In today’s ever changing world we all seem to be able to relate to music as an unwritten language of understanding that brings us together. Time and time again we all seem to find ourselves listening to music for all our different moods, we all have songs for when we’re sad, happy, or even just at peace with the world. Now there are many times that a certain song can reach out to people and are able to relate to it on an even deeper level, more than just a song for one of are many emotions. These songs are the type that will go down in history for the artist’s ability to take a real life situation and make it into music, songs like “Sunday, Bloody Sunday” by U2, or “Working Class Hero” by John Lennon. Today though we are focusing on a different topic than people struggle to in society to have a job, or just live day to day in fear. Today we have our attention drawn to the topic of abuse, songs like “Wonderful” by the band Everclear, and “Lose Yourself” by Eminem take this dark and down beat topic and turn it into music. Though these artists’ approaches are very different in presenting the topic, but they both relay the same message, child abuse is very wrong.
Both of these artists talk about abuse in different lights, Everclear puts a happy sound to a very dark topic. I mean when looking at their lyrics without hearing any music I picture a very different sound for the song. With words like, “I just don’t understand how/you can smile with all those tears in your eyes/tell me everything is wonderful” (19-21) it is surprising how up beat the song is, but the power of it is that it makes you listen. The song draws you in with a happy sound that seems innocent, but when you listen you can find what it’s really about. This in its self is a very interesting technique, because the song is talking about all these horrors of what it is like to grow up in an environment that abuse is just the norm of these peoples everyday life and yet keeps the music up beat. The only way that you can really tell what is going on in this song is when you watch the music video, this is when the artist finally lets you see the whole picture.
The artist Eminem on the other hand tells you right off the bat what the song will be about just by tone of the music, it starts with a very heavy down beat with almost no up beat at all. When artists do this it makes you feel darker, and even aggravated when you are listening to the song. Now sometimes artists will talk directly about what is going on in there song, but Eminem doesn’t speak directly about child abuse, but when you read his lyrics it is very heavily implied with words like, “He knows that, but he’s broke/He’s so stacked that he knows/When he goes back to his mobile home…” (18-20). Now I know that this is a rap song, but it feels as if he is almost yelling at you in pain, showing you that it is important that we stop and take time to truly understand the music before we just walk by and pay it no notice. Also what the artist has done with this song is the fact that everyone can relate to some part of it, if that the abuse, struggle to get by, a lack of family or that feeling of trying to reach what seems like an impossible goal. I believe that this song really reaches out to the listener much more than the Everclear song, mainly because I can relate to it more on a personal level.
Now when we look at these songs side by side it seem like they have nothing in common, one is rap the other is rock, one sound happy and the other sounds down. So on one hand yes, they have nothing in common with each other. Then when you starting taking the song apart you start seeing common messages about abuse, and other social issues. We begin to see what both of the artists intended us to see, the struggle to break free from the flaws of our broken society and reality of these issues. In this case child abuse, and the fact that we as not just a nation, but as a people do not pay enough attention to how much it really is going on today. These songs both point out that we turn a blind eye to this issue, and in Eminem’s song he shows us that we all, no matter who we are seem to always be looking away from something that is going wrong. So on the other hand these song are very much in common, playing off of the same under tones and getting the listener to look deeper into the meaning of the music.
Songs like these are very important today with how broken our nation is getting with the divorce rate on the rise, child abuse finally having some sort of action being taken on it, and the fact we as a nation are going through a recession. During times like these we need things that are a common ground, something that we all can understand. We as people of all ages need these songs right now with out a doubt; I mean music is truly the only thing that everyone in this room, school, state, and nation has one hundred percent in common. So with the works of Everclear and Eminem showing that we do not live in a perfect world, is important, just as much as John Lennon, U2, and many other groups and people that show us the different world issues through music. Without a doubt these songs relate to each other and are so different, but that’s just good music, so even Though these artists’ approaches are very different in presenting the topic at hand, they both relay the same message, child abuse is very wrong in today’s world.
