An Analysis of How Songwriter's and Musician's are Affected by Location
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California
To the New York Island
From the Redwood forest
To the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.
-Woody Guthrie
Although the above lines, from Woody Guthrie's geographical classic This Land is Your Land, are deep-rooted in American Soil they still work as an excellent indicator of how a songwriter's location can reflect the ideas and meaning behind the work that they produce. In Guthrie's case, life revolved around extensive travels throughout North America and therefore the images he conjures up represent a vast cross-section of geographical landmarks and natural representatives from several locales. His was the life of the traveler, never knowing one home for very long, and therefore it is quite obvious as to why his songwriting reflected that very lifestyle.
Contrasting this, it can also be said that a finer understanding of a specific area can be achieved through a songwriter's ability to concentrate on a single area and allow it to inspire all that they write about. Whether the influence on the songwriter is a positive or a negative one there is still something to be said for the Canadian songwriter and his ability to convey a very strong sense of place in his/her songs. Whether it is the people of a particular city, an area's surrounding natural landmarks, or the main source of industry for a specific location, it can be said that Canadian songwriters are truly able to bring forth the true character behind their respective areas.
For example, Neil Young
It is very simple to listen to music without ever allowing yourself to actually hear ...
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...they are with the words within it.
As can be noted from the information herein, each area discussed has its own unique and distinct purpose. Whether it be Rush's intense confusing clang representing the industry/technology-laden area of Toronto and other large cities, Great Big Sea's seemingly constant "head-held-high" homage to the East coast and it's surrounding natural beauty, or She Stole My Beer's easy-going musicianship reflecting the West coast,
it becomes obvious just how severe an impact a band or songwriter's geographical location has on the work that they produce. And even though each band from these three areas assumedly has it's own individual sound and style they are all drawn toward their personal surroundings in their own way, whether it be the people or the landscape, and allow it to seep through into the music they create.
In Dylan’s Chronicles Volume One, he says, “folk songs are evasive – the truth about life, and life is more or less a lie, but then again that’s exactly the way we want it to be. We wouldn’t be comfortable with it any other way.” He goes on to also confirm the ambiguity of folk music, saying that “[a] folk song has over a thousand faces and you must meet them all if you want to play this stuff. A folk song might vary in meaning and it might not appear the same from one moment to the next. It depends on who’s playing and who’s listening” (71). One of the characteristics that Bob Dylan possesses, and that has helped him be such a successful folk artist, is his ability to recognize this ambiguity. His ears were and still are immune to the literalness of time, and upon hearing something new, he can apply what he does not know to his listening, instead of confining his interpretation to what knowledge he already has. This is the basis for what folk music taught Dylan in some of his most formative years, that “[i]f you told the truth, that was all well and good and if you told the un-truth, well, that’s still well and good” (35). Even old folk legends are unclear in their origin and factuality, such as the widel...
Although the text and painting have different backgrounds, they are both similar a different in many ways. Both the text and the painting challenge the relationship between land uses, background of ancestors, and power. The painting and essay display similar expressions of darkness to light. The mountains represent the downfall of Native Americans fore fathers being forced westward out of their land (Seattle, 55).
Billy affectionately described his homeland (the key component of “peoplehood” i.e., the Nisqually watershed on South Puget Sound of the Nisqually River, creeks (Muck Creek), rolling prairie and forestland as well as the foothills of the Cascades Mountains and Mt Rainier) as “a magical place” where his family “never wished for anything: fish from the water¬shed, vegetables up on the prairie, medicines, shellfish, and huckleberries…clean water, clean air.” He describes the arrival of L...
This is an anthology of writing by nineteen Native Canadian writers, which represents both an attempt to promote Native writing, and an effort to undermine commonly held misunderstandings. It is published by McClelland & Stewart, "The Canadian Publishers", which gives the collection a status of national and cultural importance, while indicating how these writers are working in and through Canada's hegemonic culture. This would seem to go some way towards undermining the book's claims to authenticity, but for the fact that King's stated purpose is much more complex than that. In fact, his introduction specifically considers the concept of the authentic, and is wary of what is potentially a highly limiting notion. Thus, the selection includes work that represents Natives in both traditional and contemporary roles and situations; and the format of the writing ranges from a transcription of an oral narrative to examples of conformity with the generic conventions of the Western short story. He is reluctant to constrain the possibilities for Native expression, but is ready to admit that the advent of a written culture with English as a shared language has allowed the various indiginous cultures to discover and explore areas of common belief and practice.
“Driving west from Fargo on I–94, the freeway that cuts through the state of North Dakota, you’ll encounter a road so lonely, treeless, and devoid of rises and curves in places that it will feel like one 5 long-held pedal steel guitar note” (Marquart, 1-5). In the passage from The Horizontal World, Debra Marquart reveals her love for the upper Midwest region of North Dakota. Countless people who visit this region do not enjoy the site due to the location. Numerous visitors would describe the Midwest region to be boring and vacant. With the use of impressive diction and detailed allusions Marquart can show the audience that the region has outstanding characteristics and value.
Such stories and their settings establish the Native American presence on this land from time immemorial by relating how the Creator placed the First Peoples in their traditional homelands. Homelands are stable and permanent cultural and physical landscapes where Native nations have lived, and in some cases, continue to live to the present day. (Handsman 13). Creation stories thus reflect the central place their relationship with the land occupies in the culture and hi...
American poetry, unlike other nations’ poetry, is still in the nascent stage because of the absence of a history in comparison to other nations’ poetry humming with matured voices. Nevertheless, in the past century, American poetry has received the recognition it deserves from the creative poetic compositions of Walt Whitman, who has been called “the father of American poetry.” His dynamic style and uncommon content is well exhibited in his famous poem “Song of Myself,” giving a direction to the American writers of posterity. In addition, his distinct use of the line and breath has had a huge impression on the compositions of a number of poets, especially on the works of the present-day poet Allen Ginsberg, whose debatable poem “Howl” reverberates with the traits of Whitman’s poetry. Nevertheless, while the form and content of “Howl” may have been impressed by “Song of Myself,” Ginsberg’s poem expresses a change from Whitman’s use of the line, his first-person recital, and his vision of America. As Whitman’s seamless lines are open-ended, speaking the voice of a universal speaker presenting a positive outlook of America, Ginsberg’s poem, on the contrary, uses long lines that end inward to present the uneasiness and madness that feature the vision of America that Ginsberg exhibits through the voice of a prophetic speaker.
For 10 minutes, I tried to listen only to the white noise between stations on a radio, while not talking to anyone. During the 10 minutes, I tried to listen for the full duration, but I was getting dizzy from the white noise. The white noise irritated my head, and it was very uncomfortable for me, but it did drain the other sounds around me. When people saw me, they thought I was out of my mind, and they probably thought it was insane to listen to the white noises. I understand why Christopher listened to the white noise when he didn’t want to hear
I used to live in the suburbs of San Francisco (tarlock). Now I live in Chicago . san Francisco is very different from Chicago. san Francisco has a better weather . San Francisco is hotter than Chicago, for example Chicago has a wet springs hot, and humid summers and cold winters and Chicago have more snow than rain but San Francisco has only rained and no snow. Another difference between San Francisco and Chicago is the transportation. For example the people of Francisco prefer to ride a bike or walk instead of using a car, but the people of Chicago like to drive a car or take a public transportation instead of walking. Furthermore, san Francisco and Chicago shares similar types of foods, but each city have it’s own
These distinctions are shown by their generation’s music, their personality and their relationship with others, which all links to their location and time.
In, “ I Hear America Singing”, Walt Whitman uses alliteration, literal imagery, and tone to express the idea that there are many individual, hardworking workers in this country, but as a whole these people carry out the American pride. America does not only consist of one person, but it is the whole population that makes what America is today. This country is filled with fun and laughter for everyone to enjoy!
Where I come from, the vast land stretches on for miles, filled with dancing corn and wheat fields. Turn one direction and look at the clouds of dust rising off the gravel road, then turn the other way, that's about all there is to see here. A town of two stop lights. As you are driving, don’t blink, you may miss this little place. Some people may say there isn’t much to miss anyway, but I’d beg to differ. This is the place where I met and grew up with lifelong friends.
Irwin, Mary. “Sense of Place”. Interview by Interview by Mrs. Thibo’s H-English 10 class. 12 May 2010.
Living in a major metropolitan area as I do, I'm often surprised at the sharp contrasts I see between the people here and those in the more relaxed Midwestern community where I grew up. Some of these are positive:
Confucius once said, “Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.” Several millennia passed before anyone would be able to experience music whenever and wherever they wanted, without having to ...