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.

Space Bound By: Eminem

Shifting from love and compassion to hate and anger in "Space Bound", Eminem employs dramatic similes, invariant metaphors and a simple paradox in order to depict his first live and explain how "love is evil".

Eminem uses continuous similes to get his point across that there is someone out there he is in love with. He compares a hug to an explosion when saying, "It's like an explosion every time I hold you". He is comparing the girl to something amazing. This is showing how much he loves her. In the line "Til' I snap your neck like a Popsicle stick", he is saying how easy it would be to hurt her because Popsicle sticks are easy to break. The similes are used to catch the listeners attention by explaining how far he would go for his first love.

There is an extreme amount of metaphors that Eminem uses in order to compare his first love to real life things. He compares himself and his love to a spaceship and the moon in the chorus, "I'm a space bound rocket ship and your hearts the moon". It shows that he is aiming for her because a spaceship aims for the moon. In the line, "you take my breath away, you're a supernova", Eminem compares her to a supernova which is a star that explodes and becomes extremely luminous in the process.

Eminem uses a lot of paradoxes in this song. The most popular one is the lyric "love is 'evol', spell is backwards I’ll show ya". Love is a paradox because it is evil, but at the same time, the complete opposite. Throughout the song he goes about how being in love with this unknown person makes him feel so amazing but it also talks about how it can destroy you when things don't work out, hence love is evil. In the lines, "you want 'em when they don't want you, as soon as they do feelings change" is explaining how psychology works. It's the opposite of what people really want. Eminem uses a lot of back and forth tone in this song.

 The song "Space Bound" is clearly about a love that he has lost. He has so much feeling that he would go from complete love and compassion to hate and anger if she leaves. "I would've did anything for you, to show you how much I adored you, but it's over now It's too late to save our love" show that he messed up and list someone he truly adores.

"Little Green" By Joni Mitchell

Exploring the conflicting emotions of the characteristics of adoption, in the song “Little Green”, Joni Mitchell Utilizes realistic imagery, mellow tone, and significant symbolism in order to show the sacrifices she makes for her daughter and how hard it is to deal with the “sorrow” when putting a child up for adoption.

​The imagery Mitchell uses in the novel stands out to the listeners because of the reality being portrayed throughout the song. She uses real life references to explain the process she went through to put “Little Green” up for adoption. She compares “Little Green” to “the northern lights” and how green is like the color “when spring is born”. The imagery also describes the sacrifices being made when she “signs all the papers in the family name”. These kinds of situations happen in real life and can be very difficult to deal with. While listening to the song, it is easy to picture what Mitchell is going through. “Weary of lies you are sending home” describes how Mitchell feels when during the adoption process. She feels as though she is lying to her child since she is “a child with a child pretending”. She realizes that there will “sometimes be sorrow” but the sacrifice she made is worth it to her and “Little Green”.

​Mitchell sings her song “Little Green” with a mellow tone in order to set the mood of the listeners. The tone flows softly with the lyrics and creates a mellow feeling. Listening to the song helps the listeners feel how Mitchell felt when she dealt with the process of adoption. She uses a lot of description to portray the tone by comparing “Little Green” to “spring”. Spring is known as a mellow season to most people and it helps the listeners get into that bitter sweet feeling. “They’ll be crocuses to bring to school tomorrow” shows that spring is coming because those are the first flowers of spring. It seems as though her tone shows confusion but also confident because she becomes confused about what she is doing but at the same time she feels right about it.

The symbolism that is portrayed in Mitchell's song shows the significance of her life and "Little Green". Spring is a symbol of Little Green because everything turns green when spring comes. The "crocuses" symbolize spring itself because those are the first flowers of spring. These symbols tie together and represent how Little Green is brought into the world. The "papers in the family name" symbolize the adoption. The papers that "you sign" secure the adoption and make it complete. That is a big part of Mitchell's life; it changed her life for good. The "lies"she is "sending home" symbolize her guiltiness for the while situation. Although she feels guilty, she knows it's the right thing to do.

Mitchell's song "Little Green" represents how her life changes when she puts her baby up for adoption. The imagery that is used helps the listeners feel the way she feels. Her tone is mellow and helps set the mood for her listeners. The symbols she chose represent get whole life and her child. The process of the adoption is told through this song with the help of the devices Mitchell uses.