Theme and Symbolism in American Music

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Theme and Symbolism in American Music

Music defines our culture. As Americans, we listen to music while we drive our cars, are at work, doing housework, studying, etc. We have songs for special occasions: Christmas, Hanukah, birthdays, weddings, parties, etc. We have taken songs from the various cultures that make us diverse: Arabic, German, Mexican, Native American, etc. We have many genres: country, hip-hop, rap, pop, blues, jazz, rock, heavy metal, etc. And although we may think of music as simple and easy, looking at all this makes one realize how diverse and complex our music truly is. Two things that contribute to this diversity are theme and symbolism.

Theme can be defined as the subject or topic of something. In relation to songs this would be the subject the author is concerned with in that particular song. By far, it is safe to say that the most popular theme in music is love. Whether it is finding love, the lack of love, lost love, or any other sub-topic of love, you will find countless songs dedicated to love. Interesting enough, the theme of love can be found in ...

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