Please listen to the song. I attached screenshots from the lesson. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you!!
Instructions:
Choose a song with lyrics and offer two brief analyses (roughly one page each) of it: one using the notion of narrative gaps (modeled on the analyses found in Filling in the Gaps Examples); and one using the notion of focalization (as described in Bringing Things Into Focus). You should analyze the same song with the two different techniques. Then answer the following questions:
Does segementivity/gapping or focalization seem to you a more effective way of reflecting on the song’s musical meaning, or are they equally effective (or ineffective)?
Do you need to use both in order to make the best sense of the song? (One paragraph to answer both of these questions should be adequate.)
Note! You will likely have a much easier and more productive time with this assignment if you choose a song with lyrics that are at least loosely narrative. Lyrics that are more stream-of-consciousness or filled with nonsense syllables will be much more challenging.
There is no set minimum length for this essay, but experience suggests that it is challenging to fulfill the expectations of this assignment in fewer than 750 words, and all but impossible in fewer than 500. Likewise, there is no upper limit—you may write as much as you wish, but 1500 words should be adequate in most cases.
Grading Outline:
Example chosen is a single song with lyrics that tells a story: /10
Has one analysis of the song’s narrative gaps: /5
Analysis 1 is compelling and grounded in the reading: /20
Has another analysis of the song’s focalization techniques: /5
Analysis 2 is compelling and grounded in the reading: /20
Compellingly answers question 1 (is gapping or focalization more useful here?): /20
Compellingly answers question 2 (do you need to both fill gaps and focalize to understand?): /20
Song Choice:
“Mythological Beauty” by Big Theif
Lyrics:
You have a mythological beauty
You have the eye of someone I have seen
Outside of ordinary situations
Even outside of dreams
You lie in bed at night and watch the lines of headlights through your screen
There is a child inside you who’s trying to raise a child in me
If you wanna leave
You just have to say
You’re all caught up inside
But you know the way
You cut the flesh of your left thumb
Using your boyfriend’s knife
Seventeen, you took his cum
And you gave birth to your first life
You gave Andrew a family who you thought would love and take better care
I have an older brother I don’t know
He could be anywhere
If you wanna leave
You just have to say
You’re all caught up inside
But you know the way
You’re all caught up inside
But you know the way
Rented a house in Niswah, Minnesota
Shrapnel and oil cans, rhubarb in the yard
I built a ladder out of metal pieces
Father was working hard
Standing beneath the oak tree by the front door
You were inside baking bread
Sister came out and put her arms around me
Blood gushing from my head
You held me in the backseat with a dishrag, soaking up blood with your eyes
I was just five and you were twenty-seven
Praying “don’t let my baby die”
If you wanna leave
You just have to say
You’re all caught up inside
But you know the way
You’re all caught up inside
But you know the way
So much more to live your life
To walk the floor
To say goodnight
Do you leave your light on?
Do you leave your light on?
You’re all caught up inside
But you know the way