Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Lyrical Rhetoric-JF

In the song, "Pumped Up Kicks" by the banc Foster the People, there is a deeper meaning than the lyrics and tune seem to convey. The song's lyrics certainly meet the requirements of a rhetorical situation. The author (Foster the People), the audience (fans of the band’s music), the text (the lyrics of the song), and the setting (the music video) are all clear. The purpose on the other hand is not as clear, but is easily found with some careful analyzing. The lyrics do not seem to suggest any sort of argument, and they also do not seem to request anything from the audience. The purpose of the lyrics is to tell a story of domestic violence that occurs amongst children unfortunately. The first verse tells of a child who finds a gun, and in telling the story they use words that relate back to the Wild West. The second verse tells of a child waiting for his father to come home, and the tone of the words implies, to me at least, that the child is waiting for a fight to occur. If there is any argument presented in the song, it is that violence is bad and children should not be subjected to it.

Although few people would argue against it, I feel that their argument is good and is supported by their lyrics. Their story-line and choice of music support their point well in the way that is somewhat misleading. If one blocks out the lyrics and listens to the music, he or she would likely assume that the song is a pleasant song. If one simply reads the lyrics, he or she would likely assume that the song is a more aggressive song. If one only watches the video, he or she might think that the song is passionate or friendly. Combined, all of these created a dark, bittersweet mood that enforces the band’s point of the lyrics. A different type of music and a different music video may have helped the point better, but the unexpectedness of the music and video lead me to think that the band did a good job at enforcing their point and playing a style of music that they like. The rhetorical choices made by the author of the song really helped impose his point on the audience because of it’s surprise effect through using a happier tone of music and a laid back music video.

3 comments:

  1. Hey Jon, When I first heard the song, it did not even cross my mind what they lyrics were, I thought it was an upbeat song that was talking about shoes. I never really knew the meaning of the song until my friend, Emily explained it to me. Imagine that. Anyway, the way I took the lyrics was someone found a gun and is ready to go get into a fight, like you said so in your post. But, I did not think it was for his father, or not directly I guess you could say. I thought it was just in general a fight.
    I do agree with you though, I do feel the band, Foster the People, did a great job with their argument. I also agreed with how you said their lyrics and the type of music used in the background were great ways of putting their points across. Lyrics do a lot for a reader, they could have a completely different meaning to the music behind them, like “Pumped Up Kicks,” did. I was definitely surprised when I saw the music video. It was interesting to the way I was not expecting it. Whether the song imposed violence or if it was really just a catchy song, I enjoyed it and I’m sure loads of people in the United States did as well.

    Word Count: 227

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  2. After first hearing the song in passing on the radio, I simply listened to the melody in the background, not the words. And it really did seem very upbeat and dancy, as well as being horrendously yet amazingly catchy. Then once I finally paid attention to the lyrics I just thought, "Woah, I wanted to jam out to this? Nope. No thanks." It does cover a very important and serious topic, however, and the band did an amazing job in introducing us to that issue.

    And as far as the second verse, your interpretation is as good as mine, because I did not understand it at all. All I got was something is chilling on ice and something about dinner being dead. I think. I don't really understand that part. But I guess that's a point of these blogs/responses, right?

    (140 words)

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