3 Full Pages Song Analysis
Project Description
Four times during the term, you will be asked to prepare a careful analysis of a song from the time period of the musical era under review.
Select a Song and Analyze It
•Your first task is to decide on a song.
•You should select a song from the era under review during this part of the term. If in doubt, check the Submit Song Analysis instruction in the module for this analysis.
•You can pick any song you like from this era, familiar or not. However, it should be–
- A song for which you have access to both audio and lyrics
- A song you like and want to spend time with
- Don’t choose a song for which a detailed analysis is done in the text
•Spend a fair amount of time listening to and thinking about your song
- You can look up historical background if you like
- You might think about the way you want to analyze your song (see below)
- You might try to determine what it is about the song that appeals (or doesn’t appeal) to you
Write Your Paper
•When you are ready to begin, create a word processor document. Make sure your name is in the title, and the pages are numbered.
•Begin your paper with this information–
- Song title
- Songwriter(s)
- Recording artist(s)
- Year of release
- Record label
- Song style or market (e.g. Tin-Pan Alley, Country Western, Rhythm & Blues)
- Any background or fun fact (not required)
•You can begin your paper with historical or other research-type background, but be clear that this is not meant to be a research paper. If you do use sources for this part of your paper, make sure to list them (see Citation Standards at the top of the page). This includes any Internet sources.
•Now provide a careful analysis of your song.
- Your analysis should take any perspective you like
- It should be based on your current understanding of music theory and/or history
- It can be based on content from the text (but don’t quote directly)
- It can be similar to the analysis style you see in the text, but does not have to be
- You could compare to other songs, or draw some conclusion as to its place in cultural history
- Text should be double-spaced, with good grammar and spelling
•This part of your paper, the actual analysis should be 1.5-2 full pages. You total document should be at least 2-3 full pages.
•Important: The analysis you submit is meant to be a reflection of your own thoughts and observations about the song. It should not be just a history of the song and/or the artist.
•The analysis could be—
- Structural: you could go verse by verse analyzing musically or lyrically. Don’t just provide lyrics, you’d need to make some observation about them.
- Musical: What is the musical style in your view? Instrumentation? How is it produced? Melodic or harmonic content?
- Cultural: what the does the song mean, either when it came out, or now? Or how does it fit into your view of the prevailing culture?
- Interpretation: how do you interpret the meaning of the song, especially if the lyrics are obtuse?
- Ineffability: how does this song express things that would difficult to express otherwise?
- Popularity: If the song was a hit, why do think that was? Was that deserved?If not, should it have been?
These are simply suggestions to get you started. The important thing is that these are your own thoughts in your own words after you have spent time listening to, thinking about, and maybe doing a small amount of research about this song.
In a typical 2-week schedule, choose your song at the start of the first week, and write and submit your paper early in the second week. Don’t wait until the last minute to do this work.