Country Joe And The Fish

In the song I’m Fixin To Die by the band in the 60’s Country Joe and The Fish was a very popular group that played in the world renowned Woodstock Concert that featured 3 long days on a farm that many argue changed history. Now almost all music of note produced in the 60’s and 70’s was related in some way shape or form to the war in Vietnam. The popular song I’m Fixin To Die is no exception to the rule. One of the reasons for the songs immense popularity was its use of two primary literary devices the first being Irony and the second being paradox. Starting from the very name of the band these literary devices are of paramount importance to the very existence of the song.

In the thesis statement above irony is listed first for a reason, that reason is because starting with the very name of the band Country Joe and The Fish, it is almost as if they were trying to drive Nixon’s “silent majority” crazy because if one read up on the name one would know that they are in short calling themselves Joseph Stalin and Chairman Mao Zedong; this can be said with confidence due to the fact that a nickname used in American propaganda for Joseph Stalin in the Post WWII era of history was in fact Country Joe and in Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book the now infamous ex-leader of the Chinese Communist Party and first leader of the Peoples Republic Of China he states “that if one wishes to be a revolutionary he must swim with the fishes”. Throughout the song there is several examples of irony that is mostly due to the satirical nature of the song, among them are:

“Well, come on generals, let's move fast;
Your big chance has come at last.
Gotta go out and get those reds —
The only good commie is the one who's dead
And you know that peace can only be won
When we've blown 'em all to kingdom come.”

Also,

“Well, come on Wall Street, don't move slow,
Why man, this is war au-go-go.
There's plenty good money to be made
By supplying the Army with the tools of the trade,
Just hope and pray that if they drop the bomb,
They drop it on the Viet Cong. “

Another example although despite its irony and satirical nature of the song this line is one of the most controversial of them all,

“Well, come on mothers throughout the land,
Pack your boys off to Vietnam.
Come on fathers, don't hesitate,
Send 'em off before it's too late.
Be the first one on your block
To have your boy come home in a box.”

Each one of these stanzas ironic not on a line by line basis but collectively as a whole this is because the stanzas if taken at face value would be rude but in support of the Vietnam. However through the way the song I sung and the fact that the human being can recognize emotion where as machines can not one can appreciate the songs collective face value. The first quoted stanza is ironic because it is talking about how to achieve piece and he is talking about mass death to an opposing ideology. Now if it is successful it will lead to peace but all ventures down such a path will as they always have end with failure and righteous and well earned anger by the targeted against the so called ‘peace winners’. Through the total satirical nature of the song irony is found collectively and individually throughout the song.

Paradox another literary device used to enhance the quality and the enjoyment of the literature or in this case the piece of music is the other major literary deice in the song. Technically one could argue that the whole song is a paradox due to the blatant antonym like nature of the whole song collectively to their collective definitions in the literal sense to the known meaning of the actual song. In this stanza
since Country Joe uses the word ‘we’ he implies himself in the lyrics why would he not care about what he is fighting for:

“And it's one, two, three, four
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;”

Also when these lines are sung if taken literally even without the knowledge of satirical comedy this paradox in the song is more than enough to raise a few eyebrows:

“Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven, eight
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.”

After all those being sent to the front usually are the ones who get closer to their god of choice, assuming of course you can believe in such a non-existent entity. In conclusion paradox just as irony was for slightly different reasons is seen collectively throughout the song and in individual places as well.

Thus I have concluded that irony and paradox are closely related more so than in other songs. From the very band name to the end of the song irony is present as an individual and collective force where as paradox is present more than irony as a collective force in the song.

Point Of Veiw Essay On Modern Music and Pop Culture

According to Billboard and their list of the top 50 songs I can deduce from just 3 within then higher rankings in the chart that America’s youth is receiving a disservice. If one looks to the 60’s and 70’s music that dominated the charts contained heartfelt and powerful messages for peace, unity and equality. Now the chart is disgraced by Miley Cyrus’s Party In The USA Beyonce’s Sweet Dreams and Cobra Starship’s Boys Like Girls. These songs which dominate the top of the list all share the same point of view but in all other respects they are pathetic in their lack of poetic devices blatant English grammar violations and a clear lack of any resemblance of intelligence to the real world that their largely illiterate audience also resides in with the exception of the final song by Beyonce which despite my large personal bias I can still appreciate for the lyrical ingenuity and sophisticated use of the English language.

Throughout this list of unbelievable and ear torturing trash there is un-believably rampant amounts of evidence that the singer is out of touch from the rest of the modern an intelligent world and crude use of language that is a disservice to even English which being entomologically descended from German is a vile and harsh language to begin with. In Miley Cyrus’s Party In The USA she displayed her total isolation from the real world starting from the first stanza:

“I hopped off the plane at LAX

with a dream and my cardigan

welcome to the land of fame excess,

am I gonna fit in?”… and

“Get to the club in my taxi cab

Everybody's lookin at me now

Like “whos that chick, thats rockin’ kicks?

She gotta be from out of town”

So hard with my girls not around me

Its definitely not a Nashville party

Cause’ all I see are stilletos

I guess I never got the memo

My tummys turnin and I'm feelin kinda home sick

Too much pressure and I'm nervous

That's when the D.J. dropped my favorite tune

and a Britney song was on

and the Britney song was on

and the Britney song was on”

Her glorification of the USA and our way of life is only tolerable by the male audience which is so busy drooling at her nearly entirely exposed body and flashy costume and a young generation of young girls today who from this very young age are already being instilled male objectification and laying the groundwork for total mental instability as a teenager even more so then nature predisposes the human species that will destroy nearly all advances earned by the feminist movement spurned back in the 60’s and 70’s as their civil rights are totally undefended and even willingly capitulated by the upcoming generation. The objectification continues in the next song Good Girls Gone Bad by Cobra Starship even their title even says it all, Good Girls Gone Bad. If The older generation wants to put all these regulations on videogames so you have to be of driving age to get a video or videogame that has the word damn then how come they give their daughter money to go see a concert or go get a CD that basically instructs this generation on how to be the most profitable person in a brothel. And as for the males this song is hardly teaching morals or values relevant to an honest citizen or a minor in the teenage years trying to survive puberty without a criminal record of sex crimes:

“I make them good girls go bad
I make them good girls go bad
You were hanging in the corner
With your five best friends
You heard that I was trouble
But you couldn't resist
I make them good girls go bad
I make them good girls go
Good girls go bad

I know your type
(Your type)
Boy, you're dangerous
Yeah, you're that guy
(That guy)
I'd be stupid to trust
But just one night couldn't be so wrong
You make me wanna lose control

She was so shy
Till I drove her wild”

The lack of poetic devices and pathetic usage of the English language does not add luster to the lack of literary quality of what is supposed to be a song. Beyonce’s song Sweet Dreams is a respite well earned from the trash that dominates the upper parts of the list. Although my clear bias which I do recognize blinds me from further appreciation of the song and the way the music is sung not even I can deny ample amounts of imagery although most of the imagery that is ample is quite repetitive and although some deviate from the following two lines they mostly are the same in content and are the same in the image produced by mind: “Baby long as you're here I'll be floating on air” and “Clouds filled with stars cover the skies”. All of these aspects create a welcome relief for listeners who share my personal music preference and my bias.

Despite the fact that two of the songs out of the three chosen are dependent on fancy costume, and are crudely constructed with a mediocre understanding of the English language they all share the point of view. All three regardless of the despicable quality gap are all sung in the first person. The first song is a romanticized, over dramatized and unrealistic story of what is supposed to be her, a naïve girl, although we know otherwise, arriving in Hollywood. The second song is undeniably the tale of one indulging in the carnal pleasures of intercourse and the seduction of a girl hence the objectification this song like the one before it is also tasteless and crudely constructed and filled with enough gross grammatical errors and misuse it could sink the metaphorical Titanic. In Beyonce’s song Sweet Dreams she is singing her story to her audience which is in short a love strong, but in the interest of fairness it must be noted that while sung from the same point of view Beyonce sung with a much more polite tone and with far more sophistication in her language and use of the English language than her higher scoring peers on Billboard’s list.

All of these songs successfully used the first person point of view to tell a story through their individual songs. Most likely this is a result of the deterioration or a completely lacked skill that of literacy. I say this because the majority of the song use crude language and even then incorrectly so to a point where as the audience is not using and therefore no longer developing brain power that was being done in the 1960’s and 1970’s that is necessary in other fields and is and will continue to make America a laughing stock in the eyes of the educated across the seas and our borders.

Point Of Veiw Essay Song Lyrics

Party In The USA: Myley Cyrus

I hopped off the plane at LAX

with a dream and my cardigan

welcome to the land of fame excess,

am I gonna fit in?

Jumped in the cab,

Here I am for the first time

Look to the right and I see the Hollywood sign

This is all so crazy

Everybody seems so famous

My tummys turnin and I'm feelin kinda home sick

Too much pressure and I'm nervous,

That's when the taxi man turned on the radio

and a Jay Z song was on

and the Jay Z song was on

and the Jay Z song was on

CHORUS:

So I put my hands up

They’re playing my song,

And the butterflys fly away

Noddin’ my head like yea

Movin my hips like yea

I got my hands up,

They’re playin my song

I know im gonna be ok

Yea, It's a party in the USA

Yea, It's a party in the USA

Get to the club in my taxi cab

Everybody's lookin at me now

Like “whos that chick, thats rockin’ kicks?

She gotta be from out of town”

So hard with my girls not around me

Its definitely not a Nashville party

Cause’ all I see are stilletos

I guess I never got the memo

My tummys turnin and I'm feelin kinda home sick

Too much pressure and I'm nervous

That's when the D.J. dropped my favorite tune

and a Britney song was on

and the Britney song was on

and the Britney song was on

CHORUS:

So I put my hands up

They’re playing my song,

And the butterflys fly away

Noddin’ my head like yea

Movin my hips like yea

I got my hands up,

They’re playin my song

I know im gonna be ok

Yea, It's a party in the USA

Yea, It's a party in the USA

Feel like hoppin' on a flight (on a flight)

Back to my hometown tonight (town tonight)

Something stops me everytime (everytime)

The DJ plays my song and I feel alright

Good Girls Gone Bad: Cobra Starship

I make them good girls go bad
I make them good girls go
Good girls go bad

I know your type
(Your type)
You're daddy's little girl
Just take a bite
(One bite)
Let me shake up your world
'Cause just one night couldn't be so wrong
I'm gonna make you lose control

She was so shy
Till I drove her wild

I make them good girls go bad
I make them good girls go bad
You were hanging in the corner
With your five best friends
You heard that I was trouble
But you couldn't resist
I make them good girls go bad
I make them good girls go
Good girls go bad

I know your type
(Your type)
Boy, you're dangerous
Yeah, you're that guy
(That guy)
I'd be stupid to trust
But just one night couldn't be so wrong
You make me wanna lose control

She was so shy
Till I drove her wild

I make them good girls go bad
I make them good girls go bad
I was hanging in the corner
With my five best friends
I heard that you were trouble
But I couldn't resist
I make them good girls go bad
I make them good girls go
Good girls go bad
Good girls go bad
Good girls go bad

Oh, she got away with the boys in the place
Treat 'em like they don't stand a chance
And he got away with the girls in the back
Acting like they're too hot to dance
Yeah, she got away with the boys in the place
Treat 'em like they don't stand a chance
And he got away with the girls in the back
Acting like they're too hot to dance

I make them good girls go bad
(They don't stand a chance)
I make them good girls go
The good girls go bad, yeah
Good girls go bad
I was hanging in the corner
With my five best friends
I thought that you were trouble
But I couldn't resist
I make them good girls go bad
I make them good girls go bad
I make them good girls go
Good girls go bad
Good girls go bad
Good girls go

Sweet Dreams: Beyonce

Turn the lights on

Every night I rush to my bed
With hopes that maybe I'll get a chance to see you
When I close my eyes I'm going out of my head
Lost in a fairytale, can you hold my hands and be my guide?

Clouds filled with stars cover the skies
And I hope it rains, you're the perfect lullaby
What kinda dream is this?

You could be a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare
Either way I don't wanna wake up from you
(Turn the lights on)

Sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare
Somebody pinch me, your love's too good to be true
(Turn the lights on)

My guilty pleasure, I ain't going no where
Baby long as you're here I'll be floating on air
'Cause you're my

You can be a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare
Either way I don't wanna wake up from you
(Turn the lights on)

I mention you when I say my prayers
I wrap you around all of my thoughts
Boy you're my temporary high

I wish that when I wake up you're there
To wrap your arms around me for real
And tell me you'll stay by side

Clouds filled with stars cover the skies
And I hope it rains, you're the perfect lullaby
What kinda dream is this?

You could be a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare
Either way I don't wanna wake up from you
(Turn the lights on)

Sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare
Somebody pinch me, your love's too good to be true
(Turn the lights on)

My guilty pleasure, I ain't going no where
Baby long as you're here I'll be floating on air
'Cause you're my

You can be a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare
Either way I don't wanna wake up from you
(Turn the lights on)

Tattoo your name across my heart so it will remain
Not even death can make us part
What kind of dream is this?

You could be a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare
Either way I don't wanna wake up from you
(Turn the lights on)

Sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare
Somebody pinch me, your love's too good to be true
(Turn the lights on)

My guilty pleasure, I ain't going no where
Baby long as you're here I'll be floating on air
'Cause you're my

You can be a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare
Either way I don't wanna wake up from you
(Turn the lights on)
Either way I don't wanna wake up from you

Neil Young Project

Neil Young Time Line

Music Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOntdFjhd5c&feature=related

Song Analysis

After the fall of the Soviet Union the United States was left a young proud nation with no foreseeable threats. However to bring down the Soviet Union the country waged many a covert war. The final major war of the Soviet Union was in Afghanistan, with the United States of America funding insurgent groups known as the Taliban and their allies Al-Qaida the war was driven to a stalemate the war was lost for the Soviet Union when our government gave the insurgency modern weapons and training. Now if one jumps to the year 2001 we have the terror attacks on September 11th. President Bush was given emergency powers within a month the antithesis of the Bill Of Rights known as the Patriot Act was passed. Along with the war in Afghanistan which quickly lost focus for Iraq Bush had shown his un blatantly unapologetic ineptitude at his duties as a result Neil Young wrote the song Lets Impeach The President which was a laundry list of sorts against the president albeit a very entreating laundry list. In and throughout the song he uses poetic devices, they are Cohesive Narrative, and Social Relevance is present and allusion, all of which has made him a world renown and respected figure in the music industry. These poetic devices make the song as sophisticated and as pleasing to the ear when heard.

In the thesis statement Cohesive Narrative is first because the song first and foremost like all of Neil Young’s songs it tells a story. Within the lyrics one can easily see the song to be a laundry list of criticisms against the then president George W. Bush. As is common knowledge President Bush was on vacation almost at a constant rate until the terrorist attacks of September the eleventh by the infamous terror group Al-Qaida. Almost immediately after the attacks the country was at war from our intelligence we invaded Afghanistan the graveyard of Empires underfunded under equipped and undermanned. The climate of fear was used and exploited by Bush and co. to justify an invasion of Bus’s desired target Iraq. This is the start of the narrative:

“Let's impeach the President for lying

And misleading our country into war

Abusing all the power that we gave him

And shipping all our money out the door.”

This is the first stanza in which Neil Young establishes what he wants and why he wants it. In the first line he states he wants then President Bush impeached for lying, which is what happened to Clinton although it was reasonably defeated b rationale members of congress and was over much less serious issues, he says in the second line his second reason for wanting him out of office being he fooled the nation into invading Iraq and without congressional approval as well. In the second stanza he says:

“Who's the man who hired all the criminals
The White House shadows who hide behind closed doors
They bend the facts to fit with their new stories
Of why we have to send our men to war”

This statement is just an all out attack on the misinformation about WMD’s intentionally propagated by the Bush administration to justify their bloody invasion of a country who did nothing to promote an invasion of what it as accused for. In the third stanza of the song Neil Young repeats his request for the alteration of the then President’s employment status and alludes to the Patriot Act as yet another valid reason for the impeachment of the President for high crimes and misdemeanors:

“Let's impeach the President for spying
On citizens inside their own homes
Breaking every law in the country
By tapping our computers and telephones.”

In the fourth stanza he throws in the smallest amount of irony but presents an intriguing hypothetical, what if Al-Qaeda did destroy the levees maybe more people would have left their imminent doom and be amongst us the living today:

“What if Al Qaeda blew up the levees
Would New Orleans have been safer that way
Sheltered by our government's protection
Or was someone just not home that day?”

In the fifth stanza Neil Young says that in the election Bush used the Christian faith to get elected a tactic which appalled to the Republican National Committee’s base of support. He also says “dividing our country into colors” which is a reference to the electoral divide of red and blue states.

“Let's impeach the president for hijacking
Our religion and using it to get elected
Dividing our country into colors
And still leaving our people neglected”

In the sixth and final verse Neil Young throws in a slight bit of humor in to tie up the narrative.

“Thank god he's cracking down on steroids
Since he sold his old baseball team
There's lots of people looking at big trouble
But of course our president is clean.”

The verse refers to the many baseball steroids scandals that broke the news headlines during the Bush Administration’s day. Neil Young has presented his view cohesively throughout the song told the story of the Administration’s remarkably numerous failures, gross misuse of power and public trust and constitutional duties and limitations.

The second poetic device used in the song is Social Relevance which is heavily intertwined and virtually inseparable from the Cohesive Narrative depicted in the song. Social Relevance is present because in most Western democracies or Republics if the head of state is knowingly breaking the law he will by parliament or assemble be voted out of office on the day. However in the song Neil Young alludes to the Patriot Act which blatantly violated the constitutional rights of every American:

“Let's impeach the President for spying
On citizens inside their own homes
Breaking every law in the country
By tapping our computers and telephones.”

This refers as stated earlier to the Patriot Act in which it stated that if there was any reason to suspect Taliban/Al-Qaeda ties or involvement that were not required to be proven and no warrant need be issued by a judge. Breaking “Every Law in the country” could also be interpreted as a reference to the Guantanamo Bay Detention facility on the very edge of Cuba occupied by US military forces which illegally held civilians native to Iraq and Afghanistan without warrant, without trial, due process of law and torture all of which are illegal and outlawed by the Geneva Convention and/or the Constitution of the United States. Another large chunk of Social Relevance is in this stanza:

“Let's impeach the president for hijacking
Our religion and using it to get elected
Dividing our country into colors
And still leaving our people neglected”.

This stanza is socially relevant to the extreme due to its reference to the 2004 presidential election and the tactics used by the Bush Administration to secure victory. An example of the tactics used would be when on the campaign trail he tied being a good Christian to voting for Bush and the electoral divide between the red and blue states, which showed the public just how good at dividing the country the “uniter” was at his job. And when he sings the final line of the above stanza “And Still Leaving Our People Neglected” he is referring to the tragic Hurricane Katrina that just Ripped through New Orleans and The government which new the levees would not hold did not warn the public and acted as though they were never told and could not even organize a trailer park for the victims of the disaster without first making sure the trailers the people were given were full of lead, mercury and poorly built death traps for the former residents of the lower 9^th ward. Another and final quote for Social Relevance would be “Thank god he’s cracking down on steroids” this is socially relevant because after all this is America and baseball, which is what is alluded to in the quote, is America’s favorite pastime. From the first word to the final line Social Relevance is displayed and fully used to the extent.

Ultimately the most numerous poetic device in the song is allusion to recently past and current events related to varied and frequent mishaps within Bush’s Administration. Within the first stanza is an allusion to the lying to the congress and American people in order to go to war against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq as well as the Patriot Act as he used and abused his extraordinary war powers:

“Let's impeach the President for lying

And misleading our country into war

Abusing all the power that we gave him

And shipping all our money out the door.”

Within the second stanza Neil Young bash’s Bush’s ethics as well as ethical policies due to the fact that he hired criminals to run his administration who cared nothing for the law; Neil Young also attacks Bush administration officials indirectly through allusion the serial liars Condoleezza Rice and Karl Rove:

“Who's the man who hired all the criminals
The White House shadows who hide behind closed doors
They bend the facts to fit with their new stories
Of why we have to send our men to war”

Within Neil Young’s song’s third stanza he launches an all-out attack against the Patriot Act and all of its illegalities:

“Let's impeach the President for spying
on citizens inside their own homes
Breaking every law in the country
By tapping our computers and telephones.”

The Patriot Act illegally in the minds of many sanctions ugly abuses of power granted to Bush and cronies within his administration such as warrantless wiretapping, invasion of privacy, as well as reading private emails and the right to be secure in one self’s possessions and papers. Another example of allusion would be when he referenced September eleventh terror attacks and hurricane Katrina in this quote:

“What if Al Qaeda blew up the levees
Would New Orleans have been safer that way”

It, despite its’ ludicrously it poses a stirring hypothetical if the levees were gone the destruction would be the same but more people would left the city rather than place their trust in a levee system whose status they were ignorant of as well as it’s capabilities to hold back the water. He also alludes to the 2004 election in which George Bush brought politics to the church pulpit which is illegal:

“Let's impeach the president for hijacking
Our religion and using it to get elected”

In Neil Young’s final Stanza he pokes fun at a forgotten fact; Bush at one time did own a baseball team and through allusion links even that to him:

“Thank god he's cracking down on steroids
Since he sold his old baseball team”

Neil Young is not new in fact he is quite known during the Vietnam War Bob Dylan Himself and many others were the voice of an angry generation that protested the war and President Johnson and Nixon. This song brought back the fire of the generation of the 60’s and let the spark loose today. Not only has all music since in Western Culture owed its existence to Neil Young and others but also their voices saved a generation from ignorance and unjust war and by the looks of things they haven’t given up yet. Without Neil Young many more people would have inevitably died and without his use of poetic devices such as Cohesive Narrative, Social Relevance and allusion his songs would not have been heard and one of the “voices of the generation” would have been silenced and the message of peace and love with him.