Allusion Ambiguity Allegory

ALLEGORY

Dig By Incubus

We all have a weakness
But some of ours are easy to identify.
Look me in the eye
And ask for forgiveness;
We'll make a pact to never speak that word again
Yes you are my friend.
We all have something that digs at us,
At least we dig each other
So when weakness turns my ego up
I know you'll count on the me from yesterday
If I turn into another
Dig me up from under what is covering
The better part of me
Sing this song
Remind me that we'll always have each other
When everything else is gone.
We all have a sickness
That cleverly attaches and multiplies
No matter how we try.
We all have someone that digs at us,
At least we dig each other
So when sickness turns my ego up
I know you'll act as a clever medicine.
If I turn into another
Dig me up from under what is covering
The better part of me.
Sing this song!
Remind me that we'll always have each other
When everything else is gone.
Oh each other....
When everything
Else is gone.

This song is an allegory because it uses symbols in order to convey meaning, and a lesson. The singer is telling his friends to let him know if he is not being true to himself. He tells them to, "dig him up from under what is covering" him. This is using the word "dig" as a symbol for his friends completely being there for him. This is also a life lesson in being true to one's self.


ALLUSION

Summer of 69 By Brian Adams

I got my first real six-string
Bought it at the five-and-dime
Played 'til my fingers bled
It was summer of '69

Me and some guys from school
Had a Band and we tried real hard
Jimmy quit and Jody got married
I shualda known we'd never get far

Oh when I lock back now
That was seemes to last forever
And if I had the choice
Ya - I'd always wanna be there
Those were the best days of my life

(CHORUS)

Ain't no use in complainin'
When you got a job to do
Spent my evenin's down at the drive in
And that's when I met you

Standin on a mama's porch
You told me that you'd wait forever
Oh and when you held my hand
I knew that it was no or never
Those were the best days of my life

(Chorus) Back in Summer of '69

Man we were killin' time
We were young and restless
We needed to unwind
I guess nothin' can last forever, no

And now the times are changin'
Look at everything that's come and gone
Somethimes when I play that old six-string
I think about ya wonder what went wrong

Standin' on a mama's porch
You told me it would last forever
Oh the way you held my hand
I knew that it was now or never
Those were the best days of my life

(Chorus) Back in summer of '69

This song contains the allusion, "summer of '69." Here, the singer is alluting to a specific event in his life, and it is a major part of the song.


AMBIGUITY

Closing Time By Semisonic

Closing time - time for you to go out, go out into the world.
Closing time - turn the lights up over every boy and every girl.
Closing time - one last call for alcohol, so finish your whiskey or beer.
Closing time - you don't have to go home but you can't stay here.

I know who I want to take me home.
I know who I want to take me home.
I know who I want to take me home.
Take me home...

Closing time - time for you to go back to the places you will be from.
Closing time - this room won't be open 'til your brothers or you sisters
come.
So gather up your jackets, and move it to the exits - I hope you have found
a
friend.
Closing time - every new beginning comes from some other beginning'send.

Yeah, I know who I want to take me home.
I know who I want to take me home.
I know who I want to take me home.
Take me home...

Closing time - time for you to go back to the places you will be from...

I know who I want to take me home.
I know who I want to take me home.
I know who I want to take me home.
Take me home...

Closing time - every new beginning comes from some other beginning'send...


This song is ambiguous because it has various meanings. Here literally, the singer is talking about closing a store down, and this can be interpreted as either him as a worker or a customer. This song also has more figurative meaning, and it can be interpreted as a song embracing the changes that people undergo through life. The meanings are endless.

Simile and Metaphor

Simile:

Like a Bridge Over Troubled Water By: Simon and Garfunkel

When you’re weary, feeling small,
When tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all;
I’m on your side. When times get rough
And friends just can’t be found,
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.

When you’re down and out,
When you’re on the street,
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you.
I’ll take your part.
When darkness comes
And pain is all around,
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.

Sail on silvergirl,
Sail on by.
Your time has come to shine.
All your dreams are on their way.
See how they shine
If you need a friend
I’m sailing right behind.

Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind.

This song is a simile becuase it is using the word "like" to compare two things. In the main simile of the song, "like a bridge over troubled water," the song writer is comparing a friendship to a bridge over troubled water. He is saying that he will always protect this person and always be there to talk to if they need help going through the struggles of life.

Paradise By: Stratoverious

Late at night I find myself again
Wondering and watching TV
I can't believe what's on the screen
Something that I wouldn't like to see

Many rare species will perish soon
And we'll be short on food
Why do we have to be so selfish
We've got to change our attitude

I know that I am not
The only one that's worried
Why don't we all
Wake up, and realize

Like the birds in the sky
We're flying so high
Without making anykind of sacrifice
We've got so little time
To undo this crime
Or we'll lose our paradise

It seems to me that there's no sense at all
Nobody cares it's always the same
Mother nature's crying out in pain
I know we're the one's to blame

This song contains the simile, "like birds in the sky we're flying so high," to compare themselves to birds. They are in such a state of bliss that they are, "flying," and can basically do nonhuman things.

Metaphor:

Black Heart Inertia By: Incubus

Walking alone tonight
'Cause I've only got room for two
Me and my burdened black heart
It's all we know how to do

Yet I look for a bigger bang
Than the kind I continually see
Sick of all this inertia
I want a human being

Lover, can you help me?
I'm a child lost in the woods
A black heart pollutes me
And I think

You're a mountain that I'd like to climb
Not to conquer, but to share in the view

Pulled by a false inertia
Pushed out by circumstance
Pistol firing at my feet
That's coercing me to dance

Yet I look for a bigger bang
Than the kind I'm sorry to know.
Here I am, first foot of the climb
Watch me go.

Lover, can you help me?
I'm a child lost in the woods
A lit path eludes me
And I think

You're a mountain that I'd like to climb
Not to conquer, but to share in the view
You're a bonfire and I'm gathered 'round you
Set this old black heart inertia aflame

Send it away [x2]

You're a mountain
That I'd like to climb
Not to conquer, but to share in the view
You're a bonfire
And I'm gathered 'round you
Set this old black heart inertia aflame

Set it aflame, send it away

This song contains many metaphors, which are comparisons not using like or as. The one repeated the most is, "Your a mountain that I'd like to climb," which is comparing this person to a mountain that they'd like to climb, or someone that they'd like to explore.

Bullet With Butterfly Wings Lyrics

The world is a vampire, sent to drain
Secret destroyers, hold you up to the flames
And what do I get, for my pain?
Betrayed desires, and a piece of the game
Even though I know -- I suppose I'll show
All my cool and cold-like old job
Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage
Then someone will say what is lost can never be saved
Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage
Now I'm naked, nothing but an animal
But can you fake it, for just one more show
And what do you want, I want to change
And what have you got
When you feel the same
Even though I know--I suppose I'll show
All my cool and cold--like old job
Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage

Then someone will say what is lost can never be saved
Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage
Tell me I'm the only one
Tell me there's no other one
Jesus was an only son
Tell me I'm the chosen one
Jesus was an only son for you
Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage
And I still believe that I cannot be saved

This song contains many metaphors. The singer calls himself a, "rat in a cage," comparing himself to someone controled, or caged in.

Irony and Paradox

Pardon Me By: Incubus

Pardon me while I burst...
A decade ago, I never thought I would be,at twenty-three,
on the verge of spontaneous combustion. -Woe-is-me.-
But I guess that it comes with the territory,
An ominous landscape of
never-ending calamity.I need you to hear, I need you to see
that I have had all I can take and
exploding seems like an imminent possibility
to me.So pardon me while I burst
into flames.I've had enough of the world
and its people's mindless games.
So pardon me while I burn
and rise above the flame.Pardon me, pardon me...
I'll never be the same!
Not two days ago,I was having a lookin a book
and I saw a picture of a guy
fried up above his knee.
I said, "I can relate,"cause lately
I've been thinking of combustication
as a welcome vacation fromthe burdens of
the planet Earth.like gravity, hypocrisy,and the perils of being in 3-D...
but thinking so much differently. Pardon me while I burst
into flames.I've had enough of the world
and its people's mindless games.So pardon me while I burn and rise above the flame.
Pardon me, pardon me...I'll never be the same!
Never be the same, yeah...Pardon me, while I burst into flames...
Pardon me, pardon me, pardon me.
So pardon me while I burstinto flames.
I've had enough of the worldand its people's mindless games.
So pardon me while I burnand rise above the flame.
Pardon me, pardon me...I'll never be the same!
Never be the same, yeahh!!

The whole chorus to this song is ironic because he says, "Pardon me while I burst." This is because the term, "pardon me," is usually used to be polite or to excuse yourself from something miniscule. In this song, Incubus is explaining how he wants to burst away from society, and this song's message is not polite by any means. Also the phrase, "I've been thinking of cumbustication as a welcomed vacation," is ironic because combustication is defined as a means of burning, and a vacation is known as a relaxing break from the normal daily life.



Fool in the Rain by: Led Zeppelin

Well there's a light in your eye that keeps shining

Like a star that can't wait for the night

I hate to think I've been blinded baby

Why can't I see you tonight?

And the warmth of your smile starts a-burnin'

And the thrill of your touch gives me fright

And I'm shaking so much, really yearning

Why don't you show up, make it all right?

Yeah, it's all right. And if you promised you'd love

so completely and you said you would always be true

You swore that you would never leave me, baby:

What ever happened to you?

And you thought it was only in movies

As you wish all your dreams would come true

It ain't the first time believe me, baby I'm standin here feeling blue

Yeah I'm blue Now I will stand in the rain on the corner

I'll watch the people go shuffling downtown

Another ten minutes no longer And then I'm turning around

The clock on the wall's moving slower

My heart it sinks to the ground And the storm that I thought would blow over

Clouds the light of the love that I found

Now my body is starting to quiver And the palms of my hands

getting wet I've got no reason to doubt you baby, It's all a terrible mess

I'll run in the rain till I'm breathless When I'm breathless

I'll run till I drop, hey The thoughts of a fool's kind of careless

I'm just a fool waiting on the wrong block, oh yeah Light of the love that I found...


This song contains irony because at the beginning a man is standing in the rain on the corner waiting to meet his love. She doesn't show up and he fears that she doesn't love him anymore and he is a fool just waiting there, standing in the rain. Then, he realizes that he was just waiting on the wrong corner. This is ironic because his love really does love him, and he was a fool for standing at the wrong corner, not because his love doesn't want him.



Bruised By: Jack's Mannequin

(Paradox)

I've got my things, I'm good to go

You met me at the terminal

Just one more plane ride and it's done

We stood like statues at the gate

Vacation's come and gone too late

There's so much sun where I'm from

I had to give it away, had to give you away

And we spent four days on anIsland at your family's old hotel

Sometimes perfection can be It can be perfect hell,

perfect...Hours pass, and she still counts the minutes

That I am not there, I swear I didn't mean

For it to feel like thisLike every inch of me is bruised, bruised

And don't fly fast. Oh, pilot can you help me?

Can you make this last? This plane is all I got

So keep it steady, nowCause every inch you see is bruised

I lace my Chucks, I walk the aisleI take my pills, the babies cry

All I hear is what's playing throughThe in-flight radio

Now every word of every songI ever heard that made me wanna stay

Is what's playing throughThe in-flight radio, and I

And I am, finally waking up

Hours pass, and she still counts the minutes

That I am not there, I swear I didn't mean

For it to feel like this

Like every inch of me is bruised, bruised

Don't fly fast. Oh, pilot can you help me?

Can you make this last? This plane is all I got

So keep it steady, nowCause every inch you see is bruised, yeah

So read your books, but stay out late

Some nights, some nights, and don't think

That you can't stop by the bar

You haven't shown your face here since the bad news

Well I'm here till close, with fingers crossed

Each night cause your place isn't far

And hours pass, and hours pass, yeah, yeah...

Yeah, yeah, she still counts the minutes

That I am not there, I swear I didn't mean

For it to feel like thisLike every inch of me is bruised, bruised

And don't fly fast. Oh, pilot can you help me?

Can you make this last? This plane is all I got

So keep it steady, now

Cause every inch you see is bruised, bruised, bruised.

In this song, the bolded line is a paradox because perfection is never considered hell. This song is comparing perfection to hell, and they are complete different things. The phrase is considered a paradox for this reason.

Personification

Any Old Kind of Day by Harry Chapin

Turning on my pillow, thinking kind of strange.
The color is of midnight in this room.
The cars outside are coughing and it's kind of hard to sleep
and there's neon out the window, not the moon.
And it was just an any old kind of day,
The kind that comes and slips away,
The kind that fills up easy my life's time.
The night brought any old kind of dark,
I heard the ticking of my heart.
Then why'm I thinking somethings left behind?
I whistled round today and I skipped off a footloose jig
to the hurdy gurdy music of the street.
I looked past those rooftops and I saw the cloudless sky,
But I keep on asking why my life is passing by,
And I'm left up high and dry,
But it ain't no good to cry,
So I shrug my useless sigh,
And I trust to things that other days will meet.
And it was just an any old kind of day,
The kind that comes and slips away,
The kind that fills up easy my life's time.
The night brought any old kind of dark,
I heard the ticking of my heart.
Then why'm I thinking somethings left behind?
The night has had it's laughing,
when the street lights blind the stars,
So now it's shedding rain to sing it's sorrow,
It's time for me to sleep and to rest these thoughts away,
There's gonna be another day,
hey!when things will go my way,
And there's other things to say,
And there's other songs to play,
And there'll be time enough for thinking come tomorrow.
And it was just an any old kind of day,
The kind that comes and slips away,
The kind that fills up easy my life's time.
The night brought any old kind of dark,
I heard the ticking of my heart.
Then why'm I thinking somethings left behind


In the bolded examples, use of personification is used for effect. It gives these objects human qualities that these objects do not/ can not possess. In this song, cars can not caugh and the night can not laugh. By using these examples of personification, the song has great descriptive value and effect.




The Times They are A Changin' By Bob Dylan

Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’.
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s naming.’
For the loser now will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’.
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside and it is ragin’.
It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’.
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin’.
Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’.
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin’.
And the first one now will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’.


This song has less obvious accounts of personification. For example, it suggests that waters can grow like people mature, which is not what really happens, thus giving it human qualities. Also, the song says that the battle will shake your walls, which it physically could, but not with the intention that humans would. Also, it suggests that a road ages like people age.