Similes

In the song "Dead and Bloated" by Stone Temple Pilots there is a simile. When the song says "I am smellin' like the rose that somebody gave me on my birthday deathbed." When STP states this they are saying that they are feeling crummy and that when something so wonderful is given to them they don't really care for it and it doesn't help at all when you are feeling stressed out. The whole song is about feeling betrayed during a relationship. When it says "I am trampled under soles of another man's shoes because I walked to softly" it's meaning how people sometimes do not stand up for themselves in arguments and how people cause stress/angst on relationships. Another part is "And she says it's natural," this is usually the person in the relationship that everything comes easy to them and they never have to worry about anything.


Dead & Bloated lyrics
I am smellin' like the rosethat somebody gave me onmy birthday deathbedI am smellin' like the rosethat somebody gave me'cause I'm dead & bloated

I am smellin' like the rosethat somebody gave me onmy birthday deathbedI am smellin' like the rosethat somebody gave me'cause I'm dead & bloated

Ohh yeah, and she says it's naturalI feel I've come of ageWhen she peeks I start to runOhh yeah, and she says it's naturalI feel I've come of ageWhen she peeks I start to run

You can't swallow what I'm thinkin'You can't swallow what I'm thinkin'

I am trampled under sole ofanother man's shoesGuess I walked too softly

Ohh yeah, and she says it's naturalI feel I've come of ageWhen she peeks I start to runOhh yeah, and she says it's naturalI feel I've come of ageWhen she peeks I start to run

You can't swallow what I'm thinkin'You can't swallow what I'm thinkin'

I run through the world thinkin' 'bout tomorrow, thinkin' 'bout tomorrowI run through the world thinkin' 'bout tomorrow, thinkin' 'bout tomorrow

I am smellin' like the rosethat somebody gave me onmy birthday deathbedI am smellin' like the rosethat somebody gave me'cause I'm dead & bloated

I run through the world thinkin' 'bout tomorrow, thinkin' 'bout tomorrowI run through the world thinkin' 'bout tomorrow, thinkin' 'bout tomorrowI run through the world thinkin' 'bout tomorrow, thinkin' 'bout tomorrowI run through the world thinkin' 'bout tomorrow, thinkin' 'bout tomorrow

I am smellin' like the rosethat somebody gave me onmy birthday deathbedI am smellin' like the rosethat somebody gave me, somebody gave me,somebody gave me onmy birthday deathbed


The next song that has a simile is "Where The River Goes" by yet again Stone Temple Pilots. The whole song is about where life takes you and what you have to go through on your journey in life and what you may have to face. In the song when they say "I wanna be as big as a mountain, I wanna fly as high as the sun, I wanna know what the rent's like in heaven..." is a simile. I wanna be as big as a moutain is refuring to i want to be a bigger person in life and get over my fears. I wanna fly as high as the sun is stateing that i wanna be with the others that have died in my life. Same thing when they say I wanna know what the rent's like in heaven is saying that they want to go see their lost ones in heaven that have died. All of this causes angst on the person the song is about because they could become depressed because they miss the ones that they have lost in life and that they want to become a better person in life.

Where The River Goes lyrics
Yeah, I could hide in the calm of the eye of the stormAnd never blow awayWell, I'm a young man with a knife to my backSome things never seem to change

Nowhere to run to, nowhere to hideSing the song or keep it insideBought the farm, but the farmer done diedSing that song, sing that song inside

I wish I could live in the dreamthat I fly on the tarred & freathered wingsWell, I'm losing a game of realitydice where the dealer never ever pays

Nowhere to run to, nowhere to hideSing the song or keep it insideBought the farm, but the farmer done diedSing that song, sing that song inside

I wanna be as big as a mountainI wanna fly as high as the sunI wanna know what the rent's like in heavenI wanna know where the river goes

Yeah, I could hide in the calm of the eye of the stormAnd never blow awayWell, I'm a young man with a knife to my backSome things never seen to change

Nowhere to run to, nowhere to hideSing the song or keep it insideBought the farm, but the farmer done diedSing that song, sing that song inside

I wanna be as big as a mountainI wanna fly as high as the sunI wanna know what the rent's like in heavenI wanna know where the river goes

If I was strongerI could be a mountain rangeIf night was longerCould I escape the day?If I was strongerI could be a mountain rangeIf night was longerCould I escape the day?

Nowhere to run to, nowhere to hideSing the song or keep it insideBought the farm, but the farmer done diedSing that song, sing that song inside

I wanna be as big as a mountainI wanna fly as high as the sunI wanna know what the rent's like in heavenI wanna know where the river...I wanna be as big as a mountainI wanna fly as high as the sunI wanna know what the rent's like in heavenI wanna know where the river goesWhere the river goesWhere the river goesWhere the river, yeahWhere the riverWhere the riverWhere the riverWhere the riverWhere the river goesWhere the river goes

Song Analysis

Pearl Jam “Jeremy”

Peal Jam was one of the first grunge bands of it’s time. The band originated out of Seattle, Washington like most of the 90’s grunge bands in 1990. Eddie Vedder is the lead vocals, Jeff Ament on bass, Stone Gossard on rhythm guitar, and Mike McCready on lead guitar are all the original members of the band. Currently, former drummer of Soundgarden, Matt Cameron plays the drums for them. Most people considered Pearl Jam as a corporate crash on the rock scene. Pearl Jam is not like most bands in the sense of refusing to make music videos and not going with the “typical” type of music like other bands. Pearl Jam boycotted Ticketmaster which was considered controversial. Pearl Jam has outlasted most of the bands that came out of in the grunge era and are to most people one of the most influential bands of the decade. The song “Jeremy” illustrates teen angst and how it can be relating to the early 90’s grunge movement.
The song “Jeremy” is about a young boy who commits suicide. There are two true events of where the band came up with the idea. One of the events is when the lead singer Eddie Vedder read about it in a newspaper article. A fifteen year old name Jeremy Wade Delle shot himself in front of his English class in 1991. As the story goes he was told to go to get an admittance slip from his school’s office. Jeremy left his class and he returned with a .357 magnum revolver. He went to the front of the room and supposedly said “Miss, I got what I really went for” and sadly shot himself. His classmates described Jeremy as someone who was normally quiet and always seemed sad. The other event that caused Pearl Jam to write this song is when Eddie Vedder himself was some what involved in a shooting. A kid named Brian that went to his junior high school shot up an oceanography class and Eddie was in the halls when it happened. He used to pick on the kid and the two of them would get into many confutations. The song is about both of the two kids but mainly about Jeremy.


The whole song is about how some kids that get so depressed and sadly can not deal with it. Some people just get so sad and so stressed on everything in their life that they do not know what to do and they believe that this is the only way out. In the song it states “Daddy didn’t give attention, oh, to the fact that mommy didn’t care.” This illustrates how some kids either feel or are really being ignored at home and feel like no one cares about them and no one will help them with their troubles. It also shows that many people have problems at home that they never address then and they try to go on living their lives the “normal way”. Another part in the song it says “Jeremy spoke in class today”. This is referring to when Jeremy himself went in front of his class and shot himself. Jeremy going and doing that in class is basically showing us that he is trying to make a statement, and one of the statements was I dislike my life and now I need to end it. The next line in the song that is meaningful is when it says “clearly I remember pickin’ on the boy seemed a harmless little f*$#. Ooo, but we unleashed a lion.” This reflects on when Eddie Vedder and the kid Brian would get into fights in school. It also means that kids like to pick on kids, plain and simple. Some kids like to take it to a different level and actually make the other person feel bad and think that their cool just because they could make other kids laugh. The truth is people should never do that because you never know who your going to upset or whose feelings your going to hurt and what those people could do or will not do. The next important part in the song is “And he hit me with a surprise left.” This illustrates how when someone does hurt themselves the people that are around those people sometimes did not see it coming and do not know how to react to it. The last meaningful part in the song is when it states “Try to forget this…try to forget this…try to erase this…try to erase this…from the blackboard…” This can shows two things. One is the memory of the event of Jeremy going in front of the class and killing himself. It can also mean that when Jeremy killed himself and there was blood on the board and everyone in the class wanted to get ride of it and forget the whole thing even happened. Clearly, all teens have angst in their life and deal with it in different ways as presented in the song “Jeremy”.

“Jeremy” fits into my theme because the whole song is about stress/angst and how a person deals with it. All teens have stress and they all can not deal with an over load. There are many factors that can cause it. Some are school, family, friends, jobs, sports, ect. We all have a nervous breakdown sometime in our lives. The song illustrates how finally one day one kid could not take it anymore and decided to end his life just to maybe make himself feel better. It also fits in because “Jeremy” was revolutionary in the fact that it brought teen suicide into the light of music and known. Many people considered it taboo to talk about because it is personal but the fact of the matter is that teens should always talk about their problems so they can feel relieved and get all of it off of their chests.

There are many poetic devices in the song “Jeremy”. Some of them are the following. Throughout the whole song there is foreshadowing in the fact that you have to think of the worse possible thing that will happen when a kid does not like his life and people constantly put him down. The character of the song is Jeremy. He is also the protagonist. The next poetic device is mood. The mood in the song “Jeremy” is very sad and upsetting. The song wants the listener to put yourself in Jeremy’s position and think what is was like to go on day in and day out living what he had to live and seeing how you would deal with it. The song “Jeremy” is a narrative poem because it tells a story. When it states “try to forget this….try to forget this….try to erase this…try to erase this” it is an example of a caesura because when sung they take pauses when played. The climax of the song is when Jeremy decides to act on his thoughts and ideas and commit suicide. Another poetic device that is used is conflict. The conflict in the song “Jeremy” is when the kid is not getting the love and attention at home and when he is picked on in school. In this song the tone is what can happen with angst and stress it self and how people deal with it in different ways. The point of view of the song is put through the eyes of either Jeremy and what he went through and also the people that lived around him and how they were effected by him and his actions. When it says “ooo, but we unleashed a lion” it is referring to Jeremy and how he acted out. In the song the narrator is perceived as Eddie Vedder because he was the one that read about the kid Jeremy and went to school with Brian. Thus, this song is important because every person has demons and some people can not live with them but everyone has the ability to deal with them.

Jeremy lyrics

at home drawing pictures of mountain tops with him on top lemon yellow sun arms raised in a V dead lay in pools of maroon below

daddy didn't give attention to the fact that mommy didn't care king jeremy the wicked ruled his world

Jeremy spoke in class today Jeremy spoke in class today

clearly I remember pickin' on the boy seemed a harmless little f*$# but we unleashed a lion gnashed his teeth and bit the recessed lady's breast

how could I for get he hit me with a surprise left my jaw left hurt in dropped wide open just like the day like the day I heard

daddy didn't give affection and the boy was something that mommy wouldn't wear king Jeremy the wicked ruled his world

Jeremy spoke in class today Jeremy spoke in class today Jeremy spoke in class today

try to forget this (try to forget this) try to erase this (try to erase this)from the blackboard.

Jeremy spoke in class today Jeremy spoke in class today Jeremy spoke in, spoke in Jeremy spoke in, spoke in Jeremy spoke in class today

Narrative

The song that i chose was "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. In the song there is a story of a teen revolution. The narrator is being sarcastic the whole time and he goes back and fort with ideas. When they say "load up on guns, bring your friends it's fun to lose, and to pretend" its saying how when kids hang out with their friends there parents think that they are up to no good. Another part of the story of the song is "little group" and "a mulatto, an albino, a mosquito, my libido" this shows how kids hang in groups and tend to have sex because they are young. In the song Nirvana hints upon the ideas of sex a few times, especially when they say "with the lights out, it's less dangerous". They are saying how teens grown up and do grown up things. Also "I feel stupid and contagious" illustartes how people tend to do dumb things when they have peer pressure. Finally when they say "whatever, nevermind" it shows us that alot of people tend to have ADD and have trouble concentrateing, or to forget what is going on in their lives that could be hard for the person in general. This whole song is just about a day in the life of an average teen.


Verse 1- Load up on guns Bring your friends It's fun to lose and to pretend She's overborne and self-assured Oh no, I know a dirty word

Chorus- Hello, hello, hello, hello, how low? Hello, hello, hello, hello, how low? Hello, hello, hello, hello, how low? Hello, hello, hello ,hello With the Lights out it's less dangerous Here we are now entertain us I feel stupid and contagious Here we are now entertain us A mullato an albino A mosquito my libido yay

Verse 2- I'm worse at what I do best And for this gift I feel blessed Our little group has always been And always will until the end

Chorus- Hello, hello, hello, hello, how low? Hello, hello, hello, hello, how low? Hello, hello, hello, hello, how low? Hello, hello, hello, hello With the Lights out it's less dangerous Here we are now entertain us I feel stupid and contagious Here we are now entertain us A mullato an albino A mosquito my libido yay

Bridge-

Verse 3- And I forget just why I taste Oh yeah I guess it makes me smile I found it hard it's hard to find Oh well whatever nevermind

Chorus- Hello, hello, hello, hello, how low? Hello, hello, hello, hello, how low? Hello, hello, hello, hello, how low? Hello, hello, hello, hello With the Lights out it's less dangerous Here we are now entertain us I feel stupid and contagious Here we are now entertain us A mullato an albino A mosquito my libido A denial