Waking Know We Were Here Figurative Language

“Gonna Know We Were Here” is a country song written and sung by Jason Aldean in 2014. (AZL Lyrics). With the use of countless forms of figurative language, this song is a testament to two lovers who want to live their life to the fullest and be remembered for the fun that they had in their town. Whether it is the similes, idioms, or even personification, this song creates an understandable meaning that translates to two distinct poems in the poem packet, “To the Virgins make much of Time” and “To His Coy Mistress”. With that being said, this song helps bridges the gap between southern slang songs to poems that were written hundreds of years ago.

In essence, the interpretation of “Gonna Know We Were Here” can be split up into three pieces.

Starting out with the first two lines “You got the gas, I got the matches. We gonna turn this town to ashes” symbolizes the burning down of a town to teenagers throwing crazy parties, normally destroying their own self or the property that the party was on. In line 7, “Cause your motor runs just as fast as mine” is a metaphor comparing a truck engine to the drive or passion of the two lovers together. The faster the motor of a truck runs, the faster and more uncontrollable the truck will go. Just as when the passion of a person increases, their actions are dealt with much more haste and less with control and a thought process. Line 8 “Pedal to the metal, keep your throttle down all night” is an idiom to 1st world countries that drive and understand vehicles. Pedal to the metal in a vehicle makes the vehicle go as fast as it can go, which also figuratively translates to humans going forward with actions as quick as possible. Line 14, “Might burn out like a firework” is a simile comparing the couple to a firework. Fireworks have a very short life, they get lit, they explode, then they burn out. This is exactly the point of this song, the couple wants to have as much fun as they can, explode, but fully understand that the excitement will fade very shortly. The simile in line 15 is very similar to the one in line 14 “Like a shooting star across