Pick songs for my pupils to assess
Instead of having my standard grade (GCSE) class write a critical essay on poetry (they'd hate it) i've decided to have them write their folio piece on the lyrics of a song.
I don't want to let them choose their own song, since they'll pick a load of drivel which has wholly superficial lyrics. I also think it'd be better if it's something that they'll at least have heard of (although i'm open to suggestions on this one).
Other applicable rules:
1. swearing is ok, but only if it's sporadic and not gratuitous (no (hed)p.e. please, shucks)
2. use of imagery in the lyrics is preferrable
3. something that's not completely cryptic. They're a lovely bunch of kids, but a very middle section, so they're not exactly winning awards for their skills in English (no Mars Volta or At the Drive-In, please)
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hey doofus, you're supposed to use your ears
?
i was going to make this exact same joke
but you got there 4 hours early :(
www.songmeanings.net
Theyll find it
not in the classroom they won't
plus, that's like saying "well they can google search for essays on literature, so you just shouldn't teach it at all"
In any case, have you been on songmeanings.net and seen the quality of the analyses?
They would get no help from it whatsoever.
The Shins - 'The Past and Pending' or 'New Slang'.
Or maybe 'Know Your Onion!', though it might be a bit too close to home lyrically.
Something by TV On The Radio. 'Love Dog' has wonderful lyrics that aren't too complex.
I think Arcade Fire's 'Windowsill' or '(Antichrist Television Blues)' would be perfect for the level you want, too.
some great suggestions in here. thanks guys.
Despair in the departure lounge by arctic monkeys might be good..
in fact it would be really good.
Bloodhound Gang - Mope
i don't know whether to laugh or cry...
*Magna Cum Nada
Golden Brown
...
^This
Best to start them on a subject matter they're all intimately familiar with...
Bob Dylan:
Blowin in the wind
Positively 4th Street
Times they are a changin
Masters of war
With god on our side
There's so many but i'd go for something by Bob :)
ha beat me to it
um..
... maybe a bit too dark and they probably wouldn't have heard of it. But 'The Mercy Seat' by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds would be a good call I think.
maybe a bit too long...
... and complex too..
i donb't know the song, but the lyrics look pretty decent.
*scratchy chin moment*
I'm looking for about 5 different songs so they can pick whichever one to write their essay on.
tangled up in blue by bob dylan
nice short one for you there.
neil young - t-bone
a masterwork imo
Mutiny In Heaven...
...by The Birthday Party?
blur parklife
emiem stan?
'Stan' is a very, very good idea.
as is Blur. Thanks.
The Pet Shop Boys - Being Boring
Jeff Lewis?
Very lyrical, easy to make out the words, nice tunes.
East River - bit of a classic
I DEFINITELY agree with Jeff Lewis.
I wish I'd been given the opportunity to study his lyrics as a kid.
Mountain Goats
John Darnielle is possibly the best living lyricist, so you can't go wrong here.
Is the answer Tha Crossroads by Bone Thugs n' Harmony?
Pulp - Disco 2000, Common People
An ex girlfriend used to teach English in Spain, she used those two songs as reflections of English culture to kids from a language perspective. Jarvis Cockers use of imagery is great in both these and Common people is like the last pop epic right?
Apparently the kids where in stitches when they where presented with a well done treat involving the Video for Common people and the chance to gain extra credit by doing the dance with passable results. x s
Beat me to it!
goooooooood call
i was gonna vote pulp too
Anything by Pulp
Common People/Disco 2000 being the obvious examples.
Also, Backwater by Brian Eno? Great lyrics there.
I wrote about persuasive writing
Using RATM lyrics when I did my GSCE (or maybe it was A-level) - but, anyway...pretty persuasive.
Calm like a Bomb
is really well written, actually
Seven Nation Army'd be quite good
lots of vivid imagery, very well known etc
Loads of imagery and clever lyrics...
Morrissey - Lifeguard sleeping, Girl drowning
Bill Callahan - All thoughts are prey to some beast
non?
Always looking for attention
Always needs to be mentioned
Who does she
Think she should be ?
The shrill cry through darkening air
Doesn't she know he's
Had such a busy day ?
Tell her ... sshhh
Somebody tell her ... sshhh
Oh, no way, no way, there's no movement
Oh, oh, hooray
Slowest ...
It was only a test
But she swam too far
Against the tide
She deserves all she gets
The sky became marked with stars
As an out-stretched arm slowly
Disappears
Hooray
Oh hooray
No, oh, oh, woh, there's no movement
No, oh, hooray
Oh, hooray
Please don't worry
There'll be no fuss
She was ... nobody's nothing
(What's your name ?)
When he awoke
The sea was calm
And another day passes like a dream
There's no ... no way
(What's your name ?)
The leafless tree looked like a brain
The birds within were all the thoughts and desires within me
Hoppin' around from branch to branch, or snug in their nests listenin' in
An eagle came over the horizon and shook the branches with its sight
The softer thoughts: starlings, finches, and wrens
The softer thoughts, they all took flight
The eagle looked clear through the brain tree, emptying thoughts saved for me
Maybe I'll make this one my home, consolidate the nests of the tiny
Raise a family of might like me
Then something struck him, wings of bone
Sweet desires and soft thoughts were all gone
The eagle shrieked, "I'm alone"
Well it was time to flee the tree
The eagle snuck up on the wind one talon at a time
Being sky king of the sky, what did he have to fear
All thoughts are prey to some beast
All thoughts are prey to some beast
Sweet desire and soft thoughts, return to me
Sweet desire and soft thoughts, return to me
Something by Nick Drake would be quite good.
Also check out Furry Lewis - he did really good blues songs that usually told stories that were pretty easy to follow.
Leonard Cohen
could work quite well, as you could maybe compare his song lyrics with his poetry?
Angel of Death
by Slayer
Seriously, I reckon you could get some decent mileage out of discussing this song
Politics, history, the appropriateness of using the holocaust as subject matter in a popular song, the re-emergence of the far right in European politics, lots of stuff. This song totally nails it re point 2 of your criteria.
Plus you get to plant the teenage seed of doubt re listening to & enjoying a song that is so badass it is virtually impossible to describe, but is about the holocaust. I know that I wrestled with that thought briefly when I first heard it as a 12 year old.
disposable heroes by Metallica
We did a war poetry week in English Lit at school and I presented this. Not a poem as such but got some mileage out of it.
I was gonna say Leonard Cohen
Suzanne or Hey That's No Way To Say Goodbye spring to mind.
Bit of fun, rape 'n' murder - Stagger Lee by the Bad Seeds. But seriously, there are some mighty fine lyrics by Cave, he's a dab hand with words. The Mercy Seat does spring to mind, but there's also stuff like Where The Wild Roses Grow (with Kylie, no less), Into My Arms, Do You Love Me? and a load more that I can't think of offhand.
Might be good to do a 'proper' pop songs that has good lyrics as well.
Yeah I'd agree Cohen and Cave
are good bets.
Think 'Stagger Lee' may be a bit on the gratuitous side, but I'm sure there's plenty or lyrics on the 'Boatman's Call'/'No More Shall We Part'/'Abattoir Blues/Lyre Of Orpheus' albums... 'The Mercy Seat' would be a grand one too, and it may freak the hell out of them...
With Cohen... Well, any of his songs, really... 'Avalanche' is a personal favourite, and probably has the right amount of angst for teenagers.
You could have 'There She Goes, My Beautiful World'
Or Heart In A Cage by the Strokes
kate bush - Wuthering heights?
sex pistols - anarchy in the uk?
something off ys
American Pie?
As long as it's not that fucking Madonna version.
how about something off the sophtware slump (by grandaddy)?
maybe jed the humanoid / jed's other poem.
also, this thread reminds me of when MrScagdenSir got his kids to review bands comprised of DiSers.
something by the smiths?
yeah?
Morrissey's pretty good at his words, even if he's a whiney bastard.
Morrissey - These Things Take Time
Arctic Monkeys - No Buses
WE DIDN'T START THE FIRE
Thinking of things that the yoof might have actually heard of...
Possibly 'Hallelujah'? Lovely Biblical imagery there, plus X Factor link... Then you can educate them that it wasn't written by Simon Cowell either.
Something off the Arctic Monkeys' first album as well possibly?
If you were going to go a bit more indie, possibly Ambulance by TV on the Radio? Or something by Eels (My Beloved Monster perhaps?)
aye
I _think_ the kids are down with the Arctic Monkeys. Less so with Brian Eno etc. Maybe i'm wrong.
Elbow- Bones of you
Simple, but really well put, same with all elbow songs i guess. Lots of simliles for GCSE pupils to go crazy over
Maneater - Hall and Oates
Plenty to work with there.
I'd suggest including The Wrong Way by TV On The Radio.
Fantastic tune about how gangsters are morons for wearing blood diamonds and that their guns are pointing the wrong way.
really?
i loved this song anyway, but didn't realise it was about that.
haven't listened to tvotr in ages...
Teenage Wildlife - David Bowie
A real life adventure, worth more than pieces of gold!
(my reply disappeared?)
Teenage Wildlife: David Bowie. "A real life adventure, worth more than pieces of gold!"
Just for the Gary Numan reference
dance commander - electric six
*gay bar
:-)
waterboys- the whole of the moon
All suggestions have been most welcome. I'm currently sitting on the following:
(aiming for artists they'll know so as to be more engaging)
Arctic Monkeys - When the Sun Goes Down
Pulp - I Spy
Dizzee Rascal - Brand New Day
Elbow - The Bones of You
'Born to Run' by Bruce Springsteen
My original thought of a suggestion, which i'll attempt to pass off as lulz: 'Jesus Christ Homosexual' by Corporate Avenger.
Other Springsteen
Plenty of songs. like Badlands, but the best I could think of would be 'The River'. Some strong themes of being suffocated and trapped in small town america, loss of ambition, illusion of the American Dream etc. And some cracking lines:
"Then I got Mary pregnant /and man that was all she wrote.
And for my nineteenth birthday / I got a union card and a wedding coat"
or
"Those memories come back to haunt me / They haunt me like a curse.
Is a dream a lie if it don't come true / Or is it something worse?
The Pulp sugestions are good too.
desaparecidos/bright eyes
'When the president talks to god' would be funny, prob too political
-two by the antlers
-skinny love: bon iver
I think it would be good to get some rap in there, but have no clue what
Probably not Disasterpieces
by Slipknot.
For the QCS (an Australian thing) we had questions on red right had by nick cave
faust arp - radiohead, the title has two refrences to literature
and i would have to agree with people like bob dylan and the smiths
2 Pac - Gotta Keep Ya Head Up
hmmm
frightened rabbit - keep yourself warm
neutral milk hotel - in the aeroplane over the sea
lou reed - sad song
quite like the neutral milk hotel suggestion
anne frank and all that jazz
Holland, 1945 would be a good one.
THE IMPRESSION THAT I GET
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xol2MM_PCTU
what about just some modern poetry
like TS elliot, Sylvia Plath, allan ginsberg or Ezra Pound
Jim Morrison also has a book of poetry out but i dont know how good it is
Flightless Bird, American Mouth - Iron & Wine
They'll have heard it in Twilight, right?
NiN/Cash - Hurt
Anything by Fantomas
Manics - Design For Life
if my gcse english homework was to write about this i would have actually done it.
squeeze - up the junction ;)
elvis costello
pulp
beautiful south
nick cave x a million
decemberists
frank turner
jeff lewis is a great idea too
Quicksand by Bowie is a good un, I think
I'm closer to the Golden Dawn
Immersed in Crowley's uniform
Of imagery
I'm living in a silent film
Portraying
Himmler's sacred realm
Of dream reality
I'm frightened by the total goal
Drawing to the ragged hole
And I ain't got the power anymore
No I ain't got the power anymore
I'm the twisted name
on Garbo's eyes
Living proof of
Churchill's lies
I'm destiny
I'm torn between the light and dark
Where others see their targets
Divine symmetry
Should I kiss the viper's fang
Or herald loud
the death of Man
I'm sinking in the quicksand
of my thought
And I ain't got the power anymore
Don't believe in yourself
Don't deceive with belief
Knowledge comes
with death's release
I'm not a prophet
or a stone age man
Just a mortal
with the potential of a superman
I'm living on
I'm tethered to the logic
of Homo Sapien
Can't take my eyes
from the great salvation
Of bullshit faith
If I don't explain what you ought to know
You can tell me all about it
On, the next Bardo
I'm sinking in the quicksand
of my thought
And I ain't got the power anymore
David's Last Summer by Pulp springs to mind
Tell us how it goes, Medulla, I'd like to know.
I did the introductory lesson today. They really enjoyed it! I chose:
Manic Street Preachers - 4st 7lb
Elbow - The Bones of You
Arctic Monkeys - When the Sun Goes Down
Lily Allen - The Fear (for da chicks)
Dizzee Rascal - Brand New Day
Next week is when they begin to assess the lyrics in a less superficial manner.
lcd soundsystem - someone great
thom yorke - the clock