Monthly Archives: March 2015

Meat Loaf – Paradise By The Dashboard Light

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“Paradise by the Dashboard Light” is a song written by Jim Steinman. It was first released in 1977 on the album Bat Out of Hell, with vocals by the American musician Meat Loaf alongside Ellen Foley. The song is most notable for its unique structure and length, and has become a staple of classic rock radio.

First of all, I want to introduce the background and recording of this song. From official information I have searched on website, it says that “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” is one of the longest songs to be released uncut on one side of a 45 RPM record. The only difference is the song fades out almost immediately after the final line is sung. In some countries a shorter 5:32 edit was released. The largest change is the complete removal of the “baseball play-by-play” section. According to Meat Loaf on VH1 Storytellers, the original length of the track was to be 27 minutes.

After I introduced the background, I also want to discuss about its strong structure. There are there parts of this song, let me talk about it by each part:

Part I Paradise: The song opens with the characters reminiscing about days as a young high school couple on a date. They are parking by a lake and having fun, experiencing “paradise by the dashboard light”, and the boy insists they’re “gonna go all the way tonight.”

Part 2 Let Me Sleep On It: Just as the boy is about to “steal home base”, the girl bursts out, telling him to “Stop right there!” She refuses to go any further unless the boy first promises to love her forever and marry her. Reluctant to make such a long-term commitment, the boy repeatedly asks her to continue on for the time being and promises to give his answer in the morning. However, as she is not giving in that easily, so that he finally cracks and gives his promise: “I started swearing to my God and on my mother’s grave/That I would love you to the end of time”.

Part 3 Praying for the End of Time: Back in the present, the characters can no longer stand each other’s presence. However, the male character cannot possibly break his vow and hence is now praying for the end of time to relieve him from his obligation. The song fades out on the situation, juxtaposing his gloomy “It was long ago, it was far away, it was so much better than it is today!” with her joyous “It never felt so good, it never felt so right, we’re glowing like the metal on the edge of a knife.”

Furthermore, I want to add some my personal understanding and feeling into this reflection. The song outlines the sad and disgustingly true nature of the desperate hookup, stripping sex of all the glamor and possibility that makes physical intimacy feel like a good idea; instead it’s sex as an act of desperate, ill-fated connectionIt’s just a stylized version of a live performance. Meat Loaf passionately makes love to the microphone, wearing a white blouse open at the collar, his long hair sweaty and stringy. He is wearing suspenders. He is singing about having sex at 17, and it is hard to look at him—older now, flabbier and wrinklier, throwing himself into the song with wild facial expressions and formless near-dancing.

In conclusion, this is my first time to write a reflection about rock music and I feel it is so good for me to try on it. I always pay much attention on classical and slow music because I think sad melody can make listeners relaxed and comfortable. Now I have total new understanding of rock music and I think it is very exciting. During the writing, I go to the youtube to watch the video and I am totally attracted by the hot atmosphere and that was amazing. I searched for many information of the song on the website because I am not familiar with rock music at all before, but now I think I have already laid a foundation for learning rock music in the future.

Unknown         Unknown1

 

work cited

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_by_the_Dashboard_Light

http://www.avclub.com/article/paradise-dashboard-light-intentionally-unsexy-207098

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1711

 

 

P!nk – Just Give Me A Reason

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“Just Give Me a Reason” is a song written and recorded by American singer and songwriter Pink featuring fun.’s lead singer Nate Ruess. The song was chosen as the third single from Pink’s sixth studio album, The Truth About Love (2012). “Just Give Me a Reason” is a pop ballad written by both artists and produced by Jeff Bhasker. It starts off with a simple melody played on the piano, as Pink starts to sing the first verse and chorus, the latter of which introduces drum machines and bass. The second verse is then sung by Ruess, and the rest of the song is sung as a duet. The song ends with a piano solo, similar to the intro. It has a duration of four minutes and two seconds.

“Just Give Me a Reason” features Nate Ruess from the American band Fun. Originally, it was just a song writing session but Pink realized that she needed someone else to sing the song with her because she thought that it was more of a conversation than a one perspective song. She asked Ruess to do it with her and got him to do the song as a duet. The song is about the desire to hold on to a relationship even when it appears to be breaking down. Common Sense Media (CSM) said Pink, singer from band fun team up in sweet love tune. Billboard also gave a positive review of the song saying this duet with the band’s lead singer Nate Ruess (produced by “We Are Young” helmer Jeff Bhasker) would fit right at home on “Some Nights.” Although it’s a little jarring to hear Pink’s raw, live vocals paired with Ruess’ Auto-Tune, it’s ultimately a less-schmaltzy version of those male/female duets found at the end credits of every 80s movie. HitFix said One of the highlights is her duet with fun.’s Nate Ruess, who co-wrote “Just Give Me A Reason”.

In my opinion, I like this song very much not only because its unique melody, but also its background story. The video shows Pink lying on a mattress in the middle of an artificial marsh, with fog surrounding the set and a star-studded background. The video is highly symbolic and its storyline is indirect, with references supporting the song’s theme, including a teddy bear, a TV floating on the surface of water, the water itself and a wall made of wood in the background. The scenes include Pink’s solo mattress scene, another with Nate Ruess shows the two singers singing the song in a white, blank set, and a third scene showing Pink and her husband Carey Hart embracing and diving. From the video, we can see that the singer add deep emotion into the song in order to let audience understand his emotion clearly. We are not difficult to imagine the background story through singer’s expression.

Pink duets with Ruess on the track, but she had to trick him into singing his part. She recalled to Spotify: “I was like, ‘no, this is a story, this is a conversation this song’ – it needs the other perspective whether it’s a guy and a girl, or two girls or two guys. ‘I came in and tried to convince him that this was how the conversation was going to go and it was interesting you know, he was like ‘I’ll just do the demo cos I don’t know about duets’ and I totally tricked him into doing it, and I am so glad I was able to. ‘I think now he’s very happy that he did it, I think it’s a beautiful song and I’m really, really proud of it.” I think this feedback makes this song very great because the song contains real emotion will become vivid.

Some people don’t understand that this is a temporary state and some people expect to be courted for eternity but realistically no one has time to make every hour of everyday about another person. So when all of this stuff fades away and a realistic era emerges the surprises are less powerful and less frequent. It can be rather shocking to realize that you are not their only obligation and if you go out once a month you are lucky. Instead of treasuring what they have they instead become resentful claiming that they rarely spend time together anymore. In conclusion, I think people can really learn something through this song.

(  :)This is my last reflection for ACH class this semester, I hope all of you enjoy reading my post and I will miss the time I spend on the reflection very much. 🙁 …  )

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Work Cited

The Meaning of “Just Give Me A Reason”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_Give_Me_a_Reason

 

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=27327

 

My Heart Will Go On – Celine Dion

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Today, I strongly want to introduce my mother’s favourite songs, which is called “My Heart Will Go On”. This song is very popular at their age and it really contains too much things. “My Heart Will Go On”, also called the “Love Theme from Titanic”, is the main theme song to the 1997 blockbuster film Titanic. Its music was composed by James Horner, its lyrics were written by Will Jennings, and it was produced by James Horner and Walter; Celine Dion recorded and released it.

To start with, I should put emphasis on its composition.The song is written in the key of E major, though the chorus is in the relative key of C# minor. The verses follow the chord progression of E—Bsus4—Aadd9—E—B. The chorus has the chord progression of C♯m—B—A—B. The song modulates to F minor in the final chorus, and ends in the key of Ab major.[10] The song is pop rock. It contains heavy emphasis on the instrumental arranging. Usage of flute is prominent, backed by melodic use of strings and rhythm guitars. The song features both acoustic and electronic instrumentation. Dion’s vocal performance is described as “emotional” and “demanding” by Pandora radio. This is the key which makes this song’s melody so attractive and unique.

Secondly, the background story of this story can not be ignored. This song is the background song of the most famous film called” TITANIC” at that time. It was about a romantic love story between Rose and Jack. Rose was an aristocrat, but Jack was only a poor boy. The big difference of their identity became the biggest problem between them. Unfortunately, there were a terrible accident happened at night. The steamship sinked and everything changed. Towards the death, the lives and emotions are very weak. The weak point of humanity was entirely expressed. After braving several obstacles, Jack and Rose return to the boat deck. The lifeboats have departed and passengers are falling to their deaths as the stern rises out of the water. The ship breaks in half, lifting the stern into the air. Jack and Rose ride it into the ocean and he helps her onto a wooden panel only buoyant enough for one person. He assures her that she will die an old woman, warm in her bed. He dies of hypothermia but she is saved. Every time when I recall this story, I am deeply moved by the love between Rose and Jack. Their love becomes more solid when they faces death. Also, different people’s emotion when the disaster happened are very moved as well. All of the images at that night becomes forever in every people’s heart.

Third, the melody of this song is the most impressive to my mom. Every time when this song plays, we can imagine that many innocent people suffered a lot from that terrible accident. So many people died in the cold sea and so many people loses their family members. All the people’s tears are so sad, which can be clearly presented by its melody. The melody of this song is very sad because it represents people’s death and lovers’ isolation. Every listeners will prey for the victims.

In conclusion, my mom loves this song not only because it is closely related to their age, but also the love story between the main character is very simple but moved. I hope you like this song. 🙂

Titanic_poster      Celine_dion-my_heart_will_go_on_s

 

work cited

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_(1997_film)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Heart_Will_Go_On

The monster – Eminem

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“The Monster” is a song by American rapper Eminem, featuring guest vocals from Barbadian singer Rihanna, taken from Eminem’s eighth studio album The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (2013). Eminem isn’t one for holding back. Throughout his career, Slim Shady has used a rhyme book as a canvas to draw out his deep-rooted feelings, inner demons and wildest fantasies. “The Monster” was released on October 29, 2013, as the fourth single from the album. The song’s lyrics present Rihanna coming to grips with her inner demons, while Eminem ponders the negative effects of his fame.

Actually, this is a love story between Eminem and Rihanna. First, I want to share the background of this song to you. “The Monster” did not begin its life as a direct rewrite, though. The main melodic hook was written by young recording artist Bebe Rexha while working on her own album, before she pitched it to Eminem. (The main writer of “Love the Way You Lie,” pop singer-songwriter Skylar Grey, wasn’t involved.) Em then took Rexha’s composition into the studio with producer Bryan “Frequency” Fryzel, wrote his rhymes on top and invited Rihanna to sing the hook; Rexha’s original background vocals were left intact, deep in the mix. “The Monster” may well improve on its predecessor in catchiness, but it can’t match Eminem’s and Rihanna’s previous smash for soul-baring revelation and the sense of the new. It’s hard to imagine “Monster” having the legacy that “Lie” had. But as pastiche, it’s an apt 2013-closing smash—it will likely rule the Hot 100 long enough to last through the holidays, bringing one of the more frustrating, patchworky years on the pop charts to a close.

Furthermore, the words of the song is very beautiful. For example:

I wanted the fame, but not the cover of Newsweek
Oh, well, guess beggars can’t be choosey
Wanted to receive attention for my music
Wanted to be left alone in public. Excuse me
For wanting my cake and eat it too, and wanting it both ways
Fame made me a balloon ’cause my ego inflated
When I blew; see, but it was confusing

“The Monster” may well improve on its predecessor in catchiness, but it can’t match Eminem’s and Rihanna’s previous smash for soul-baring revelation and the sense of the new. It’s hard to imagine “Monster” having the legacy that “Lie” had.  The song focuses on Eminem’s ongoing struggles with fame, and his desire to live a normal life. In conclusion, when I listened to this song, I really appreciate it not only because of the background love story, but also the melody is really attractive.

eminem-shoots-the-monster-video-with-rihanna   main_image

 

work cited

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=31249

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monster_(song)