Music

=//**Music**// =

Music lyrics are full of allusions to past events and characters from literature or mythology. If you think of music and literature as art forms that explore the universal human experience, it makes perfect sense that a musician might include a classic allusion in order to conjure up certain ideas, associations, or feelings.

In Sting’s song “Sister Moon,” he alludes to Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 with the lyrics “my mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun .” Shakespeare’s sonnet describes the speaker’s love of a woman who is unconventionally beautiful, while Sting’s lyrics speak of someone who has been the speaker’s motivation for everything. By alluding to Shakespeare’s lines Sting creates an association, one that helps us understand the meaning and mood he is creating. [|music-sister moon]

Pointer Sister’s song “Fire” alludes to several famous lovers in these lyrics:

“Romeo and Juliet, Samson and Delilah. Baby, you can bet, a love they couldn't deny. My words say split, but my words they lie. 'Cause when we kiss, ooh, fire.” Eric Clapton’s lyrics from “Tales of Brave Ulysses” allude to both Odysseus, a hero from the Trojan War, and the sirens, sea nymphs (part woman- part bird) who used their bewitching songs to lure sailors to their death: [|music-tales of brave Ulysses] “And you touch the distant beaches with tales of brave Ulysses: How his naked ears were tortured by the sirens sweetly singing, For the sparkling waves are calling you to kiss their white laced lips.” A more current allusion from John Legend and Andre 3000 in "Green Light"..... [|Green Light] I'm not even going to explain the allusion in this song. Let's see who can come up with it first and explain the reference to Greek mythology by posting it on a discussion on this page.

 =Student Contributions = =[|nike boots]= =This song talks about victory. In the chorus, Wale says that he's flyer than everyone else, he's doing what he has to do, and he still has his nike boots. Towards the end of the song, he says that black on black nikes represent the helpless and the lifeless. He also talks about what people have to go through to get to where they want to be.  = = = = =

__**"Walk Away**__" by Kelly Clarkson This song is about a girl who is getting sick and tired of the boy she's with; she's telling him off for always annoying her and not being good enough. In the first verse, she says, "You think I'm stupid but the truth is that it's Cupid baby / Lovin' you has made me this way." In Greek mythology, Cupid is Aphrodite's son, who shoots arrows into people's hearts to make them fall in love. The girl in the song is saying she was made to fall in love with that boy because of Cupid, and that's the only reason she's acting the way she is. = = [|Kelly Clarkson "Walk Away"] //--Annakate Schatz//

Styx The band styx got their name from greek mythology. Styx was the river that formed the boundary between Earth and the underworld.The gods respected the Styx and swore binding oaths by it. Zeus swore to give Semele whatever she wanted and was then obliged to follow through, resulting in her death. Helios similarly promised Phaeton whatever he desired, also resulting in his death. Gods that did not follow through on such an oath had to drink from the river, causing them to lose their voices for one year, then being exiled from the council of gods for nine years after that.Styx had miraculous powers and could make someone immortal. Jean-Paul M

This solo music artist's name is Dido. She got her name from Dido, the queen of Carthage in Greek Mythology. Dido, the queen of Carthage, was featured in Vergil's (a Roman Poet) Aeneid (poem) as a woman who fell in love with Aeneas, a Trojan hero. In the poet, Dido leapt into flames after Aeneas left her to go on a voyage, despite telling her that he would marry her. Dido was devastated. Dido, the singer, has a song on this album about a lover leaving her entitled "My Lover's Gone" It goes: "My lover's gone, his boots no longer by my door. He left at dawn, and as I slept I felt him go. No more his song. I will not barge the oceans. My lover's gone."
 * --Isha Norris**