Music Analysis
This week, I chose to focus on analyzing a song, Victim by Eighteen Visions.
One, two, three go
You can’t be saved, you’ve gone and dug your grave
And it’s getting deeper by the minute
Well, you had to turn your back, ain’t cutting you no slack
Hooked on your lies you had me going(So give me one)
Good reason I should be forgivin’ you
When I don’t care anyway
(So give me two)
Good reasons I should be forgivin’ you
When I’m the victim todayBut you threw it all away, still gettin’ high today
You’ll crash and burn before you know it, yeah
Addicted to your lies, think I’ve been victimized
Same day, same night, same situation(So give me one)
Good reason I should be forgivin’ you
When I don’t care anyway
(So give me two)
Good reasons I should be forgivin’ you
When I’m the victim todayGo
And I feel like I’m the victim
And I feel like I’m the victimI feel like I have been criticized, yeah, yeah
By every little thing you say, now I don’t really care
‘Cause you’re the one that’s going down
And now I’ve left you here for dead(So give me one)
Good reason I should be forgivin’ you
When I don’t care anyway
(So give me two)
Good reasons I should be forgivin’ you
When I’m the victim today(So give me one)
Good reason I should be forgivin’ you
When I don’t care anyway
(So give me two)
Good reasons I should be forgivin’ you
When I’m the victim today(So give me one)
Good reason I should be forgivin’ you
(So give me two)
Good reasons I should be forgivin’ youAnd I feel like I’m the victim
This song has some interesting lexical choices. At the very start, he says, “One, two, three go!” which is neat in that the lyricist chose to mesh band directions into the actual lyrics which makes the song feel more organic and living since we, the listener, can observe how the band is directed. In this song, the lyrics are talking about a guy begging for forgiveness of a girl and she denies him since she feels like the victim. The interesting part, is that he sings it from her perspective which I thought was a very interesting way to structure a song since it again allows us, the listener, to feel more engaged and can relate more to the song’s meaning. An example of this is where he says,
“(So give me one)
Good reason I should be forgivin’ you
When I don’t care anyway
(So give me two)
Good reasons I should be forgivin’ you
When I’m the victim today.”
We can see here how he is speaking from the girl’s perspective. Overall, these choices make the song feel more connected to its audience and ultimately, make for a more exciting experience.
I love the fact that you analyzed a song. I think the music that people listen to tells a lot about them as a person, so I love hearing the type of music that other people like to listen to. I didn’t realize that he was singing from the girls perspective until you pointed it out, and that made the song have a completely different meaning for me. I agree with your analysis of starting with one, two, three, go adding a lot to the experience for the listeners. Do you think there are any other lexical choice that have a big impact on the reality that the song constructs?
Strat-
This is such an interesting post! I love that you pointed out that this song is from the perspective of the girl. It really changes how you look at/listen to the lyrics. It also would have been interesting to see how you incorporated Cameron into your musical analysis to bring it all back into the class content! Overall, you have made some great points here!
I would not have noticed that the song was from a girl’s perspective if you did not analyze that. It is great that you chose a song to do CDA. I also think it is very interesting to listen to the artist’s tone of voice. I read some of the lyrics before playing the song and imagined a different beat. Also, now the song the stuck in my head. Perhaps, it is because I am more able to connect to the song’s lexical choices like you mentioned.