ipl-logo

Analysis Of The Beatles 'Timeless Song Blackbird'

959 Words4 Pages

Famously stated by American musician Bruce Springsteen, “the best music is essentially there to provide you something to face the world with.” In times of distress and confusion, the meaning in music often serves as a guidance and gives a sense of inspiration and relief for those in need. The timeless song “Blackbird” by English rock band The Beatles is one of the best examples in which songs can provide encouragement to those in unfamiliar and uncomfortable situations. The soothing melodies and lyrics of the song contain techniques of metaphor and juxtaposition. British songwriters and former Beatles members Paul McCartney and John Lennon camouflaged hidden messages in their song “Blackbird” to serve as a sign of comfort to those who were …show more content…

Racism is a deep rooted part of American culture, whether we like to admit it or not. “Being black in the United States poses a risk of a very particular form of socially conditioned despair” (Styles). Starting with the slavery system, black Americans have faced discrimination and inequality for hundreds of years due to their skin color. Subsequently, the implementation of the Segregation Laws further divided the black community from the white by promoting racial segregation through every aspect of daily life, including public transportations, education system, and medical system. The numerous accounts of social and racial injustices inspired artists, like John Lennon and Paul McCartney, to write songs and broadcast their views on the issue. During his tour, songwriter McCartney revealed that the blackbird the song revolves around actually metaphorically represents a black girl as he stated “I don't know if any of you know, but in England sometimes we call girls "birds." You know? And I kinda wrote this song with that in mind” (Kapurch et al). Although there are many guesses regarding the main inspiration for the piece, every African American can relate to the encouragement of the song due to the versatility of the lyrics'

Show More
Related

Summary Of How # Blacklivesmatter Movement

643 Words | 3 Pages

Summary: Tate’s main argument he makes in How #BlackLivesMatter Changed Hip Hop and R&B, is that thanks to the #BlackLivesMatter movement, both twitter and hip hop are now two effective tools in providing a voice for the Black community, who's voices are silenced by White America. Tate argues because of “the communication revolution of #BlackLivesMatter, those once-voiceless masses no longer require rappers for their social-injustice priorities to be heard from the dogg house to the White House” (para. 3). He argues that the two main themes that have been present within Black lives throughout history and is still relevant today, is resistance with singing and fighting, or what Tate defines as SingFight. Tate explains the use of overt and covert SingFight songs as protest anthems throughout history, prompting racial justice movements including artists: Nina Simone, James Brown and Marvin

Read More

Rock 'N' Roll In America By Glenn C. Altschuler

443 Words | 2 Pages

In this extremely controversial work, Glenn C. Altschuler takes aim on the government’s accusations, the prejudice from the police, and the affect that rock ’n’ roll made in America through the late forties and fifties. Glenn makes many accusations of his own through the way he shifts the momentum of the story from time to time. Through the years back then and now, music has caused many racial and gender controversies. In this book, Glenn explains all these problems and what rock did to start or get of them.

Read More

Chapter One Of W. E. B Dubois Our Spiritual Strivings Sparknotes

742 Words | 3 Pages

Close Reading In Chapter One of Our Spiritual Strivings, W.E.B Du Bois constructs a powerful argument about the history and experience of African Americans in America and how it has shaped their identity as people. He uses vivid imagery, historical context, personal anecdotes, and rhetorical questions to make his point that despite all the struggles endured by African-Americans throughout history they have still managed to find ways to stay connected with their spiritual selves through music and artistry. How this paragraph contributes to the writer's larger argument is the difference between white people and their storm and stress and black people “rocks are a little boat on the mad waters of the word sea.” I picked rocks our little boat to refer to black people because we have to take on many difficult obstacles to truly be free, but it is a distant goal.

Read More

Aaron Douglass's Influence On African Americans

644 Words | 3 Pages

During the late 1900’s, an aesthetic movement known as primitivism integrated itself into Modern art. African and Pacific Island motifs, fetishes, and design elements were adopted into the work of Modern artists, such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Moore.19 The rise in popularity of these primitive inspired artworks helped to influence Black Americans in investigating and reconnecting with their own cultural heritage.20 One of the concerns facing Black Americans was how to merge the heritage of their ancestors with being an American. Through music, the Blues evolved from African tribal songs to songs workers would sing while laboring in the fields before and after slavery. When Black American migrated north, the Blues transformed into Jazz

Read More

Similarities Between Early Rock And Roll And The Racial Divide

1118 Words | 5 Pages

“The Genie had been let out of the bottle, and even though the government might be able to discourage future ‘disruption’ to the proper operation of the recording industry, there was no way to make mainstream youth forget the new sensibility introduced by the rock and roll sound” (Linden, 2000). The change in the music market brought white teens to black musicians’ concerts, as well as blacks to see white musicians. This was an act of solidarity between races that was never before seen. Thanks to Rock and Roll, the younger generation was influenced to question, as well as dissipate some of the most wrongful beliefs held in America by adults at the time. It is because of these broken down racial barriers that rock & roll is considered to be one of the most revolutionary cultural phenomena in American

Read More

Black America Again Rhetorical Devices

2540 Words | 11 Pages

Thousands of songs have been made in the fight for racial equality since the beginning of the slave trade. As the years go on songwriters and performers have shifted their songs to focus on the issues plaguing humanity at the time in which the song is being released while also reflecting on the past and hoping for a better future. Common’s 2016 song “ Black America Again” featuring Stevie Wonder is a recent example of a song made in support of racial equality. Common mentions many of the problems Black people face in the fight for justice in his song such as mass incarceration, the wage gap, gentrification, and voter suppression. Throughout the song Common makes his stance evident, he wants to rewrite the Black American story that we know today, instill a sense of pride in Black people across the nation, and reclaim the life and culture that was taken from Black people.

Read More

Emmett Till Injustice In Today's Society

715 Words | 3 Pages

Bob Dylan for example, he wrote a song to show his empathy and condolences towards poor Emmett Till’s death. In places like Mississippi, down in the south, many people had to live life in fear of being murdered or tortured. All white people in the south had made a stereotype about black males that if they touch a white woman or even look at one, they would be tortured and most likely killed. The people of different ethnicities and races were also discriminated against.

Read More

Conformity Of African-Americans

250 Words | 1 Pages

After WWII, African-Americans refused to conform to the rules drafted in favor of the white society. The negroes of America used race music as a weapon to demonstrate non-conformity and performed music only to the African-American society. A famous race music in the 1960s was ‘Hound Dog’ performed by an African American blues singer, Big Mama Thornton. Elvis Presley, a white singer who sings like the blacks, would perform the same ‘Hound Dog’ to the white audiences because Big Mama wouldn’t perform for the white society [Rock & Roll, 1950s PDF]. Another instance that shows non-conformity of African-Americans is the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-56).

Read More

African Americans In The 1920's

1236 Words | 5 Pages

African Americans face a struggle with racism which has been present in our country before the Civil War began in 1861. America still faces racism today however, around the 1920’s the daily life of an African American slowly began to improve. Thus, this time period was known by many, as the “Negro Fad” (O’Neill). The quality of life and freedom of African Americans that lived in the United States was constantly evolving and never completely considered ‘equal’. From being enslaved, to fighting for their freedom, African Americans were greatly changing the status quo and beginning to make their mark in the United States.

Read More

What Are The Ups And Downs Of The 1920's

1263 Words | 6 Pages

(Armstrong, 1929). Armstrong shares a relatable life and puts into perspective there's really what it is like to be an African American growing up in the United States. He sings about the discrimination and almost unprovided fullness about being an African American. This highlights the importance of “The New Negro’, giving African Americans a sense of pride and acceptance for who they are, regardless of the discrimination that is shown by ignorant people who judge those based on their skin color. Louis Armstrong's words are a source of storytelling, speaking from African Americans as a collective.

Read More

Duke Ellington's Music Analysis

869 Words | 4 Pages

The impact from Duke’s musical arts is very large, and that impact still stands. He is able to construct over three thousand songs, many of which pertain to freedom, identities, reunion, and last but not least, racism. Duke’s impact on bringing people together is enormous, and ends racism in all of society. One of the themes for Duke’s music is freedom. His songs contain themes as such.

Read More

Sonny's Blues Essay

769 Words | 4 Pages

Blues music has a deep connection to African American history. In fact, Kimberley Ruffins's article, “Blues in African American-Cultures” addresses how blues music has become a symbol of the many traumatizing moments that recognize and brings the community together as a whole. “ Given the dynamic and pervasive influence of the blues in American and African-American literature throughout the major monumental shifts in black people's lives: enslavement, emancipation, Reconstruction, the Great Migration, the Civil Rights movement... As the blues emerged as an identifiable musical style around the end of the 19th century, black communities were struggling to enter the wage labor force with little, if any, support”(Ruffin) The theme of being trapped or struggling is nothing new, and can be repeated many times throughout the story, especially from the timezone in Harlem, when many African Americans were discriminate for who they were. .

Read More

Analysis Of Sam Cooke's A Change Is Gonna Come

1201 Words | 5 Pages

Over the course of human history, music has been an integral part of life. Music’s impact can be seen in every facet of the world today and it is a way to express feelings, tell a story, or prove a point. It can bring people together and can transcend communities, cultures, and ideologies. Although many do not realize it, music has had a profound impact on all human lives, and the lives of all others that have since died. Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come’ is a song that defined a generation while bringing the oppression and injustice that African Americans experienced, on a daily basis, to the forefront of society.

Read More

How Did Jazz Music Influence Politics?

871 Words | 4 Pages

For African Americans, jazz music, has always had a political undercurrent. Slave songs spoke of the “Israelites” enslaved by the Egyptians, such as in Go Down Moses, symbolising their own yearning for freedom. However, it took time for the assertion of the political message to develop in a more discernible way. Jazz’s status as a form of entertainment had effectively subdued the message for many years, because of the ostracisation of those involved and because of the early popularity of the white swing bands. The majority of jazz musicians were not political activists, rarely explicitly political in their work, however, they often expressed their political ideals, sometimes more subtley other times more overtly through their music.

Read More

Live At The Apollo Analysis

861 Words | 4 Pages

We all know that the power of the Black community in America came from deep in their soul. Their strength and will to fight segregation , and their love can be felt in the civil rights movement. Their ability to express their minds in a non- violent way connects to the soul music that James Brown created. James Brown’s music was a mixture of R&B and gospel. Which in a way connects to what Dr. Martin Luther King was trying to do during the civil rights movement.

Read More

More about Analysis Of The Beatles 'Timeless Song Blackbird'

Related Topics

Open Document