reflection

 My Portfolio Genre/ Theme is heart break country. Country is a beautiful kind of music. A lot of people don't care for country or think its just cliche about women and beer. To some people it talks to them. I believe music in general speaks to people in different ways.  music makes you who you are, When you pop those headphones in , you forget about everything. That test you need to study or homework, you forget all about it. With the music your not in reality anymore like you can leave the world for just  a little bit. The music causes you to feel and drift with the beat. You end up dancing to the music. When you come back it seems like your refreshed. To some people it is just background music but to me it is so much more. Thats why I love country its about feelings and love. It makes you want to close your eyes enjoy the music and wallow in it.
            In the song "The House That Built Me" it really talks to me because it talks about one of those things we all fear when we get older, the idea of  moving away from home and starting your own life. Your scared that you will forget all about your old life. I feel like I will miss the sound of my mom's snoring  and my dad's deep laugh and the flash of the TV light on my bedroom wall telling me my parents are still up. The sound of the TV lulls me to sleep most nights even now. When you move away you forget about who you are, say you were born on a farm  and then you move to the city. You forget all about your life  as a farmer all you remember now is going job to job, driving in cars breathing the stinky city air. But you lose yourself in it that you have to come home to find yourself, even though your parents are not  alive anymore you need to go to the place where you grew up and became the person who you are.
                   In the song "A Little Bit Stronger" the song is about a break up and how the person copes with the pain. Like everyone does they hide it they pretend nothing is wrong, they pour all their sadness and hurt into their job. It talks about each day it is easier to breath and get over the pain of hurt. In  some country songs you feel the pain and hurt those speakers talk about and for some unknown reason you start to cry. You cry for the pain and loss the person in the song had or more like you are in the speaker's shoes, you imagine the hurt and pain  and you cry for it.
            In the song "You Can Let Go Daddy" its about a daughter who has a father who is overprotective  and every important event in her life she was the one to tell her dad that is it was okay to let go. This is one of the songs I cry when I hear. The father is dying, but he won't let go unless he knew his daughter was okay. He didn't want to leave her and it must of been hard for the daughter to tell her dad that he could go. That she was brave enough to go on in the world without him. I also  love this song because it is a father I wish I had  father who was like that. The one I was daddy's little girl I didn't have that though I can wish though. I feel like  you listen to things you wish you had. When I was real little I always wanted to live in the west and be a cow girl. Every girl dreams of one day her knight comes and sweeps her off her feet. Every girl dreams that.

          In the songs "The House That Built Me" and" Remember When" is all about growing up. In the house that built me it talks about the sadness and the feeling of moving away from home and missing it. Missing the place where you grow up and how you became who you are. In the song "Remember When" it is about a couple looking back on their life how the good memories were. These both show heart break as growing old. "In The House That Built Me" it is more about  growing up and losing the person who you are. You forget where you came from and they come back home to find it. It is heartbreaking because she remembers the memories she had growing up she cries remembering the little things she did in the house. Like where her dog was buried or the place where she slept and learned to play guitar. "In Remember When" it is the heartbreak of  all those memories of being young and falling in love, having children and watching them grow up. They are sad that their children grew up but they are happy they are making a life of their own.
        In the songs " A little Bit Stronger" and "Stay" both the speakers are dealing with the heartbreak of someone leaving them. In "A Little Bit Stronger" the speaker's heart was broken by a man leaving her when she was so deeply in love with him. It was hard to get over him and for a while she was hurting but didn't show it by putting a fake smile and pushing through the pain. In the song "Stay" the speaker has a man who comes and goes. He isn't committed to her, if he gets a call from another woman he leaves the speaker's arms for another woman's arms. The speaker is sick of him leaving, she just wants him to stay. Every time he leaves, he breaks her heart. The speaker is contemplating if she should just leave him for good and end the torture. Both songs talk about heart ache afflicted by a man.

           In the song "Book Of John" and "Whisky Lullaby"  Both the songs are about the sadness of losing a loved one. In the song "Book Of John" the speaker lost his father years ago, but when they were cleaning around they found the book of memories about the father. They call it the Book Of John because its about the memories of what fun they had back then when the father was alive. The speaker also explained how the book gave advice and he talked about one day passing on the Book Of John. Meaning handing it down to his son when he passes away because it holds memories and advice in that binder. In the song "Whiskey Lullaby" its about two lovers, the girl broke off the dating but she still loved him and he loved her. They were both hurting. They tried to cope with the pain by drinking whisky and one night the man could not stand the pain. He tried and tried to forget about her but he could never get drunk enough to forget her so he committed suicide thinking that if he died he would forget her. He left a note saying he loved her until he died. The girl struggled through the pain and the loss of him, she struggled to hide her breathe smelling of liquor . The man was buried under the weeping willow tree not soon after she joined him she couldn't live without him. Its a beautiful song in a way its beautiful because they couldn't live without each other so they were together atlas in a way.   The heartbreak for this song was the pain of being separate from each other. "Book Of John" heart break was the pain of losing their loved one and missing the person they remember growing up with.


        In the song, " Daddy You Can Let Go." In the beginning it wasn't heartbreak it was about a father who was too over protective with his daughter. In every important  event the father was there hesitant on letting her go into the world. When the daughter was to be married, the father had to be told by the daughter that he can let go .That she will be okay. Every single time she was the one that had to tell her father he could let go, when usually it was the parent who let go. The child is the one holding on them for dear life, it was reversed here. When the father was dying he couldn't let go of his daughter. He had to make sure she was okay without him, once again she was the one to tell him  that he could let got, that she will be okay on her own. It must of been hard for the girl to tell the father she will be okay and tell her father basically its okay to let go, to pass away. The heartbreak in the song happens when the father hesitates when letting his daughter go and get married because his daughter is now a grown up. She will be on her own and he shouldn't have to protect his little girl anymore, but he still does when he is dying on his death bed. He wanted to make sure if it was okay if he could let go. He always made sure it was okay to let go. This is a beautiful song and whenever I hear it I cry for the missing of it because I wish I had that  because the speaker had a father who loved her so much he wanted to make sure she was ready for him to let go even if he wasn't really ready to let go himself.



in the song , "Why" the speaker lost someone she loved so much, he was her boyfriend. He died from cancer I believe. When he passes away, she was in her own world. She was depressed and they explained it like she was in a storm and the light which I think it as the people who love her couldn't reach her. She thought he left life too soon, she explains it as leaving the stage in the middle of song. She believed he didn't fight to live that he gave up on life and she want to know why he gave up and that who told him to just give up. She explains his song he left as his beautiful song and that you don't stop in the middle of the song. He had so much to live for the heartbreak is about the pain of losing someone they love it broke something in the speaker and she feels like no one can reach her. It is beautiful it shows us how when someone dies that the person is never really the same. They want that person back. They left their life too soon.

In country songs it talks about pain and suffering it seems country songs are all about that. What you don't understand is people sing about the sadness because they need to let it out. The pain and hurt the only way they know how to do that is to sing to be able to express how they feel. Country is a beautiful genre if you just give it a chance you will be able to love it the way I do. It isn't just music it  is so much more, it makes you who you are. When you are hurting you can find any song you want and cry because that song is so you, you relate to the song and you just know how to let go of the pain your experiencing. I love country music for that reason and that reason only. The music talks to you and you can just melt away from reality and just listen to the music healing your broken heart. Country music is my life and it is to so many other people too.

compare the cover of a song with its original

Over The Rainbow by Judy Garland (original)    VS. Over The Rainbow by Carly Sonenclar
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXJ2Q0F8H80 

                                                                         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOXHRVaxVd8
In the original song by Judy Garland the song was slow and straight forward it didn't slow to emphasize vocals in the song. When Carly  Sonenclar sings it she emphasizes her vocal cords by expressing certain words. Judy garland has a different tempo than Carly's because with Judy she is just singing it but in Carly's because she was in the X Factor she had more tempo and a different beat to the song. Carly made the song more with a pop more with life in a way make it younger in a way. That actual young people would listen to the songs. The genre kind of changed to more pop culture then classic music that Judy Garland makes the music as. The intended audience for Judy's is like anyone like a small group of people. Carly's audience was to everyone. The presentation was very different between each other, In Judy's its simple its her standing in front of a microphone and singing nothing special but with Carly's there huge screens of her face when she gets into the songs lights flash in the background emphasizing the music. Both versions of the songs are great. I prefer Carly's version because I like her voice better.

Top three list of songs when i'm feeling angry

1) Before He Cheats Before This song is about a girlfriend who finds out that her boyfriend was cheating on her. She wrecks his car by scratching it all up and talking. She explains how he makes girls drunk and gets them when they are not paying attention. Its about the anger about a girl finding out that her ex boyfriend was cheating on her. Most times I listen to this song because she is angry about her boyfriend cheating on her just like i'm angry at something. I love this song the tone helps portray the feeling of anger. I just love this song.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaSy8yy-mr8


2) Two Black Cadillac  This song is about a husband who dies, the man was married to this woman but he had another woman. the other women he had at night. He had an affair with his wife. The wife never knew until the day of the funeral when there was two black Cadillac. Neither one of the woman cried over his grave. Its an amazing song I believe Carrie Underwood is great when it comes to angry songs because she just knows how to portray the mood and make you feel it too.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVEBZLrjpw4

3) Old Time Rock N Roll In the song the beat and the speaker screaming makes me want to listen when i'm angry. I listen to country and rock when im angry. Something about rock just makes me want to fume and angry and listen to songs scream to. This song I love best of all because its all about how the person loves old time rock and roll. That the music now a days has no soul and isn't as good as it once was. I use to listen to this song all the time when i was angry at my parents still do. I just love the song and it helps that you can belt out the words and not care who is yelling at you to shut up. Its just that good.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQswfILThsY

Top Three List Of Songs I Listen To When I'm Heart Break

1) When  A Heart Breaks. You ask me to talk about how this song makes me feel down and how it its about a heartbreak. I've never really had a heart break, its hard to explain. As much as I wish I did when I broke up with my first boyfriend, but I didn't and that tells you   that really   I didn't need that person in my life. In this song the speaker talks about how it feels to have a heartbreak and how it feels like. The tone of the voice makes you feel sad even when you have no reason to. Thats what sad songs do to you they make you sad and want to cry when nothing in your life has happened to cause you this pain. You just automatically can imagine how the pain must feel so you feel it with the speaker uncontrollably. Everyone have those days that they just need to cry sometimes for a reasons and others you just need to cry for no apparent reason. Thats what this song does for me it makes me cry when I have no reason to just to get the waterworks out so I feel better. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk2kyD1hrNs

2) Annie I Owe You A Dance. The song is about a guy ditching his girl at prom never showing. Years later he sees her in the store with her little girl. He missed her and regrets not going to prom. He wished that he did that the girl was still his. He still loves the girl and all he could think about was the memories about how it was when they were young and in love. And when he was at the store he believed that he owed her a dance from depriving of her from that prom long ago. He dances with her in the store and she walks away from him. Her little girl who asking who he was. She leaves him staring at her. I love this song because when you are heartbreak or just plain sad this song makes you feel happy that even though the guy stood the girl up years ago he still went through and gave her the dance she was deprived of. Its a beautiful song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj011Aw3ezI

3) A little bit stronger This song is about a girl heartbroken about a guy who leaves her. She is dealing with the pain of the heartbreak. She pretends to be happy when inside she wants to crawl in a ball and cry. Its about the heart break and pain of breaking up with someone and it shows how it takes to get over someone. It takes long time and you get over it little by little. I love this song because it shows how hard it is to deal with the pain and deal with losing someone you love. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22zB6Soc2Gk  

Top Songs You ListenTo When You Feel Down

1)Temporary home This song makes me want just to crawl in a hole and cry sometimes. The beginning of the song I about a little boy who is shipped from foster home to foster home. He sees it as a temporary home. he doesn't see it as home. Then in the middle there is a mom who is single and has a daughter and is struggling. She tries to tell her daughter how they will have a home for themselves and right now that their home right now is only temporary. Last portion of the song is about a old man in the hospital he is surrounded by his family and he's dying. He believes he is in a temporary home that  when he leaves to go to heaven it will be his home. I love this song it makes me cry because in the beginning there is the child with no family and has to move homes so much he doesn't fit in. Then the single mom who is struggling to take care of her daughter and herself. One day they would have a real home that wasn't temporary like there is right now. The last one hits home for me though. My grandfather passed away five years ago and this reminds me of him because he passed away. I wasn't there though he was in a coma and never woke up. They unplugged him and I never got to say my good byes or even tell him goodbye. So when i'm feeling down I usually listen to this song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LraOiHUltak

2) The house that built me This song another one of the songs I listen to when I have a crappy day. I love this song when i'm happy or sad it doesn't matter to me. its about the speaker all grown up coming back to the place she once lived. with the memories of when she grew up. She talks about how she came back to just find herself because that was the place she became. She believed if she was there then maybe she will remember who she was. She remembers all the memories of growing up and all she wants is see the place she grew up in.

3) Don't Forget To Remember Me This is song about what every child and parents hate, when it comes. Children fear it and mothers don't want their child to leave. It comes a time when kids have to go to college or go move out. The child is scared to go out in the world. The mother and father are going to miss the child and when they are completely gone they would wish they were back making racket like they would do if they were. In this song its about a speaker who's mother is afraid that their child will forget about them. The mother keeps reminding her of things to do when really the child knows all of them and the mother just wants to buy time so she doesn't have to say goodbye. This song makes me sad because one day that would be me. Living alone in a dorm room without hearing my father's voice or my mom's laugh or the dog's snoring. One day I will be myself and that is scary as heck let me tell you. I never want to grow up and go out in the world. The world is a scary place. This song reminds me to be nice to my mother and cherish my time now with them.

top ten most poetic songs

1) American Pie I chose this first because I love this song and it has a lot of  poetic terminology.  It has a lot of allusion to about whats going around the world at the time the song was created. Like the holocaust and rebuilding the leeves.

2) Horse With No Name I chose this because it talks about a man who is in the desert and a horse with no name. I believe its a great song and makes you want to sing with it.

3)All You Need Is Love. I love it because its saying how love you only need to succeed in things. Love I the only thing you need. So its basically saying without it your nothing.

4) Hotel California The poetic terminology isn't best but there is a lot of ambiguity and its a great song. Talking about a guy who comes into a hotel and could never leave. He forgets about himself in it, it can mean something completely different.

5) Take Me Home, Country Roads Its a great song but has okay poetic terminology but this song is great it talks about someone missing home.

6) I Will survive Its a great song about a woman leaving a man behind and it has  some great poetic terminology

7)The Times Are Changing The song is about talking about how everything is changing, the government everything.

8)Let it be The song has tons of allusions and ambiguity and talk about how just let things be and let it happen.

9) White rabbit The song uses  the allusion of Alice in "Alice in the wonder world" and how she ate something that made her tall and short.

10)America. The song is about how the people head to america and  explains how immigrants went to america for a better life.

A Little Bit Stronger by Sara Evans (Analysis 8)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22zB6Soc2Gk
Woke up late today and I still feel the sting of the pain

But I brushed my teeth anyway
I got dressed through the mess and put a smile on my face     Imagery
I got a little bit stronger

Riding in the car to work and I'm
Trying to ignore the hurt so I
Turned on the radio,
Stupid song made me think of you Alliteration 
I listened to it for minute
But then I changed it
I'm getting a little bit stronger,
Just a little bit stronger

And I'm done hoping
That we could work it out
I'm done with how it feels,
Spinning my wheels    Allegory
Letting you drag my heart around   metaphor
And, oh, I'm done thinking
You could ever change
I know my heart will never be the same
But I'm telling myself I'll be okay
Even on my weakest days
I get a little bit stronger

It doesn't happen overnight but you
Turn around and a month's gone by
And you realize you haven't cried
I'm not giving you a hour or a second or another minute longer
I'm busy getting stronger

And I'm done hoping
That we can work it out
I'm done with how it feels,
Spinning my wheels   Allegory
Letting you drag my heart around   Metaphor
And, oh, I'm done thinking,
You could ever change
I know my heart will never be the same
But I'm telling myself I'll be okay
Even on my weakest days,
I get a little bit stronger
I get a little bit stronger

Getting along without you baby
I'm better off without you baby
How does it feel without me baby?
I'm getting stronger without you baby

And I'm done hoping we could work it out
I'm done with how it feels,
Spinning my wheels
Letting you drag my heart around
And, oh, I'm done thinking
That you could ever change
I know my heart will never be the same
But I'm telling myself I'll be okay
Even on my weakest days
I get a little bit stronger
I get a little bit stronger

And just a little bit stronger
A little bit,
A little bit, repetition 
A little bit stronger
Get a little bit stronger


The speaker's heart was broken, she is dealing with  the pain of a break up. In the first verse the speaker feels still hurt from the break up. The sting is the pain in her heart it isn't physically wrong with her besides the fact that the person broke it not literally, but he broke it in her eyes. her heart is still healing from him breaking it.  " I brushed my teeth anyway" the speaker is fighting through the hurt of the pain and she gets up and goes on with life. Even though she just wants to cry she puts a fake smile on and faces the world."I got dressed through the mess and put a smile on my face" the smile isn't real but she puts it on so people not to ask her whats wrong. 

Verse two / three: The speaker is having a hard time ignoring the pain so she  turns on the radio to forget about it. When she puts on the radio its a song that reminds her of the guy who broke her heart. "Stupid song made me think of you." She keeps saying how each day she gets stronger. Some day she may even forget about the guy who hurt her.

verse four: She gave up hope that he would change. She has her heart broken from him so many times that she couldn't do it anymore. "And I'm done hoping...Letting you drag my heart around  
And, oh, I'm done thinking, You could ever change...I know my heart will never be the same. But I'm telling myself I'll be okay" Even though she is heart broken and her heart may never be the same she still has the strength to say she is okay, to fight through the pain.

verse 5: The speaker is talking about a break up. That the pain doesn't just go away after a couple days it takes a while. But little by little the pain will go away until you can breathe again and be happy.It doesn't happen overnight but you, Turn around and a month's gone by,And you realize you haven't cried, I'm not giving you a hour or a second or another minute longer,I'm busy getting stronger " 

The speaker in this song is expressing how the pain of a break up is hard to get over and at times impossible but if your strong you are able to get over it. Many country songs don't have a lot of poetic terminology. Its because country songs are meant to be able to express feelings and the people who are listening to hear it , understand it and feel it in themselves too. Yeah you could do that with poetic terminology some do but most don't. They want the speaker to know what they are trying to say so they say it straight forward not hidden in poetic terminology.