Irving Berlin, White Christmas

White Christmas, written by Irving Berlin, 1888-1989, in 1941, sold up to 30 million copies worldwide and once it was adapted by Bing Crosby it was and still is known as the bestselling single of all times; Crosby’s version sold up to 50 million copies worldwide. It stayed top on the ‘Pop and R&B’ charts of America for 10 weeks. To this day Berlin’s version has sold an estimated of 100 million copies.

This song was released when WWII was happening and the imagery it used really touched many hearts. As said by Stephen Holden "the song also evokes a pure childlike longing for roots, home and childhood—that goes way beyond the greeting imagery."  Ref: ‘http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Berlin’ 

The imagery he used in the song, ‘Where the treetops glisten,’ describes and sets the scene very well, rather than telling what is happening he is showing it very clearly. Although the song only has thirteen very short lines, it still captured many hearts with the soft music and meaningful lyrics.

For the music Berlin didn’t use any chord progression technique, he used up to seven chords; G, Am, D, C, D7, Cm and Em. For most of his songs he used very different types of chords and they always varied compared to the song type. Berlin did not learn to make music; he just wrote lyrics and added music which to him fit best. ‘I never have, because if I don't know them I do not have to observe any rules and can do as I like, which is much better for me than if I allowed myself to be governed by the rules of versification. In following my own method I can make my jingles fit my music or vice versa with no qualms as to their correctness. Usually I compose my tunes and then fit words to them, though sometimes it's the other way about,’ said by Berlin when he was asked if he had ever studied lyrical writing.                                                                 Ref: ‘http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Berlin’

The lyrical meaning of the song is the reason the song was and still is so famous to this day. It creates an image of peace which is desired by all, Berlin did a very good job of bringing out the childhood memories of many.

Afsheen Butt

Imagine; John Lennon

Imagine, composed and performed by John Lennon, was first released in 1971. It was reissued after the year of his death in 1980. The first time it was released the song was moderately a hit, but it became largely famous after its release. It is a pop/rock/Ballad song, for the duration of 3:15 minutes.   

This verse is built around the keys of C and F. The only thing that makes the song interesting is the change of lengths in the notes, variation in melody. There were only a few instruments used, for example bass, drum kit and piano. He also kept the song fairly simple. The reason being the he knew sooner or later he would need to perform the song live, and he hadn’t performed for quite a long time since ‘The Beatles’ had broken up, so he kept it as simple as possible for himself.

This song has a very interesting structure; it is by far a very strange one. He starts the song with the chorus, refrain (a melody that keeps coming back), chorus, refrain, middle 8, chorus and ends on the middle 8. The song has no verses, at all. The middle 8 is 8 bars whereas the refrains are 16 bars. The strings are introduced when the refrain comes in, and drums and bass are introduced when the chorus comes in the second time.

The note ‘Imagine’ is, B, on is the money note as well as the hook. As it is repeated several times and is on a higher note than the others, it sticks into people’s minds and is quite effective. It is also effective as it is the song title.

The song is written in second person, with the lyrics being very descriptive. The whole song paints a fantastic image of a perfect world, which could be created. Although the song overall describing a perfect world, it has a hidden message behind it, for example ‘Imagine there’s no religion, it isn’t hard to do,’ is like a form of statement referring to the fact that religion isn’t real and a bit strange; people are just blindly following things that are fiction. Through the nice words, he is almost insulting the society for being so arrogant towards many things in life. This is another way he makes the song very personal, other than writing it in second person.

There isn’t very strong rhyme in the song, but there a few rhyming couplets every second line i.e. the second and forth last words would rhyme, a half rhyme or full strong rhyme.

In my point of view, this song is written in a very clever way. As John Lennon knew he could not take his rage and annoyance towards the society out directly towards them, he decided to do in a way they wouldn’t realise. The actual message behind the song is very interesting. Overall I really enjoy listening to the song and believe Lennon used quite a few simple tricks which really helped him create an overall interesting song. 

Afsheen Butt

Michael Jackson: Heal the World

The soft rock and gospel song ‘Heal the World’ is from Michael Jackson’s 1991 album Dangerous. It was released in CD format, 7” and 12”, with this songs duration of 6:23 minutes. This song was believed, by his main fan-base, to be one of the best songs written by Michael Jackson; in fact it was so famous that in 2001 Michael created a charity named after it which helped children around the world.

Jackson’s method of writing was very different to other songwriters. When he would come up with an idea for a song, he would go straight to a recording studio and without lyrics he would record the vocals, he sang the lyrics from the top of his memory. He did that for most of his songs. For this song he used seven chords; Bm7, A, C#m, Bm7 being his main four chords.

In this song he uses his common trick, which he uses in most of his songs, of switching from major to minor. This adds a very sad sense to the whole song, but at the same time giving the readers a sense of hope. It makes them feel that maybe if they take action they can achieve something. 

The instruments used in the song are drum kit, guitar, piano, percussion, electric piano, guitar, synthesiser, bass and synthesiser strings. There is also a male voice, Jacksons own, and backing vocals.

The song starts off with a little girl talking, almost narrating or making a wish, about making the world more appealing for the future generations. The structure of the song is clear to pick out by ear; verse, chorus, verse, chorus, middle 4, verse, chorus x3 and a coda to finish off. The verses and choruses are all 8 bars. Jackson also used harmonies, counter-melody, in the last two repeats of the chorus, with two different keys. This works well as it tells the listeners that the song will be ending soon.

His hook is also in the middle 4, where he goes to a very high on the line ‘Be God’s glow’. This adds a really good anti-climax which also leads well to the verse. The song ends with the girl, who narrated the beginning, singing ‘Heal the world we live in, save it for our children.’ This gives the song a whole innocent feeling and ends the song the song the way it started; it gave the song a start and finish point.       

The lyrics of the song really emphasise the pain that is being inflicted on the world by humans. ‘Heal the world; make it a better place for you and me, and the entire human race. There are people dying.’ He creates quite a clear image of what is happening to the world. In the lyrics he also talks directly to the listeners, ‘If you care enough for the living, make it a better place for you and me.’ This really touches the listeners and makes them want to take action, hence another reason the song was so famous. It focuses on the caring nature the humans are meant to have. They talk about the world in general and how we are affecting it. He talks about improving it for the future generations; it is written in second person, ‘Heal the world, and make it a better place, for you and for me.’

The music was composed by Michael Jackson too, and most of it was also produced by him. It has had many hits all around the world and many schools played and sang it in school assemblies and recitals. Michael touched many hearts with this song; it gave hope to many for a better future.

In my point of view, Jackson got the message he intended across. The song clearly paints a picture of how the world could be improved for the future, and what we are doing to it at the moment in life. The song is very well mixed with a good balance in the voices and music. The overall feel of the song is sad but still gives me a sense of hope, like something can be done to make the ‘world a better place’.

Afsheen Butt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heal_the_World

http://trowbridgeplanetearth.com/T2/T2MEM/news/michaelj.html

Eminem; Lose Yourself

Urban music has started to become very popular and listened to vastly around the world, mostly in the US. There are an endless amount of urban/rap artists and one of the most recognised is Marshall Bruce Mathers III, commonly known as Eminem.

In 2003 Eminem released the single ‘Lose Yourself’, duration 5:36 minutes, as a part of the movie ‘8 Mile’.  It is the first rap song to win The Academy Award for Best Original Song. It was also nominated for five Grammies at the 45^th Grammy Awards in 2003. It has had over 4,000,000 downloads in the US alone and had about 500,000 sales. It was also ranked number 24 on the national charts worldwide. 

There is a range of instruments used in the song; more than one guitar, drums, pianos and a bass which is generated by a keyboard. The opening piano instrumental uses two chords in this order Dm, C, Dm. The effective use of major next to a minor really adds a boast to the over feeling of the song. 

The song has an interesting structure, as it isn’t the usual verse, chorus, verse, chorus, middle 8, and chorus. Its structure is more verse, chorus x 2, verse, chorus x 2, verse or middle 8, chorus x 2 and a finishing line which works as a coda. It also has a small introduction with just instruments and speech later said by Eminem. This repeat of chorus builds quite a bit of tension throughout the song. The verse has 16 bars, whereas the chorus has 8 bars.  

Every song that Eminem composes had a very distinctive method. His lyrics are quite poetic. He uses iambic pentameter on some lines, “You better lose yourself in the music, the moment,” but in some sentences he does not. This gives it a distinctive strong use of rhyme. He is very descriptive in this song, which has been written with a very aggressive theme. Although the song is about never giving up, this aggressive tone really emphasises the emotions that are felt when people face knock downs in life. ‘You can do anything you set your mind to man,’ a line said at the end, is an example of the theme. He is really trying to create an image of how many difficulties he faced in life and even from that he learned not to give up. 

There are many techniques he uses which make his song successful and one of them is that he starts strong, describing the feelings of the song directly ‘His palms are sweaty’, and has an even more powerful ending. Throughout the whole song he is telling a story which can be easily picked out and applies to most of his listeners. One of the reasons why his lyrics are so well written is that he writes about the things he can relate to easily. He talks about life experience which makes it easier for him to put things onto paper. His use of powerful sentences, “He’s nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready to drop bombs,” have a really positive impact on the song and help create the image he wants in the listeners’ minds.

The song is also written in second and third person, which makes the song even more interesting for the listeners, as he is directly talking to them. This makes the song personal as well as creating a distinctive wall between the main character, being spoken of in the song, and the listeners. This is quite a clever technique to use as the listeners are being shown a very clear image of the situation in the song as well as getting them involved every now and again.

The lyrical meaning of the song is the reason why this song is one of Eminem’s most famous mainstream songs, other than ‘Slim Shady’. It is one of his best written songs, in my point
of view as it holds a lot of emotion. He uses a very poetic method which a lot of rap artists


lack in the 21^st century, and it is this method that makes his songs very catchy.  

Afsheen Butt

Ref: http://www.copyblogger.com/eminem/

       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminem

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lose_Yourself