Memory in Song Lyrics
This is an excerpt from the paper...
The use of roads as metaphors for human memory is effective because the two have a number of things in common, despite the reality that memory exists only metaphysically. Three features shared by memories and roads are the inevitability of change, perspective, and a linkage which allows the physical road to lead to an emotive response in the memory. Some of the songs which illustrate this are John Denver's country hit, Take Me Home, Country Road; the country-style rock classic Take it Easy by The Eagles; Memory, the theme from the musical Cats, by Barbara Streisand; Streets of London by The Beatles, a pop ballad; Where do you go to, my lovely? a rock ballad by Peter Sarstedt; and the rock hit, Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty. Take Me Home, Country Road by John Denver portrays the inevitability of change. The speaker/writer clearly wants to remember his home the way it was when he left it in his youth. But inevitable changes have occurred because of the time spent away in a new location. It seems that Denver's perception is that the longer he spends away from home, the more risk there is of changes occurring to his birthplace, which he finds disorienting. The personification of the road, and the way the speaker addresses it as if it is an old friend, is the key to the emotive effect of this country classic. The perspective of the road in this song shows that the writer knows where he is going and is familiar with the destination. The road symbolizes the route nee
. . .
ured the essence of memory and the power of choice -- in his poem, The Road Not Taken.
"Two roads diverged in a wood and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
The representation of life as a journey and memories - the intangible stuff of life -- as the road is an effective tool which has become somewhat disempowered through over-use by lyricists through the years.
Source
Lyrics.com http://www.lyrics.com>
Accessed: 8th December, 2004.
Take Me Home, Country Road
Words and music by Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert and John Denver
Almost heaven, west virginia
Blue ridge mountains
Shenandoah river -
Life is old there
Older than the trees
Younger than the mountains
Growin' like a breeze
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads
All my memories gathered f˝round her
Miner's lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine
Teardrops in my eye
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads
I hear her voice
In the mornin' hour she calls me
The radio
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
John Denver, Barbara Streisand, Streets London, Street Light, Night Midnight, London Ill, Baker Street, Winslow Arizona, Henley I'm, Yes Ah, country roads, home country, streets london, roads home, baker street, home country roads, country roads home, words music, west virginia, inside head, virginia mountain momma, virginia mountain, mountain momma home, momma home, west virginia mountain,
Approximate Word count = 2502
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)
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