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Reflection #8

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For this reflection, I am choosing to write about a song by The 1975 called Chocolate. It is an extremely catchy and upbeat song that I’ve been really loving, but only recently given thought to what the lyrics really mean. The song constantly is referring to “chocolate” and it is definitely a reference to some kind of drug. I looked up if chocolate was slang for any drugs and it is slang for marijuana, opium and amphetamine. I’m using my detective abilities and saying that they were probably referring to marijuana in their use of the word chocolate. The song is about a bunch of kids who are running from the police, going where nobody goes, smelling like “chocolate”, and they have all claimed that they are “never gonna quit it”. They also describe “guns being under their petticoats”, and gun is another reference to drugs. So, this song is about a bunch of these reckless rascals smoking and running from the cops in a nutshell.

The song is very, very upbeat and I often find myself dancing to it while driving. The singer of the band is from the UK and has a very heavy accent so it’s very hard to understand what he is really singing (I know I didn’t really know the true lyrics until I looked them up). So between the upbeat feel and the accent, it is very difficult to pick up on all the drug references and true meaning of the song. I think that the song isn’t supposed to have some dark meaning though. The lyrics, even though they are dealing with drugs, sound pretty harmless. None of these kids really seem like they are truly harming themselves or getting into real trouble. I watched an interview with the band and they were saying that they wrote the song to express their own history with drugs. They grew up in a small town where kids hung around and smoked pot and the police chased after them because that was the only crime they really were experiencing. And after I watched that interview and listened to the song, the meaning and intentions behind the song really clicked. Even the beat almost seems like you could run to it, so I imagine this song playing as the kids are running and hiding from the local police and maybe even their parents.

The 1975 is a very new band with only one album under their belt, but they have already gotten so popular. They have a great sound, and I’m always drawn to bands that the lead singer has a heavy accent in. I love the sound and quality of their voices. If you have yet to check out their music, I would recommend it. A lot of their music has a very upbeat, excited sound like this tune, and you can almost never understand what he’s saying.

I would recommend this song to anyone and, like I previously stated, it’s a great driving song to jam to on those fun commutes to Stony Brook.

Lyrics: http://www.metrolyrics.com/chocolate-lyrics-the-1975.html

Reflection #7

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For this last reflection I chose to write about Pink’s Just Give Me A Reason. I have always really loved this song, and am a big Pink fan. I also really love the band Fun and the lead singer is featured on this song which is just another reason why I think this song is so great. The song is about two people who were in love but are clearly falling out of it. Pink’s part describes their relationship in the beginning, and how perfect it once was. When Nat comes in, he is oblivious to what she is saying. He thinks their relationship is fine but as the song continues he realizes what she is trying to say. Through the story of the song they describe how there is space between them which used to full of there love. But they both want their love to be strong again and leaves off with them having hope that they can “learn to love again.” I think the song is about second chances and not give up when things get hard, and it has a great message behind it.

I like how the song starts off with the two singers taking turns with singing and telling both sides of the story. Then at the end they both sing and pass the melody back and forth with really rich harmonies that pull on all the heartstrings. The song is melodically very powerful that makes the already powerful lyrics even more meaningful. I love how at the end the song finishes with just the piano playing the melody that they were singing throughout the song, and it also begins the same way. It makes the song become almost like a circle that is completed at the end. I write a lot of my own music and try to do that same technique with some of my song/pieces. It makes to piece of music seem very complete and fulfilled.

I think the song is very different than a lot of the music Pink produces. She is a very strong woman and her songs always exude that strength. This song is definitely a lot more vulnerable than her other music. It is also a duet which is something that is different for both artists.

I recommend this song to anyone who likes a song that gives them the feels. I’m sure most people have already heard it though because it was all over the radio not too long ago. Thankfully, I still consider it a really great tune even though it was well over-played.

Lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/pink/justgivemeareason.html

Reflection #6

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I was privileged to talk to my best friend’s mom, the Susan Simms, about what song she really connects with. During this chat I not only listened a new song, but learned a lot about her and her new business. The song she chose was I’m Winning by Santana. It’s a very inspirational song about picking yourself up when life get’s you down.

She told me that she likes to listen to this song when she is going through a particularly hard time in her life and it reminds her that she will get through it. She said that when she listens to the song she always has a better outlook on her life. She just started a new business about meditation and stress management for children and teenagers and informed me that at her next session she was going to share this song with all the young people. I think that the song will have a good impact on them because it had a good impact on me and I only just heard the song.

She is really excited about her new business and I think that this song reflects the journey it took getting there. She was working on it for a long time and I know that at times it was stressful and sometimes it could’ve been easier to give up. But she kept going with it and now that the business is successful and she’s doing what she loves, she’s “winning”. This is a good lesson to learn because following after what you want and dream of won’t always be easy but the outcome is always worth it.

I would recommend this song to anyone because it’s really a upbeat tune with a good message. It’s a good song to listen to early in the day to put you in a good mood.

 

Lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/santana/winning.html

 

Reflection #5

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Regina Spektor is an amazing lyricist and musician, and all of her songs need to be fully analyzed to find out what she is really saying. Genius next door is one of my favorite songs by her, and it definitely has a complexity to it’s lyrics and story that you can’t fully detect just listening through it once or twice. One interpretation of the song could be about a “genius next door” who commits suicide in the town’s lake. This genius was stuck doing mundane tasks in life by working a low-pay job at  a restaurant in town. He wasn’t happy and would comfort himself in dreaming of going to the lake to kill himself. The morning after he did this the whole town awakes like nothing has happened, going about their normal lives that the genius would have continued if he chose to save himself.

There are a few lines in this song that I had to really think about to understand what she was really trying to say. At the end of the song when she says that “And the genius next door was sleeping, dreaming that the antidote was orgasm”, I was surprised and wondered what she could’ve meant. Did she mean that since he wasn’t enjoying blissful pleasures in his life he chose to end it? I couldn’t imagine she meant that. I think what she really means is that when you’re about to drown, there is a feeling of euphoria that comes over you right before you’re about to die. I think she was comparing that feeling to an orgasm, so this genius thought that this feeling of euphoria would be the solution. And when you read into this meaning, you can get a whole other meaning of the song. So another interpretation of this song could be that the whole town was fascinated with this lake and fascinated with this feeling of euphoria you get when drowning. In the beginning of the song she says, “Some said the local lake had been enchanted”, so they associated this feeling with the lake. Then she goes onto say that “the neighbors were trying to keep it quiet” so you can say that they were trying to hide the fact that the whole town was fascinated with this idea, and maybe it has even killed some kids before because at the end of that stanza she says that “but the local kids would still go swimming, drinking, saying that to them it doesn’t matter”. So even though people have died in this lake, they still go swimming and continue to live their life like they are untouchable. And then this local “genius” boy finds himself comforted by this idea and wants to try it out. Maybe Regina Spektor is even sarcastically calling him a genius because he thinks that he can do what the others couldn’t. But obviously he couldn’t and loses his life to this idea.

Regina Spektor is more of a poet when it comes to how her songs are written. This is just one example of the way she tells intricate stories through her songs but all of her songs can be looked at and analyzed the same. She first studied to be a concert pianist, so all of her songs feature her playing beautiful melodies on the piano as well as her voice. This song is not autobiographical for her, but does provide a haunting story and message for all it’s listeners. Whether you want to see it as just a sad story of an unhappy boy giving up his life, or the more intricate story of ignorance and fascination with a fatal idea.

I recommend this song, and any of Regina’s songs to everyone. They are definitely all a bit eccentric because she is a very eccentric person, but if you can look past that and appreciate her weirdness, you will definitely fall in love with her music. I would listen to her when you can really listen to the songs, I wouldn’t really consider her work good background music.

 

Lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/reginaspektor/geniusnextdoor.html

Reflection #4

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Liebestraume by Franz Liszt is easily one of my favorite pieces of music. It’s a piano piece that was published in 1850 and one of Liszt’s most popular works. The piece can be broken up into 3 different parts, but the same melody carries throughout the piece. The title is translated to mean “dreams of love” and the piece is just that. It sounds like a dream with the flowing melody that is equally haunting and beautiful. Yes, there may not be any lyrics but it evokes feelings of love better than any love song I’ve heard. The melody sounds like a love sick boy/girl trying to convince someone of their unbreakable love they have for a person. The beginning melody, which carries through, is beautiful and sure of itself. It flows effortlessly through the pianist’s hands. Then in the second, more agitated, part of the piece the same melody in a different key is more impassioned, almost like someone begging another person to recognize the love they have for them. It reaches the climax in the piece when the melody grows and grows to its final height. If I had to describe what it sounds like I would describe it as someone just crying and begging someone to love them as much as they love them, and then finally when the person agrees you hear that beautiful, graceful run up and down the piano. Then you hear the original melody slightly modified, almost like the song is singing you back into that dream-like state. The ending is so dreamy with the light, broken up chords, almost like a person’s eyelids opening and closing right when they’re about to fall asleep. And the end is exactly that, someone falling back into that dream of love.

This piece sounds so effortless when played by a skilled pianist, but it is no where near an easy piece to play. The piece needs to be so fluid and light on your fingers to have it sound as dreamy as it is supposed to be, and that’s very hard to do when making all those runs and jumps that Liszt wrote in. When done properly though, it’s magical. I have loved this piece ever since I was a little girl taking piano lessons and always promised myself that I would learn it. I finally did in 11th grade in high school and it was very, very difficult to play the piece how it was intended to be played. But when I did play it as graceful as it was meant to be, all the runs, jumps and notes seemed to mix together so perfectly to sound exactly like what love feels like. I can’t even tell you how many times I have listened/played the theme that goes from 2:12 to the run, I can’t find the words to describe how beautiful and passionate that part of the piece is.

Liszt is known for writing extremely difficult music to play. The music he wrote was also very unconventional for his time period, and he influenced a lot of later composers who experimented with impressionism, like Debussy. I hear a lot of similarities between Debussy’s Clair de Lune and Liszt’s Dreams of love. This is definitely my favorite piece by Liszt because even though it is a difficult piece to play, it’s still melodically beautiful. Some pieces that are overly technical lose emotion and passion.

I really hope that everyone has a chance to listen to this piece. When I was younger it inspired me to continue practicing the piano so that one day I could learn it. And I hope that when everyone listens to it they at least almost get the chills because I think it’s chills worthy.

Reflection #3

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I chose to write about Billy Joel’s song Goodnight Saigon for this week’s reflection. Billy Joel is a fantastic lyricist and musician, and this is definitely one of my favorite songs by him. It carries such emotion and has themes that are important for everyone. The song is written from the point of view of a United States Marine during the Vietnam War. The song starts off as the Marines arrive at Parris Island and undergo their training and have to get used to all the drastic changes in their lives. The changes range from the kind of soap they have to use, all the way to the fact that they now have their lives on the line for their country. The song then describes the bond that they have all made with each other as they live day to day, and they describe themselves as brothers.

The song is written to be, musically, very powerful. The song is made to feel very real and is filled with sounds of helicopters and crickets to make the listener really imagine themselves in the place that the song is describing. The way that the narrator of the song only refers to himself and his fellow soldiers as “we” is so powerful and shows that they are all in this war together. When all different voices come in for the chorus, “and we will all go down together”, I can’t help but get chills because it really just demonstrates to power of human connection and how without each other, these brave Marines could have never done what they so bravely did. They all became one and felt everything the others felt, and when they lost a fellow friend to the war, I can imagine that they all felt a loss to themselves. One of my favorite lyrics in this song is, “And who was wrong? And who was right?”. I find it to be so powerful because in the end, it didn’t really matter. All that mattered was the bond they had, and the bonds they lost when they lost one of their own.

I don’t know too much of the backstory behind why Billy Joel chose to write this song, but I do know that he does write a lot of songs that tell stories. It definitely is a song that has an important meaning because it tells a real story, the story of the Marines in the Vietnam War. This song is very well known and has gotten a lot of positive feedback, and all for good reasons.

I think that if anyone hasn’t yet listened to this song, that they should do so immediately. It’s such an important song and story, and really makes you think about the people who fought for our country, and really anyone who goes and fights for their own country in war.

 

Lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/billyjoel/goodnightsaigon.html

Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qjzjhl-QztE

Reflection #2

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The song I chose for this week’s reflection is Richard Cory by Simon and Garfunkel. The song was an adaptation of an Edwin Arlington Robinson poem and I think the song tells a very haunting story. It starts off by describing this man, Richard Cory, who seems to have it all. He is a wonderful business man and the narrator of the song merely works in his factor. But not only is he a rich man, he also goes to the opera, donates to charity and, of course, has a yacht. The narrator keeps repeating that he wishes he could be Richard Cory but then we learn that one night Richard Cory went home and shot himself in the head.

The song is upbeat and full of harmony that makes it very pleasant to listen to but is definitely consumed with minor melodies. The guitar in the song has a very rugged sound to it and adds to the grittiness in the song. The lyrics repeat itself a lot, and I think it adds to the essence of the song. After each verse, the lyrics “Oh I wish that I could be Richard Cory” repeats itself. Even after the part of the song where it describes his suicide, the lyrics appear again. The music of this song really adds to the theme of this song. Life is so mundane and people are always looking at the greener grass of other people’s life, and are trying to one-up everyone else around  us, that sometimes we forget about the important things. We forget about our own happiness and fall into a lifestyle full of image which is something that doesn’t bring contentment and fulfillment.

The style of this song is very typical for Simon and Garfunkel. They always sing songs full of harmony between their two voices which is something I love about them. A lot of their songs tend to tell stories too, usually not the happiest ones either.

I would recommend this song, and any of their music, to anyone and everyone. They tell stories that are important and also their music is always kind to the ears. It’s a good song for a nice rainy day inside with a warm cup of tea.

What I want to learn in ACH 102 this semester

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-I want to learn how to better analyze music and find meanings in songs and pieces.

-I want to be able to find stories in pieces of music where it wouldn’t be obvious. For example, in a piece of music without any words.

-I want to learn more about other people’s taste in music and see all types of music as having something to share and give to the world.

Reflection 1

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For my first reflection I’m choosing to write about a song by Bright Eyes called First Day Of My Life. This is one of my favorite songs by the band Bright Eyes and also just one of my all-time favorites. It’s about love and what it’s like to fall in love with someone.

The song is very intimate sounding with a guitar and the lead singer, Conor Oberst, singing quietly but full of emotion. When he sings he always has this tone to his voice where it sounds like he is on the verge of tears and it makes all of his music so powerful. He describes the day he saw this person he fell in love with as the first day of his life, and goes on to describe himself as being blind before he saw the person. He is saying that before he met this person everything about himself and his life meant nothing ultimately. This person and this love has provided him life and he is seeing, feeling and experiencing everything again for the first time. This person has become his whole life and he’s “glad I didn’t die before I met you”. Every word he sings sounds so honest and I never have felt the things that he sings personally, but he makes me believe that all these things are true and when you do fall in love, it’s going to feel like you just woke up and finally are alive.

I don’t know too much about the singer’s personal life but I do know he suffers from depression and drug abuse. His songs usually take more of a darker theme and tone and this is definitely one of his happiest and hopeful tunes. I hope it is autobiographical and have to believe it because of all the complete honesty he put into his voice in this song.

I would really listen to this song whenever, and find myself constantly listening to it. It’s a good song to listen to when you’re happy and it will bring you more happiness, but it’s also a good song to cry to when you’re feeling more on the emotional side. It’s definitely a good song to listen to when you’re driving, and I could only imagine a good song to listen to when you’re in love.

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/brighteyes/firstdayofmylife.html

About me

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Hello everyone! I’m Kayla Benaburger and I’m a freshman from Setauket, which is conveniently located 5 minutes away from Stony Brook University’s campus. That being said, I’m a commuter student. My major is currently psychology but I still really do not know where I want that to take me. I love helping people and can only hope that one day I can pursue a career where I can help others. My passion is music and I play a few different instruments. I have been playing the piano since I was 3 years old and that has always been my greatest love. In high school I played the viola in orchestra and also sang in the chorus. I have recently been teaching myself how to play guitar, which is a lot harder than I originally thought, but I will not give up. I mainly love to sing and play the piano and write my songs. I love listening to music as well, and have a very large taste in music. I love everything from classical to rock. When I’m not playing or listening to music, I also love reading and catching up on my netflix queue. Well, that’s pretty much all you need to know about me.