Song Analysis

Guide

 

A Song Analysis is the breakdown of lyrics in search for the wisdom and inspiration of the song. 

 

Rationale:  Research demonstrates that making associations to familiar information, as well as utilizing rhyme to commit information to memory increases understanding and retention. 

 

Instructions:  Identify a song that draws on US history or describes the historical context of the time period that the song was released.  Detail the song name, artist name, album name, album or song producer (if available), and record label.  Copy the lyrics by doing an internet search for them.  Copy a biography of the artist or a review of the album.  In a half page, explain how the song relates to relevant history.

 

General Guidelines

 

·         Select song on relevance

·         Apply learned knowledge

·         Demonstrate knowledge of artist

 

Song Analysis Rubric

possible points

expectations

points earned

2

Song is relevant

 

2

Demonstrates understanding of relevant history

 

2

Reveals understanding of lyrics

 

3

Clearly explains relationship between song and history

 

1

Uses footnotes to identify sources of information

 

10

total

 

 

Song Analysis Example

 

Song:                                                    Zoot Suit Riot

Artist:                                           Cherry Poppin’ Daddies

Writer:                                          Cherry Poppin’ Daddies

Album:                                                 Zoot Suit Riot
Label:                                                   MoJo Records

 

Biography of Cherry Poppin’ Daddies

by John Bush

“The eight-piece ska/swing revival collective Cherry Poppin' Daddies formed out of several groups around the University of Oregon in Eugene. Vocalist/guitarist Steve Perry (aka MC Large Drink) and bassist Dan Schmid originally played in the Jazz Greats and the Hucks, then formed Cherry Poppin' Daddies in 1989 with a lineup which gradually encompassed guitarist Jason Moss, drummer Tim Donahue, trumpeter Dana Heitman, Sean Flannery on tenor saxophone, Ian Early on alto and baritone, and keyboard player Dustin Lanker.

The group released their debut album, Ferociously Stoned, in 1990 on Sub Par Records and followed it up four years later with Rapid City Muscle Car. The Pacific Northwest was in the grips of the grunge wave during the early '90s, though, so the Cherry Poppin' Daddies' live show puzzled quite a few fans of alternative rock. By the mid-'90s, the fascination with formerly neglected musical styles (including easy listening and swing) had increased the band's prominence, along with bands like Squirrel Nut Zippers and Royal Crown Revue. After third album Kids on the Street was picked up for distribution by Caroline Records, the group compiled the most swing-oriented tracks from their back catalog for release on Zoot Suit Riot. Following up to their 1997 multi-platinum Zoot Suit Riot, Soul Caddy was released in mid-2000. Lanker and Schmid left the group the next year and formed the Visible Men.”

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll

Zoot Suit Riot

 

ZOOT SUIT RIOT

Who’s that whisperin’ in the trees?

It’s two sailors and they’re on leave,

Pipes and chains and swingin’ hands.

Who’s your daddy?  Yes I am.

Fat cat came to play,

Now he can’t run fast enough.

You had best stay away

When the pushers come to shove

 

Zoot Suit Riot

Throw back a bottle of beer

Zoot Suit Riot

Pull a comb through your coal black hair

 

A whipped up jitterbuggin’ brown eyed man

A stray cat frontin’ up an eight-piece band.

Cut me sammy and you’ll understand

In my veins hot music fan!

You got me in a sway

And I want to swing you done.

Now you sailors know

Where your women come for love

 

You’re in a Zoot Suit Riot

 

 

Song Analysis

 

            While sounding like a fun, cheery song, the words of this swing revival band refer to the violence of Los Angeles in 1945 when American Navy Servicemen attacked Mexican American young men.  The targets of violence were identified by their “coal black hair” and “brown eyes” as well as the Zoot Suits they wore. 

            Zoot Suits are a form of dress made popular in the thirties by the swing movement.  The suit has broad shoulders, long coats, and baggy, tapered trousers.  In the 20s and 30s, they were often worn while dancing to swing music, a form of music adapted from the Jazz that became popular during the Roaring Twenties.  Swing music was not for a passive audience but for the “veins” of “hot music fans,” and “jitterbuggin” was a popular dance. The music emphasized the “big band” sound and the performance of the singer placed at the front of the band, (thus the term “frontin,”). [1]

On June 3, 1945, eleven U.S. servicemen claimed they were harassed by a group of Mexican American young men clad in Zoot Suits, a fashion that became popular during the Swing era of the 1930s.  In response, many servicemen gathered and attacked the Mexican community in East Los Angeles, targeting young men wearing Zoot Suits.  The lyrics describe “two sailors and they’re on leave, / Pipes and chains and swingin’ hands.”

Over the next few days, hundreds of young Mexican Americans and nine servicemen were arrested.  However, eight of these nine were released and one had to pay a minute fine.  Many of the Mexican Americans, if not dead already, died in jail because of fatal wounds or were convicted of murder. 

The ultimate significance of the Zoot Suit Riots was the revealing of discriminatory attitudes towards the Mexican American community.  The residents of Los Angeles openly supported the attack on the Mexican Americans.  The press portrayed the servicemen as local heroes.  Only upon reflection of the Zoot Suit Riots would the young brown eyed and black haired, jitterbuggin Mexican Americans seem to us heroes of the fight against racial discrimination – the attitude and tone of this jitterbuggin tune written by the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies over fifty years later.[2]