So this song is basically about the day in the life of someone living on the countryside. It’s also called Pastoral Symphony. I don’t really like this piece very much; I’m not really a big fan of instrumental songs so obviously I wasn’t a big fan of this song. I had some trouble with this assignment because I’m used to having words in a song to tell me what it’s about, so with this assignment I really had to push my boundaries and really use my imagination to sort of see the story behind the music.

In the beginning, the music is very upbeat because at that point of the day you’re waking up and you immediately have to start your day. All the instruments are working together to make it loud to show that you are put to work right away. I imagine someone jumping out of bed, getting dressed quick, grabbing a piece of toast, and then getting right to work; maybe cleaning, or cooking, or going to the market place to trade goods. When the music slows down and get’s more quiet, you know that the person the song is following is probably taking a break; maybe sitting down for some lunch, or maybe brushing the horse or milking the cow.

I don’t think this piece is autobiographical; Beethoven enjoyed taking long walks on his free time and being in nature, so this piece is reflective of that. This sort of piece is not unusual for the artist at all, all of his pieces are instrumental and they are all usually played by a big orchestra. This song doesn’t really have any special meaning to me; obviously Beethoven is famous and I think he is a very talented person but it doesn’t really evoke any special emotions to me. Although, when I hear it, I immediately connect it to the opening scene to Into The Woods. I recently just saw this movie, which originally was a musical on Broadway, then it was turned into a movie, and recently they just redid the movie. This takes place on the countryside and I immediately think of it, because the first scene is a bunch of people singing in the morning all starting their day and the words are fairly quick to show that they all have so much to do already and they only just started the day. So I guess it’s a good reason why I associate the two songs.

I wouldn’t recommend putting this song on your iPod. You can’t really workout to this song, nor would you really want to eat chocolate and cry to this song. I wouldn’t say it’s a go to song either, the only thing I can say is that you might want this song for studying/doing homework. I’ve heard that listening to music with no words is actually really good to study with. Apparently it stimulates your brain and actually helps you retain information and stay focused. So this song might be helpful during finals week when you’re doing your last minute studying for your big Chem final. I’m not saying that this is going to give you a guaranteed A, I don’t think anything will in Stony Brook, but it might help you study and stay focused!

Works Cited

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMJPZ-mu-Ts

Beethoven, Ludwig Van. Symphony No. 6. Ludwig Van Beethoven. 1808.   CD.

Ed Sheeran-‘Wake Me Up’

            Basically, this song is about Ed and a girl, but the whole time he is not sure if he’s actually in love with her or just the idea of her. He goes back and forth, saying that he should ink his skin with her name. I don’t know about you but I would never get a tattoo of someone’s name on my skin because that is going to be there forever and what happens if you break up? So he’s so sure about her that he’s going to get her name tattooed on his skin, but then he’s saying that he can do without a tan on his left hand where his forth finger meets his knuckle, meaning that he’s not really interested in getting married. This is the whole idea of the song, going back and forth between loving her, and only really loving her when she wakes him up. I like this song because it has heart, and it’s deep and meaningful and that’s what I like in a song. I love songs that really focus on the lyrics and have the music enhance the lyrics, but not overtake them. In these kinds of songs, you can really tell if the artist can actually sing or not because there is a lot of focus on their voice. That’s why Ed Sheeran does a lot of songs like this, because he can actually sing, and he proves that at concerts when he does a few songs ‘unplugged’ with no microphone, just his voice. That’s pretty impressive if you ask me.

            This song can almost be considered a cappella; there are barely any instruments in it, just a little piano here and there. When Ed Sheeran performs this song live, he usually uses an acoustic guitar though. By using minimal instruments, the listener is more focused on the words of the song instead of being distracted by a bunch of music, like Ed purposely does in the song ‘The a Team’. In ‘The a Team’, Ed disguises the harsh material in the lyrics by adding upbeat music. ‘Wake Me Up’ is completely different then that; the lyrics aren’t as dark as ‘The a Team’ and also the minimal instruments give the listener a different vibe.

Although this song was written by Ed Sheeran, with some help from producer Jake Gosling, I don’t think it is autobiographical. I’m actually pretty sure that Ed was drunk when he wrote this, but then again he was probably drunk when he wrote a lot of his songs because he always sings about how he drinks a lot. One of his songs is actually called ‘Drunk’, which is also on this album called ‘+’. This type of love song is not unusual for the artist at all, most of his songs are about love and mostly acoustic.

I think this would be a perfect break-up song. He’s questioning his relationship; meanwhile you don’t have to question your relationship because it’s already over. This is one of those songs that you can blast in your room, dim the lights, cuddle in bed, cry and eat ice cream. Mourn your relationship with this song on repeat; it will do a great job of getting you in touch with your emotions, and really letting it all out. I’ve never really had to get over a serious relationship before, so I just listen to this song really whenever I want. Ed Sheeran is one of my favorite artists, so I make sure to always get in my Eddie time whenever I’m walking to class or really whenever I get a chance to listen to my iPod.

 Works Cited

 Sheeran, Ed. Wake Me Up. By Jake Gosling. Ed Sheeran. Rec. Jan. 2011. Jake Gosling,            Charlie Hugall, No I.D., 2011. CD.

 Lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/edsheeran/wakemeup.html

Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNym5jZf7V8

“Hero of War” by Rise Against from the album Appeal To Reason tells a very distinct story of, as you can guess from the title, a soldier. The singer Tim Mcllrath acts as if he is the soldier going to war saying in the beginning of the song that it sounds like joining the army would be a great idea; he would get to see the world and he would even get paid to do it. But he quickly realizes that maybe the war isn’t what it’s all cut out to be. He obviously knew it was dangerous and that he could possibly die, and he was okay with that; he just wasn’t prepared for all of the hard decisions he would have to make and all the horrible acts he would have to perform. All in all, I like this song; I like the melody of it, but I don’t really like the message it is portraying. I highly respect the army and all they do for this country and this song kind of takes a bash at them. This song is basically saying that the army is cruel to their prisoners and they unnecessarily torture and kill people. I think that maybe the army has done some questionable things, but I also think that torture and killing is required in war. America is in the war for a reason, soldiers are going to have to kill people in order to win.

The music for this song is mostly Tim playing the acoustic guitar and singing but also a little bit of drums here and there. I think this song should definitely be acoustic because it’s really supposed to be about the story; Rise Against wants you to listen to the words. They did this purposely to give the effect of sadness and seriousness; they want you feel sympathetic to the character but also to kind of hate him. In the music video for this song, it starts off with Tim sitting by a swing set playing his guitar, and then it switches back and forth between him and a soldier in war.

This song is very typical for Rise Against. They are very political in their songs, which makes sense because all the members in the band are Democrats. They also promote animal rights, being that all members are vegetarian and all members except one are straight edge. In many of their songs they have liberal views hiding, or not really hiding, in the lyrics. For example “Re-Education Through Labor”, also from Appeal To Reason, is about people who work really hard that don’t get many benefits. This song takes a stab at the upper class that, they think, doesn’t really work for their money and don’t really deserve it. I love this song, but again I don’t agree with this.

I would say this song doesn’t really fit in any specific categories of when to listen to it. It’s a great song, I would definitely put it on your iPod and listen to it often but it’s not specifically for break-ups or workouts or anything like that really. For me, whenever I have to go on a long drive by myself, I have a specific playlist of songs that are really good to belt out the words really loud and sing from the heart (I only do this when I’m alone because my singing voice is actually treacherous). This song is definitely on that playlist; it’s perfect to sing in the moment, feel the story and become one with the main character. Other than that, I would say to just listen to your iPod on shuffle and when it comes on, enjoy it!

Works Cited:

Mcllrath, Tim. Perf. Zach Blair, Joe Principe, and Brandon Barnes. Hero of

         War. Rise Against. Bill Stevenson, Jason Livermore, 2009. CD.

Music Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DboMAghWcA

Lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/riseagainst/heroofwar.html