Lyrical Rhetoric

             The first time I heard the song “Pumped up Kicks” I did not really listen to the words. I could only understand the chorus but I liked the music anyway. I did not really care that I did not understand the song and I do not think my friends did either because they never said anything about the meaning of the song. Until we were supposed to analyze the song I did not know what it was about.  Just by listening to the song I could not understand the words or the message behind it. I had to read the lyrics to understand the song was about shooting. The writer of the song (Mark Foster) was trying to inform people about shootings since they have become more common over the years. Also, he was showing us the mind of shooter.  The singer and writer of the song is Mark Foster and he was a jingle writer. Since Mark was a jingle writer he knew how to make songs stick in your head and remember them. He wanted his audience to remember his song and look up the meaning behind it. Mark had the right idea behind his song but it was not executed it very well. He was right by using catchy music that would stick in your head but failed by not making sure you could understand him singing.

By the song being under the genre of indie pop it made the audience think the song was not as serious as it really was. By having upbeat music with intense words I think he is trying to confuse to his audience to make them really listen to his words.  I think audience he was trying to reach with his song was anyone that listened to it. Mark Foster and his band intended to get the message out to as many people as they could.  The purpose of the song is informing his audience that bullying and shootings are an issue. Also, that something should be done to fix these issues. The song was written from the shooters point of view, which helped listeners of the song understand what was going on with the shooters mind and what caused the shooter to make extreme choices. The message of the song is that people who are bullied can do extreme things. Also, shootings can happen at any time and people need to be prepared for it.

-Megan Grimes (405)