Do not worry<3: Lyrics are just reference! My analysis is not too long :)
Across the Universe (1969), John Lennon/Paul McCartney
- https://youtu.be/K7G04W73PJ4
- ^feel free to listen for fun!
- Cover by Fiona Apple since Lennon and McCartney argued about the scrappiness of the recording! ^^
Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup,
They slither while they pass, they slip away across the universe.
Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my opened mind,
Possessing and caressing me.
Jai Guru Deva Om...
Nothing's gonna change my world,
Nothing's gonna change my world. (2X)
Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes,
They call me on and on across the universe.
Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box,
They tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe.
Jai Guru Deva Om...
Nothing's gonna change my world... (repeated thrice)
Sounds of laughter, shades of earth are ringing
Through my open ears inciting and inviting me.
Limitless, undying love, which shines around me like a million suns,
And calls me on and on across the universe.
Jai Guru Deva Om...
Nothing's gonna change my world.
Jai Guru Deva...
In “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, Sonny’s ending piece represents his internal struggles with life because of the hardships he endured. However, the hardships are not the end of him. Even though he felt like his hometown, a destitute environment that is “lifeless,” unchanged, and “encircled by disaster” while he gasps for light and air, he does not remain an animal with an “[amputated] leg” from a trap, or his current situation. Despite his impoverished well-being and struggle as a musician, when he is in deep pain and unraveling, he is able to “feel control” with his music.
Sonny has a lot of problems and is a quiet guy who does not share his feelings with others. Because of this, they fester inside him like sores; he is surrounded by “pools of sorrow.” He does have music as a vital cathartic release, or “waves of joy,” but it is ephemeral. He moves much like the waves of music, he has ups and downs that “caress” him as well as “possess” him. It does not help that his brother is rather difficult to Sonny when he actually finds the courage to share. Sometimes people just need someone to listen; they do not need to be lectured like a child. They have things to say. Sonny did not have his outlet from brother or other people because they would interrupt or not listen. Historically, during the Harlem Renaissance, the business of city life and modern life shed light on the tendency for individuals avoid human intimacy due to preoccupation for securing livelihood. Sonny’s brother exemplifies this modern phenomena. As a man with kids and work, he did not make the time to listen to his brother. He would interrupt when “Sonny was doing his best to talk.” Sonny had thoughts that “meander like a restless wind inside a letterbox,” but he lacked letters to fill his letter box, or listener. He occasionally had listeners, but they were not capable of really listening. “He can't talk [about] it [if] nobody's listening.” then he is talking to an empty voice box.
As a result, his thoughts would “tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe”. Sonny fell in an unending cycle of destruction and rehabilitation. He felt trapped so he tried to run away to escape. However, he came back only to realize that “nothing had changed… [he] was just--older.” He still felt like “the sun had vanished” and “darkness would fall.” He walked streets “black and funky and cold… with not a living ass to talk to… [with no escape from] the storm inside,” his pain. As a result, music became his form of language to communicate his inner turmoil. He did not have to speak linguistically with words he could not express, but he was able to musically. In fact, for him, music is able to more accurately express his emotions, which are more abstract and cannot fully be expressed with concrete words. “Words [flow] out like endless rain into a paper cup--” Sonny fills the cup with his emotional anguish and metaphorical tears. Then, since he is able to establish a platform that people can understand his language, the cup is shared with everyone. They listen to Sonny.
In the final scene, Sonny uses his music, or his language, to fill everyone in the room listening. “Sonny's fingers filled the air with life, his life. But that life contained so many others.” Sonny’s music affects everyone, especially his older brother. His brother felt “tears [beginning] to rise, and the connection with water diction demonstrates that Sonny fills his brother and the audience with his air and water from his sentiments. His brother is finally able to hear the fervent words that Sonny was not able to articulate with concrete words, “something [his brother never] heard” before. Though what he said is nothing “very new,” he finds new ways to make them listen to the “Destruction, madness, and death--” it is the tale where people suffer, are delighted, and triumph; it is not new, but must be heard. It is the only light there is in all the darkness.
In turn, Sonny establishes his own freedom with music. Not only is his “freedom” contagious as “he [helps them] to be free if [they choose to] listen,” but Sonny is liberated from his repression when they listen. He is never free until they listen, and since they do listen, Sonny is freed. Also, as Sonny learns to listen to music and himself, he acknowledges his anguish and learns to cope from it. Even when “nobody’s listening,” he finds as way to listen to his own emotions and complicated history.
For instance, the description of his music with darkness and light motifs highlight Sonny’s freedom from his music outlet. When performing, his music is demonstrated with light imagery, despite the darkness that surrounds him. This disjunction with light and darkness demonstrates the darkness from both environmental and mental elements and the light Sonny sheds with music. For Sonny, music “open ears… “incite” and “invite” him to a special “love, which shines around [him] like a million suns and calls [him]... across the universe.” He is able to say that he is here despite the utter absurdity of life.
Even with the fear and pain of life that makes Sonny quiver, he drinks his “cup of trembling--” in other words, the suffering and fear that plagues him is ingested, but it is also digested; he understands his reality that “nothing’s gonna change [his] world,” but he will live with its consequences. He acknowledges the presence of his pain but releases the repression with his music that expresses his pain as well as his triumph for enduring the sorrows in his life. For his loved ones and company, “his triumph is [theirs].” Yes, his depression “can come again,” but he still exists with it. He is here, and he is filled with life, as his singing slowly scares away his woes.
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**Special thanks to Adaline McCaw and Rebecca Spin for all her love and support! You're the best! <3
Hi Nora! I absolutely LOVE the Beatles and I think your utilization of this song as your focus was an interesting one. I thought it was interesting that, from the get-go, you bolded, underlined, and really highlighted the aspects of the song you thought related… it was interesting approach. Now into the specifics: the idea of regret and doubt plays a heavy role in your piece. The idea that our narrator, Sonny’s brother, regrets not really listening to the things Sonny has to say or paying attention to Sonny’s mannerisms is one of the more prevalent aspects of your post. Generally, the theme of pain can absolutely be encapsulated by the ideas within the Beatles’ hit song, particularly the phrases like “words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup”. This phrase holds so much truth in Sonny’s Blues, particularly in that the narrator’s structure and form within his perspective essentially is a stream of consciousness, word-vomit ‘prose’. Our narrator’s words, regrets, and emotions are all flowing out like a disappointing rain, and are circulating around his brother, who is a self-destructive “paper-cup” (metaphorically speaking, of course). Altogether, I thought that first line really showed the pain and heartache that your post conveys, and I think your song choice is understandably one that mirrors our narrator and Sonny’s plot. There’s a sense of defeat you associate with Sonny’s Blues, and I think that’s an interesting way to read the short story. I personally saw the ending as an uplifting and inviting concept, particularly in that music is able to heal the soul and fix problems in life, and you see it slightly differently than I do. All-in-all, I think that your song choice works well with the point you’re attempting to make, and your creativity really shines in your post. :)
ReplyDeleteNora, awesome and unique song choice! I wouldn't necessarily describe this particular Beatles song as a jazz song, but you analyzed the lyrics beautifully nonetheless. I really enjoyed your analysis of the concept of freedom here. Your idea about the light imagery is spot on in the way the light speaks to him "across the universe". I think it can you can push it further by also pointing out that the music also figuratively moves him across universes as well. His music provides him an escape from his suffering and brings him to essentially another dimension. Jazz music's freedom and lack of structure can be compared to Sonny's own desire to break free from societal norms because he recognizes the absurd elements in his own life. Awesome choice of song (LOVE the Beatles) and nice job smoothly connecting all of your ideas. :)
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