Envision having the same weekly routine for the rest of your life. You wake up, go to work, go home, go to sleep and repeat. Sounds dull, right? In most cases, people would never want to live the same weekly routine forever. That very situation emphasises the importance of change. In the summer of 2014, The Commercial Appeal, a highly celebrated newspaper in Memphis, TN , released a ranking of the top 100 songs about Memphis. The Commercial Appeal claims that Jerry Lee Lewis’s “Memphis Beat” is the song that best reflects the character of Memphis, TN, but they are solely mistaken. They are sorely mistaken because “Memphis Beat” barely characterizes the city of Memphis at the time of its release, neglects to display the cultural and social diversity of Memphis today, and was written from the perspective of white male during the 1960s. However, the song “Underground” from Memphis The Musical does a much better job of : maintaining a sense of timelessness, capturing both the cultural and social diversity of current day Memphis, and revealing the a perspective of a minority group within Memphis. As change happens in Memphis, any song about Memphis must have the ability to catch the few parts of Memphis that don’t show signs of change such as landmarks. …show more content…
The 1960s was a very important time in Memphis’s history. The Federal court decided to end segregation in the public libraries, schools, parks and other public places of Memphis. The notorious mayor, Henry Loeb, who opposed the striking sanitation workers, was elected. With all these momentous occasions taking place, “ Memphis Beat” failed to capture a clear image of Memphis. The song did capture landmarks such as the Mississippi River and Beale Street, but thats all the song truly accomplishes lyrical to describe Memphis. What the song “Memphis Beat” fails in the song “ Underground” from Memphis The Musical excels