I was thinking about making a post about all music, but that's way too long and extensive for me to properly cover. I am probably only going to focus on one song, depending on how this post goes as I write it.
The song I am listening to now is "American Pie" by Don McLean. I guarantee that you know what this song is. It's by far one of the most famous songs in American history. It's about 9 minutes long, which has some rhetoric implications in itself. Today, many songs aren't longer than 4 minutes, 5 at the most. However, this song manages to be completely engaging through the whole 8:42. Maybe it's the audience that usually listens to the song appreciates music with a message, which I think can take a longer amount of time to fully develop. And this song has a feel of a jam-session a little bit. Like they just started recording and went on. I doubt that's what actually happened, but it feels like that. Jam music is a very interesting study in itself, and lots of people love the pure music feeling it provides.
The crux of this song is the lyrics. It recounts the Day the Music Died, or when the plan carrying Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens, and the aftermath of the tragic event. This song has the effect of portraying grief in the traditional, sad sense. But there's also an Irish wake feel to the grief. The song is not entirely song, as the build-up to the song is fast-paced and fun. It gets incredibly sad near the end, but ends at a hopeful kind of note. I don't know if any of that made sense, but I think listening to the song helps to give the real feel of what's happening.
I've listened to this song so many times and every time it still seems like a surprise when I hear it. It's such a pure song. Again, I don't know if that makes sense, but it really just seems pure to me. Music at its best, telling a great story and getting you to feel a lot of different things. On another note, my mom knows all the lyrics to this song, which is pretty impressive. She proceeds to belt it out any time it is played to prove to everyone that she knows the lyrics, even though no one questions her.
If you don't sing along to the chorus, I don't know if you can ever appreciate music!
Bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levy, but the levy was dry
...I'll let you finish the rest.
This song is long! I always think that when I hear it, but I end up listening to the whole thing anyway. I agree with you that it tells a story, and I think it is really unique because of that. I feel like songs usually tell romantic stories, and especially today's pop music relates more to teenagers than a wider audience. I think with this song, older people can relate more deeply to the music, while younger people enjoy the chorus and singing along. Some of them probably know the story too, but either way, the tone comes through with the musicality and lyrics. Either way, I think it is one with which people will always sing along.
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