‘On the back streets of America, they kill the dream of America.’ Many people aspire to follow their dreams, whether it’s the whole dream of a nation or the dreams of an individual. The American dream means change for improvement, and this means putting an end to Black and White racism. This heartfelt issue is illustrated in Tracy Chapman’s 1988 song ‘Across the Lines’.
Racism in America has been a stressful and uncontrollable issue as some black and white citizens simply have different views on life and cannot always respect one another completely. The Great Migration of had a huge effect on the urban and political lifestyle in the States. In the coming of the 1930’s, racial violence provoked by skin colour had become extremely common and …show more content…
In the first bridge the lines singing ‘Under the Bridge’ and ‘Over the Tracks’ both create imagery and allow you to imagine the borders between the places where the black and white lived. Song writers use imagery to add realism to their song and to help the listeners paint the scene in their head and to put themselves in the singer’s shoes and to understand the lyrics, event and situation better. In the first chorus, personification is used in the line that reads ‘They kill the dream of America’. A dream is an abstract noun and is therefore neither tangible nor living and realistically, it cannot be killed. This also fits into the category of an allusion and a reference. It is an allusion as it is simply a passing reference. This is a reference to a speech of social comment which was extremely popular at the time. The speech ‘I had a dream’ by Martin Luther King, another Afro-American influencer and victim of excessive racism. He introduced the saying of ‘an American dream’ in his speech and it included a goal of no racism and harmony. When Tracy sings that they are killing the American Dream she means that the hope for a better nation under Martin Luther King’s word was not getting better. One metaphor is in the third verse that reads ‘And racist tempers fly’. Once again, tempers are abstract nouns and cannot literally fly, but it used to exaggerate the tension and extremity of a …show more content…
The song goes at a steady, medium pace and has one hundred and twenty-one BPM. Multiple various instruments are used to orchestrate the feel of the song. These include drums, various string instruments and maracas to keep the beat. The rhythm was extremely syncopated, as Tracy cuts off her lines quickly for effect. The harmony was soft and slightly gloomy to add emphasis to the context. Overall the dynamics were moderately soft all through the song and the only real pattern in the sound was the constant syncopation through each line
Racism in America has been a stressful and uncontrollable issue as some black and white citizens simply have different views on life and cannot always respect one another completely. The Great Migration of had a huge effect on the urban and political lifestyle in the States. In the coming of the 1930’s, racial violence provoked by skin colour had become extremely common and …show more content…
In the first bridge the lines singing ‘Under the Bridge’ and ‘Over the Tracks’ both create imagery and allow you to imagine the borders between the places where the black and white lived. Song writers use imagery to add realism to their song and to help the listeners paint the scene in their head and to put themselves in the singer’s shoes and to understand the lyrics, event and situation better. In the first chorus, personification is used in the line that reads ‘They kill the dream of America’. A dream is an abstract noun and is therefore neither tangible nor living and realistically, it cannot be killed. This also fits into the category of an allusion and a reference. It is an allusion as it is simply a passing reference. This is a reference to a speech of social comment which was extremely popular at the time. The speech ‘I had a dream’ by Martin Luther King, another Afro-American influencer and victim of excessive racism. He introduced the saying of ‘an American dream’ in his speech and it included a goal of no racism and harmony. When Tracy sings that they are killing the American Dream she means that the hope for a better nation under Martin Luther King’s word was not getting better. One metaphor is in the third verse that reads ‘And racist tempers fly’. Once again, tempers are abstract nouns and cannot literally fly, but it used to exaggerate the tension and extremity of a …show more content…
The song goes at a steady, medium pace and has one hundred and twenty-one BPM. Multiple various instruments are used to orchestrate the feel of the song. These include drums, various string instruments and maracas to keep the beat. The rhythm was extremely syncopated, as Tracy cuts off her lines quickly for effect. The harmony was soft and slightly gloomy to add emphasis to the context. Overall the dynamics were moderately soft all through the song and the only real pattern in the sound was the constant syncopation through each line