Dave Mathews Band : "Funny the Way it is"

Transitioning between frequent shifts in the song “Funny the Way it is”, Dave Mathews Band utilizes situational irony, vivid imagery and obvious alliteration in order to portray how “funny the way it is” how certain things in life work out.

 Mathews uses vivid irony throughout his song in order to prove that things in life do not always turn out the way people expect things to. He starts his song off by describing the day as “beautiful” and filled with “sunshine”.  The irony of the song is then portrayed throughout the rest of the song because everything the last sentence of that verse says, “Someone’s house is burning on a day like this”. This is ironic because the day is describes as a great day but all of a sudden someone’s house is burning down. “Sirens passing” is a sign of the fire. He mentions, “Somebody’s going hungry and someone else is eating out”. The irony in this is that they are kind of like opposites and when one thing happens, the opposite happens. When he says, “one kid walks 10 miles to school, another’s dropping out”. This is ironic because the first kid wants to go to school even if it is a long walk away but the second kid gives up and drops out.

Imagery is portrayed though out the song to help set the mood for the listener. In the first verse he describes the scene of the setting by saying, “Sunshine in the grass, and the children play”. When hearing this line the listeners can picture the setting in their head and develop a mood. He uses the sense of touch in the line, “The way your mouth feels in your lovers kiss”. “Kiss” and “feels” describes the feeling of it. In the line, “Watch the sky, the jet planes, so far out of my reach” the sense is sight. The listeners are able to picture “jets” in the sky. In the line, “Sirens passing, fire engine red” the listeners are able to picture the color of the fire truck, red, and think of what the sirens sound like.

Alliteration is portrayed though out the song but is hard to pick out because some people do not notice them right away. One of the allusions is, “Bomb blast brings”. The repetition of the letters “B” is used three times. He always uses, “baby’s being born”. It again repeats the letter “B” three times. Most people do not recognize things device in songs. Sometimes it helps the song flow well and its helps the listeners understand it more.

The song “Funny the Way it is” mostly uses irony. The imagery and the irony connect in a way because the listeners are able to picture what is happening. It portrays the imagery to be more ironic. The alliteration helps the song flow well. The repetition of the same letters sounds better in some cases. The irony can be recognized because it is obvious to spot out and it makes the listeners interested more I  the song.