Song rating systems review

1. I think this is a good idea because not all songs are equal and length and it is unfair if one song has a lot more lines then the other does because then obviously it is going to have a lot more poetic devices within the song. I also think though that it should be taken into consideration that some songs could have many poetic devices but just be too long or repeating and that could affect the score and what the outcome would be.

2. I think that epithet should be included in the scoring system. An epithet is an adjective or an adjective phrase that appropriately qualifies a noun and adds emphasis to it. An example would be “ragged noise”. Catachresis should be included in the scoring system. It is an extravagant implied metaphor using words in an alien or unusual way. Amplification should be included in the scoring system. It involves repeating a word or expression while adding more detail to it, in order to emphasize what might otherwise be passed over.

3. I think that cliché should be deleted because many writers now a day use clichés in their songs and the students should not be punished for something like that. Even people now a day’s use clichés.

4. I like the way the lay out is now rather than before. It is more understanding to someone who is looking at it for the first time and it also is very user friendly. 

Just a Dream Nelly (Short Story Song Lyrics)

I was thinkin about her, thinkin about me.

Thinkin about us, what we gonna be?

Open my eyes, yeah; it was only just a dream.

So I travel back, down that road.

Who she come back? No one knows.

I realize, yeah, it was only just a dream.

I was at the top and I was like I’m at the basement.

Number one spot and now she found her a replacement.

I swear now I can't take it, knowing somebody's got my baby.

And now you ain't around, baby I can't think.

Shoulda put it down. Shoulda got that ring.

Cuz I can still feel it in the air.

See her pretty face run my fingers through her hair.

My lover, my life. My shorty, my wife.

She left me, I'm tied.

Cuz I knew that it just ain't right.

I was thinkin about her, thinkin about me.

Thinkin about us, what we gonna be?

Open my eyes, yeah; it was only just a dream.

So I travel back, down that road.

Who she come back? No one knows.

I realize, yeah, it was only just a dream.

When I be ridin man I swear I see her face at every turn.

Tryin to get my usher over, I can let it burn.

And I just hope she notice she the only one I yearn for.

Oh I miss her when will I learn?

Didn't give her all my love, I guess now I got my payback.

Now I'm in the club thinkin all about my baby.

Hey, she was so easy to love. But wait, I guess that love wasn't enough.

I'm goin through it every time that I'm alone.

And now i'm missin, wishin she'd pick up the phone.

But she made a decision that she wanted to move one.

Cuz I was wrong.

And I was thinkin about her, thinkin about me.

Thinkin about us, what we gonna be?

Open my eyes, yeah; it was only just a dream.

So I travel back, down that road.

Who she come back? No one knows.

I realize, yeah, it was only just a dream.

If you ever loved somebody put your hands up.

If you ever loved somebody put your hands up.

And now they're gone and you wish you could give them everything.

I said, if you ever loved somebody put your hands up.

If you ever loved somebody put your hands up.

And now they're gone and you wish you could give them everything.

I was thinkin about her, thinkin about me.

Thinkin about us, what we gonna be?

Open my eyes, yeah; it was only just a dream.

So I travel back, down that road.

Who she come back? No one knows.

I realize, yeah, it was only just a dream.

And I was thinkin about her, thinkin about me.

Thinkin about us, what we gonna be?

Open my eyes, yeah; it was only just a dream.

So I travel back, down that road.

Who she come back? No one knows.

I realize, yeah, it was only just a dream.

Short Story

Oh my oh my! My Linda is the most gorgeous girl anyone has ever laid eyes on. Speaking of eyes, hers are as beautiful and peaceful as the color of the Caribbean Sea. That luscious blue color that makes you dumb at the sight of them. Her dark brunette hair the color of a fresh baked brownie that makes her warmth shine. Whenever I see her pretty face I want to run my fingers through her hair.  Just the sight of her brightens up my entire day.

Everyday I go into Stop & Shop just to see her. I buy little things I do not even need just so that we can have that special connection. She always greats me with a kind hello and a smile that you could die for. You can tell that I am special to her because she always gives me a look she never gives any of her other customers. I found out her work schedule so I make sure I always go in when she is working. One day she was there when I showed up so I walked all around the store until it closed, it turns out she was sick. I came back the next day and there she was. I asked her how she was feeling and she told me she was fine and seemed impressed that I knew about her condition. 

I am always way too scared and embarrassed to ask her on a real date. Whenever I talk to her my palms become sweaty and my throat becomes dry and I can not speak. When I get home from the grocery store I go to my chair and put myself into my dream. In this new world I can be anyone and do anything that I want to. Linda and I are happily together in this world and everything I just grab her and kiss her whenever I see her. These dreams make me feel good because I know that one day these dreams are going to become real. Linda just has to admit her love to me first and then everything will go exactly according to plan.

I was sick with a cold so I went to Stop & Shop and picked up some cold medicine. Boy, was Linda looking prettier then ever. With the cold symptoms and my case of love for Linda I was set into a daze. When I got home I took my cold medicine and I thought I had laid down to go into my dream. I was back at the supermarket and I just swept up Linda right off her feet and gave her a kiss. Never has anything in a dream felt more real to me then this moment. Suddenly, Linda was pushing me aways and calling me things like “ weirdo” and “creep”. None of this made sense to me. Why was my Linda acting so strange. I tried talking to her thinking maybe she was having a bad day but all she did was yell and scream. Eventually I felt tough hands gripping my arms. In my midst of thinking I must not have heard her call for security because when I turned around two large bulky men in blue were holding me. I told them to let me go and it was all just a misunderstanding. They did not believe me so I looked at Linda and said, “ Honey go on tell them that this is just a big miscommunication.” Linda did not say anything but “ Take him away.” I began to panic and then I realized it was probably just a joke she was playing on me. So I played along with the officers as they read me my rights and put me inside of the cop car. When I was at the station I figured I should tell them that the jig was up and to release me. When I said this they laughed in my face and told me I was going to be here a long long time. They put me into my own cell which had an overwhelming smell of body odor and decay. 

Now two days later I still sit here on my bed which is so uncomfortable that the floor seems like a cloud from the sky. I have begun to realize that I never really did go into my dream that day. All of what is happening to me right now is real life. Now I will have to wait to see Linda. It might be 10 years down the road but I will find her when I get out and one day we will be together.

Song: High School

Time is running out

And its all I can think about

Memories of the years before

Coming back now more and more

[Chorus]

Things have changed, including me

But you just gotta live life and let things be

There is no time for regrets

Life is all about chances and bets

I was scared and shy

With thoughts of everyone being the bad guy

That first year being brand new

I never though i would make it through

[Chorus]

Things have changed including me

But you just gotta live life and let things be

There is no time for regrets

Life is all about chances and bets

I realized now it was all a lie

No one really was a bad guy

With two years of experience in my hand

I finally started to understand

[Chorus]

Things have changed including me

But you just gotta live life and let things be

There is no time for regrets

Life is all about chances and bets

Im a junior now and thats a fact

Given any chance I would take it all back

Be myself, hang out with friends, just have fun

Because before you know it, it’s over and done

[Chorus]

Things have changed including me

But you just gotta live life and let things be

There is no time for regrets

Life is all about chances and bets

Chances and bets [repeat]

Song Analysis # 2: Undo It

Have you ever thought you had Mr.Perfect only to find out that he was not so perfect after all? You are not the only one, almost everyone has gone through relationships where they are blinded at the sight of love. It is only after the fact that people finally see what they have got themselves into. It does not matter who you are, famous or poor, it can happen any day. Carrie Underwood’s song “ Undo it,” uses objectification to reveal her true feelings of regret towards her most recent relationship.

Carrie begins with using the phrase, “ You stole my happy” (Underwood 9), to emphasize the fact that her last boyfriend had hurt her so much she felt like she could never be happy again. Usually after a bad relationship a person goes threw a phase where they can not find anything good in the world and they feel like there is nothing left for them to hope for. Happiness is not a material thing so someone can not physically take it away from you. Then she moves on to say, “ Took the lonely” (Underwood 10), which meant that he saved her from being lonely like she was before the relationship. But it turns out in the end she would have rather been lonely then to have been played and taken on his “ride”. Then she says that, “ You had my heart now I want it back”(Underwood 12), which relates to how when people first fall in love they say that the other person has stolen their heart away. Now that Carrie and her previous boyfriend are over with she wants to take back all of her love and memories so that she can finally move on and leave him behind. With nothing holding her back or connecting her to this man, she can be happy again and begin a new chapter of her life. By saying, “ You want my future, you can’t have it” (Underwood 37), she is stating that even though he wants to be a part of her life she is not going to let him. She wants a future without him and all of the distress he has caused her. Directly following that line she throws the fact that she is, “ still trying to erase you from my past”(Underwood 38). Since she wants to move on with her life she wants to forget about this man so that he can not continue on with her into her future. She can not actually erase him from her past but she wants to do everything she can in order to feel like he was never there.

Carrie is obviously ready to move on with her life and head out onto a new road. She does not want this man holding her back and she is not going to let how he hurt he affect her. She is just going to move on and forget about him. Her strong use of objectification shows how much he hurt and and also on the other hand just how much she wants to let go of him. By giving meaning to things that are impossible such as stealing someones heart and wanting someones future shows that to Carrie these things are real and personal because they have been greatly affected by this man. People do not value these things until they are messed with and then in return end up hurting the person. Carrie underwood gets her point across through her lyrics and lets him and herself know that he will not be controlling her life anymore.

lyrics:

I should have known by the way you passed me by

There was something in your eyes and it wasn't right

I should have walked but I never had the chance

Everything got out of hand and I let it slide

Now I only have myself to blame for falling for your stupid games

I wish my life could be the way it was before I saw your face

You stole my happy, you made me cry

Took the lonely and took me for a ride

And I wanna uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-undo it

You had my heart, now I want it back

I'm starting to see everything you lack

Boy, you blew it, you put me through it

I wanna uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-undo it

Na, na, na, na, na

Na, na, na, na, na

Na, na, na, na, na, na

Now your photos don't have a picture frame

And I never say your name and I never will

And all your things, well I threw them in the trash

And I'm not even sad

Now you only have yourself to blame for playing all those stupid games

You're always gonna be the same and, oh no, you'll never change

You stole my happy, you made me cry

Took the lonely and took me for a ride

And I wanna uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-undo it

You had my heart, now I want it back

I'm starting to see everything you lack

Boy, you blew it, you put me through it

I wanna uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-undo it

Na, na, na, na, na

Na, na, na, na, na

Na, na, na, na, na, na

You want my future, you can't have it

I'm still trying to erase you from my past

I need you gone so fast

You stole my happy, you made me cry

Took the lonely and took me for a ride

And I wanna uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-undo it

You had my heart, now I want it back

I'm starting to see everything you lack

Boy, you blew it, you put me through it

I wanna uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-undo it

You stole my happy, you made me cry

Took the lonely and took me for a ride

Boy, you blew it, you put me through it

I wanna uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-undo it

Legend and Myth in Music

Myth/Legend #1

The legend of Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil starts out as him being at the cross roads just south of Rosedale. He is upset because he has just recently played a gig and been booed out of it because his playing was not good. He meets a man (the devil) at the crossroads at midnight and the man’s dog howls a sound that Johnson had never heard before. He tells the man he has to have that sound and the devil says the cost is his soul and Robert Johnson gave him his soul so that he could have that sound and become a guitar player like no one had ever seen before. He wanted to become the King of Delta Blues.

Myth/Legend #2

When Ozzy Osbourne was in the band Black Sabbath he was known to throw animal insides out at the crowd. One day a fan finally had enough of it and threw a live bat at him up on stage. Ozzy believed the bat to be a fake one and put it in his mouth and bit the head off of it. He had to be rushed to a hospital because the bat had bit him back and he needed a rabies shot. The after this incident, Ozzy was trying to get signed a deal because Black Sabbath had broken up and he had done another crazy act. When he walked into CBS records he had two doves and threw one up in the air. The other he, yet again, bit the head off of. He had done this stunt to try and catch the attention of CBS records and he had been drinking prior to the meeting.

Myth/Legend #3

 There is/was a supposed rumor that Paul McCartney had died right after the recording of the Abbey Road album. Rumor has it that a man named “Tom” called into a radio station and that is what first sparked this whole controversy. It is said that in the album cover Lennon is dressed in white which is a sign of the church and of mourning, Ringo was dressed in black which represented the undertaker, Harrison was dressed in work clothes which resembled the gravedigger, and lastly McCartney himself was out of step with the other members and he had no shoes on which most corpses are not buried with their shoes. People also say that he license plate on the back of a Volkswagen says,“ LMW 28IF”, which is interpreted as saying that Paul would have been 28 if he had lived.

Myth/Legend #4

Bob Dylan had just became known as a folksinger back in 1965. He went to the Newport Folk Festivals and played something a little bit different then folk. He used an electric guitar and played new songs from his album Bringing it all Back Home and when he played the songs at the Festival they were not a hit. He was booed while on stage and only had the chance to play four songs before he left the stage. 

Myth/Legend #5

Back in the 70’s believe began to think that Gene Simmons had had a transplant of a cows tongue put into his mouth. During concerts he would alway stick out his long tongue and people did not believe there to be any other explanation for it. What is really true is the fact that Gene Simmons was just born with an abnormally large tongue of 7 inches. There was no way that we had the medical equipment back then in order to transplant a cows tongue into Gene Simmons mouth.

Myth/Legend #6

It is said that in the Sgt. Peppers album cover there is yet again clues to the death of Paul McCartney. McCartney is holding a clarinet which is a sign of mourn. Others also say that there is a left handed guitar made out of yellow flowers and McCartney played the guitar and was left handed. They say that all of the famous people that are there are mourning over McCartney’s death, kind of like a funeral. Three people that I recognize in this is: Marilyn Monroe, Edgar Allen Poe, and Bob Dylan. Marilyn is a famous actress, Poe is a famous poet, and Bob Dylan is an artist. Three people I do not recognize are Albert Stubbins, Max Miller, and Lenny Bruce.

Pop Culter Song top 100

The three songs I chose off of the Billboard Top 100 were “Bottoms Up” by Trez Songz, “September” by Daughtry, and “Stuck Like Glue” by Sugarland. I had never really had an interest in any of these songs until I had to study them for this project. They all have many examples of poetic devices and different meanings behind each song.

In the first song “Bottoms Up” by Trez Song ft. Nicki Minaj it is about enjoying a drink while you are out having a good time at bar. An interesting fact about this song is that Nicki Minaj actually uses her alter-ego Roman Zolanski and that is why her voice is distorted and sounds different from other songs she has had a part in. There are many examples of allusions within this song. One is when Nicki says, “ We give a lotta money to the babies out in Haiti”, which refers to the tragic earthquake that happened in Haiti this year. Then she says,“ Rest in peace to Anna Nicole Smith yes, my dear, you’re so explosive say hi to Mary, Mary and Joseph, now bottoms up and double my dosage” which refers to the death of Anna Nicole Smith and how one of the theories of how she died was an over dosage on prescription pills inside of her hotel room and Mary, Mary, and Joseph are biblical characters.

Daughtry’s song, “ September”, is inspired by Chris Daughry’s childhood with his brother in his small town back in NC.The title of the song was inspired by the lyrics “ Yea we knew we had to leave this town But we never knew when and we we never knew how.” Chris uses a lot of examples of personification in this song. He says, “ Summer’s never looked the same”, and of course summer is just a season so he is giving person character to summer. Then following that line he says, “ The years go by and time just seems to fly”, which is a common cliche that has been used over the years because time can not actually fly, it just puts emphasis on how fast it seems to go by to him.

The song, “ Stuck Like Glue”, by Sugarland, tells the story of a couple who has the perfect relationship that most people look towards because the couple is so close with each other. The title of the song is a simile and can also be referred to as a cliche since it is used so much. The couple are so close to one another that it would be impossible to pull them away. Then in the line, “ Just a spoon full of sugar make it better real quick”, that is an allusion to the popular movie, Mary Popins.

All of the songs show the different aspects of the American culture. You can see how some people only focus on the fun of going out every night and getting drunk and having good. Whereas some people focus on remember the past because its something they can never let go. And ultimately most people are focused on finding the right guy/girl and falling in love with them. Since these songs are so different in the stories that they give, it is right to say that our generation as consumers of these songs are varied just like the songs because even though they are different they are all on the top 100 on the billboard so people obviously have to have an interest into these songs. The songs all show that success can be measured in different ways. To some it could be just having a good night out with your friends and others it could finding your true love and being happy.