3: I came upon a wedding that old fam’lies had contrived,

                Bethlehem the bridegroom, Babylon the bride.

                Great Babylon was naked; Ah! She stood there trembling for me,

                And Bethlehem inflamed us both like the shy one at some orgy.

Chorus 3: And when we fell together all our flesh was like a veil,

                  That I had to draw aside to see the serpent eat its tail.

Verse 4: Some women wait for Jesus and some women wait for Cain,

               So I hang upon my altar and I hoist my axe again.

               And I take the one who finds me back to where it all began,

               When Jesus was the honeymoon and Cain was just the man.

Chorus 4: And we read from pleasant Bibles that are bound in blood and skin

                  That the wilderness is gathering all its children back again.

Verse 5: The rain falls down on last year’s man,

                An hour has gone by and he has not moved his hand.

                But everything will happen if he only gives the word,

                The lovers will rise up and the mountains will touch the ground.

Chorus 5: But the skylight is like the skin for a drum I’ll never mend,

                  And all the rain falls down, Amen, on the works of last year’s man.

 Questions:

1. What are the characteristics of last year’s man, according to the song? Explain. Use quotes from the song to illustrate your points.

2. What roles does God/ Jesus play in this song? Explain. Use quotes from the song to support your ideas.

3. Choose one of the five verses and explain what this verse means to you. Identify the verse you choose by listing its number.