Speech and language is an interesting subject to converse about. Human speech has two functions, Overt is speaking forwards and is primary while one is aware. Covert is the backwards function of speech and occurs while the speaker is not aware. These functions of speech depend on one another and one cannot be used without the existence of the other. As children learn language, their brain first comprehends it backwards. As time goes on, and children learn to speak overtly the two functions of speech is combined into one creating a bi-level communication process.
In 1969 when The Beatles were accused of creating a song that had a message that could only be heard while reversed. This created a mass surplus of people trying to find secret messages that were lying secret in all of their favorite bands and songs. As some songs actually had secret messages in them, others were just found by people who wanted to hear something, kind of like people who think they saw aliens because they want to see aliens. As some songs had actual messages and others had fake, music clips were recorded, set backwards, and sent in to various media centers.
One song that has an example of reverse speech is Britney Spear's "Hit me baby one more time." In this song is heard the line "Sleep with me, I'm not too young." This song was one of Britney's earlier songs, while she was young, so i believe this is an actual real example of reverse speech. Another song is "Another One Bites the Dust" in which "It's fun to smoke Marijuana" can be heard. I also believe this example to be real because it sounds pretty clear and intentional.
Some songs have terrible examples of reverse speech like "Pokemon Rap" and "Beat it." These songs don't even sound like what is described in captions. "Break on Through" and "Five on High" are also examples of bad reverse speech considering, both of the lines in the songs are two words and are pronounced quickly.
Songs like "Empty Spaces" and "Nature Trial to Hell" are definitely real because they are attempting, and succeeding, to be funny. "I'm so Tired" and "My name is..." also sound pretty clear so they may be real examples of reverse speech.
Whether songs are trying to send satanic messages or just trying to be funny, reverse speech does infant exist. People may just make stuff up or try to discriminate bands they dislike, but reverse speech is real.
Riding with Private Malone by David Ball
"I was just out of the service thumbing through the classifieds
When an ad that said:"Old Chevy" somehow caught my eye
The lady didn't know the year,or even if it ran
But I had that thousand dollars in my hand
It was way back in the corner of this old ramshackle barn
With thirty years of dust and dirt on that green army tarp
And when I pulled the cover off, it took away my breath
What she called a Chevy was a sixty six Corvette
I felt a little guilty as I counted out the bills
Oh what a thrill I got when I sat behind the wheel
I opened up the glove box and that's when I found the note
The date was nineteen-sixty six and this is what he wrote:
He said, "My name is Private Andrew Malone"
"And If you're reading this, then I didn't make it home"
"But for every dream that shattered, another one comes true"
"This car was once a dream of mine, now it belongs to you"
"Though you may take her and make her your own"
"You'll always be riding with Private Malone"
Well it didn't take me long at all, I had her running good
I love to hear those horses thunder underneath her hood
I had her shining like a diamond and I'd put the rag top down
All the pretty girls would stop and stare as I drove her through town
The buttons on the radio didn't seem to work quite right
But it picked up that oldies show, especially late at night
I'd get the feeling sometimes, if I turned real quick I'd see
A soldier ridin' shotgun in the seat right next to me
It was a young man named Private Andrew Malone
Who fought for his country and never made it home
But for every dream that's shattered, another one comes true
This car was once a dream of his back when it was new
He told me to take her and make her my own
And I was proud to be riding with Private Malone
One night it was raining hard, I took the curve too fast
I still dont remember much about that fiery crash
But someone said they thought they saw a soldier pull me out
They didn't get his name, but I know without a doubt
It was a young man named Private Andrew Malone
Who fought for his country and never made it home
But for every dream that's shattered, another one comes true
This car was once a dream of his back when it was new
And I know I wouldn't be here if he hadn't tagged along
That night I was riding with Private Malone
Oh, thank God, I was riding with Private Malone"
Soldiers go into wars for plenty of different reasons. Whether they need to go to college and need the money or even if they don't plan on going to college. Every soldier has his or her reason. If the soldiers are lucky enough to make it out of the war, the payment from the army will hopefully pay for their goal. David Ball, a country music artist, has written many songs about war and his song "Riding with Private Malone" doesn't have a whole lot of poetic devices going on, but the couple that it has are easy to pick up and find.
Judging from the first line "I was just out of the service thumbing through the classifieds" it's obvious that the song is a narrative. If the first line doesn't tell you this, surely the rest of the stanza will. Many country songs are narratives so it is no surprise that this one is as well. At the end of the first stanza "But I had that thousand dollars in my hand" it becomes clear that the narrator enlisted for the money. Also after the first stanza, there's no doubt that there is an AABB rhyme scheme.
In the second stanza, third line, is some personification. "And when I pulled the cover off, it took away my breath" It is implied that a cover took away the narrator's breath which covers cannot actually do. From what i can tell there is one example of irony which is "The buttons on the radio didn't seem to work quite right/
But it picked up that oldies show, especially late at night." This is a stretch but having a radio that doesn't really work at all except for oldies music, which generally isn't that great to modern people, is kind of ironic because the narrator probably wouldn't listen to the oldies.
All in all, this song has more poetic devices then current music, even though it was made in 2001. It shows how there has been a steady decrease of poetic devices in modern music, but in country there's usually just a little bit more.
"I was just out of the service thumbing through the classifieds
When an ad that said:"Old Chevy" somehow caught my eye
The lady didn't know the year,or even if it ran
But I had that thousand dollars in my hand
It was way back in the corner of this old ramshackle barn
With thirty years of dust and dirt on that green army tarp
And when I pulled the cover off, it took away my breath
What she called a Chevy was a sixty six Corvette
I felt a little guilty as I counted out the bills
Oh what a thrill I got when I sat behind the wheel
I opened up the glove box and that's when I found the note
The date was nineteen-sixty six and this is what he wrote:
He said, "My name is Private Andrew Malone"
"And If you're reading this, then I didn't make it home"
"But for every dream that shattered, another one comes true"
"This car was once a dream of mine, now it belongs to you"
"Though you may take her and make her your own"
"You'll always be riding with Private Malone"
Well it didn't take me long at all, I had her running good
I love to hear those horses thunder underneath her hood
I had her shining like a diamond and I'd put the rag top down
All the pretty girls would stop and stare as I drove her through town
The buttons on the radio didn't seem to work quite right
But it picked up that oldies show, especially late at night
I'd get the feeling sometimes, if I turned real quick I'd see
A soldier ridin' shotgun in the seat right next to me
It was a young man named Private Andrew Malone
Who fought for his country and never made it home
But for every dream that's shattered, another one comes true
This car was once a dream of his back when it was new
He told me to take her and make her my own
And I was proud to be riding with Private Malone
One night it was raining hard, I took the curve too fast
I still dont remember much about that fiery crash
But someone said they thought they saw a soldier pull me out
They didn't get his name, but I know without a doubt
It was a young man named Private Andrew Malone
Who fought for his country and never made it home
But for every dream that's shattered, another one comes true
This car was once a dream of his back when it was new
And I know I wouldn't be here if he hadn't tagged along
That night I was riding with Private Malone
Oh, thank God, I was riding with Private Malone"
Soldiers go into wars for plenty of different reasons. Whether they need to go to college and need the money or even if they don't plan on going to college. Every soldier has his or her reason. If the soldiers are lucky enough to make it out of the war, the payment from the army will hopefully pay for their goal. David Ball, a country music artist, has written many songs about war and his song "Riding with Private Malone" doesn't have a whole lot of poetic devices going on, but the couple that it has are easy to pick up and find.
Judging from the first line "I was just out of the service thumbing through the classifieds" it's obvious that the song is a narrative. If the first line doesn't tell you this, surely the rest of the stanza will. Many country songs are narratives so it is no surprise that this one is as well. At the end of the first stanza "But I had that thousand dollars in my hand" it becomes clear that the narrator enlisted for the money. Also after the first stanza, there's no doubt that there is an AABB rhyme scheme.
In the second stanza, third line, is some personification. "And when I pulled the cover off, it took away my breath" It is implied that a cover took away the narrator's breath which covers cannot actually do. From what i can tell there is one example of irony which is "The buttons on the radio didn't seem to work quite right/
But it picked up that oldies show, especially late at night." This is a stretch but having a radio that doesn't really work at all except for oldies music, which generally isn't that great to modern people, is kind of ironic because the narrator probably wouldn't listen to the oldies.
All in all, this song has more poetic devices then current music, even though it was made in 2001. It shows how there has been a steady decrease of poetic devices in modern music, but in country there's usually just a little bit more.
Out of 50 songs to choose from, the first song I chose was "Whatcha say" by Jason DeRulo. This song caught me by the eye because of it's title which is a line in the song "Hide and Seek" that was made popular by an SNL skit. Not to my surprise, it turned out to be another unoriginal song that just remixes an old one like Kanye West's "Stronger" which is a rip off of Daft Punk. Regardless, this song must be reviewed so here goes nothing. First off the practically stolen chorus comes on, which is actually a verse from none other than "Hide and Seek". After the chorus comes the first verse, where it becomes obvious that the point of view is, like most of today's music, of Jason apologizing to this girl for something that he did wrong. This song contains only rhyme, the occasional alliteration, like "So, now I know I should of treated you better/But me and you were meant to last forever" and one instance of a metaphor about Jason cheating on someone "Cause when the roof cave in and the truth came out." This song being #4 of today's music really shows that people don't care what the music is about, they just want to dance to it. It also recommends that men in our culture abandon girls a lot and are stupid for it. All in all, this song is just another cliche song about a guy apologizing to a girl, stole lyrics from another song, and means nothing whatsoever.
The second song that i have chosen is "I gotta feeling." This song was written by Black Eyed Peas, which is a pretty well known band. This song starts off with the chorus repeating itself over 9000 times. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but a great deal of songs do this. After the parade of a chorus' the song jumps into motion and starts talking about living up the night, breaking stuff, wasting money, and being stressed out. If you piece the puzzle together it becomes clear that this song is an extended metaphor about getting drunk. After listening through this song 4 times the only thing that i have noticed other than an extended metaphor is rhyme, rhyme, and rhyme. The song is very catchy, which is most likely why it is rated #5 in America, but it does not contain more than 2 poetic devices. This song is another instance of people our generation not caring what music says and just liking it because it's good to dance to.
The third and final song i chose was Miley Cyrus' "Party in the U.S.A." I felt this song was appropriate because the last 2 songs that i reviewed contained no more than 3 poetic devices and i did not expect Miley Cyrus to have ANY poetic devices. Somehow i was wrong, it has a whopping 1. Surprisingly this song actually has rhyme! Apparently all you need in this generation is a catchy tune and a rhyme to become successful. Alright, I'm being a little harsh, this song is also a narrative, but that's it! This song backs up my theory of people in this generation do not care about what a song means, but only if it is catchy. This is not a bad thing, but it would have been nice to see an oxymoron or, god forbid, a simile.
The second song that i have chosen is "I gotta feeling." This song was written by Black Eyed Peas, which is a pretty well known band. This song starts off with the chorus repeating itself over 9000 times. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but a great deal of songs do this. After the parade of a chorus' the song jumps into motion and starts talking about living up the night, breaking stuff, wasting money, and being stressed out. If you piece the puzzle together it becomes clear that this song is an extended metaphor about getting drunk. After listening through this song 4 times the only thing that i have noticed other than an extended metaphor is rhyme, rhyme, and rhyme. The song is very catchy, which is most likely why it is rated #5 in America, but it does not contain more than 2 poetic devices. This song is another instance of people our generation not caring what music says and just liking it because it's good to dance to.
The third and final song i chose was Miley Cyrus' "Party in the U.S.A." I felt this song was appropriate because the last 2 songs that i reviewed contained no more than 3 poetic devices and i did not expect Miley Cyrus to have ANY poetic devices. Somehow i was wrong, it has a whopping 1. Surprisingly this song actually has rhyme! Apparently all you need in this generation is a catchy tune and a rhyme to become successful. Alright, I'm being a little harsh, this song is also a narrative, but that's it! This song backs up my theory of people in this generation do not care about what a song means, but only if it is catchy. This is not a bad thing, but it would have been nice to see an oxymoron or, god forbid, a simile.
