The song I chose to analyze is entitled "Wake Me Up When September Ends" by the band Green Day. Right from the beginning of this song the mood of it is one that seems somber. The words also are ones that instantly strike at the pathos. At first when I heard this song I thought tht it was referring to Spetmeber 11th and the war. Many people at first connected it with this event, but the band member Billie Joe Armstrong then explained that it was actually a memorial to his father who died in September when he was little. After knowing this the lyrics of the song do connect with sucha tradgedy, yet just because the song is specifially about Armstrong's father it is evident the song has influence and different meaning to others too.
I think that the emotion of this song and the lyrics it contains about pain and things ending are very strong and can make the audience instantly get something personal out of the song. In this way pathos is being used to touch the audience, whatever their goodbyes and hard times in life have been. Also the use of logos is shown by the lyrics because of their straight forward evidence of an event. Even though the song wasn't written about the war, it does apply well to those who have lost and sacrificed because of it and such an event touches the emotions of the readers. I think that even logos is used because when the audience knows the personal background that a member of the band has with the song it makes it more real and wothwhile to the audience.
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Thank you! I had never really been able to understand this song until you gave your analysis of it. I love how it can be taken out of the original context and applied to loss or tragedy in anyones life.
ReplyDeleteoh my goodness... yes.. thank you! I too never really understood that song and now I do! here is an example of a effective analysis!
ReplyDeleteThanks Troy I actually did not know the background of the song until I started working on this. It really does make the song so much more meaningful!
ReplyDeleteThanks also Ty! I'm glad the analysis helped you. I think the song is more powerful knowing the history and personal experience of the band member!
ReplyDeleteWow I have to agree with y'all, it makes a lot of sense now! And it is a powerful song. Thanks Court!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how many times one can listen to a song and never pay attention to the lyrics. In fact, I have some of the lyrics to this song memorized, but did I ever think about what they meant? No.
ReplyDeleteThis analysis was like like a little awakening to the meanings behind the rhetorical tools that song writers use.
I guess I am the weird one because I understood this song from the beginning. ANd it is also one of my favorites. When the song came out I was going through a really rough time in my life and I literally felt like just "wake me up when Septemeber ends [is over]." I just wanted to fall sleep for the whole month and wait for it to be over. I guess you could say that I literally could relate to this song and it spoke exactly what I was feeling at the time
ReplyDeleteI wanted to concur with Lydia. I have had these lyrics memorized for sometime, yet I had no idea what I was singing about. Although you could feel the pain and sadness through the music.
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