Song Analysis #2: We Are All Accelerated Readers

Los Campesinos!--”We Are All Accelerated Readers”

Los Campesinos! is a British band that formed in Wales in 2006. “We Are All Accelerated Readers” is a track off of their first album, Hold on Now, Youngster... Many pop culture references are made in the song, as well as frustration clearly being expressed. The song also refers to relationships in movies not being real, and this is a large focus of “We Are All Accelerated Readers.” This song uses several poetic devices, most notably allusion and metaphor, to convey its meaning.
There are several instances of allusion in “We Are All Accelerated Readers”. The first is in the line “you said you looked less like the Venus de Milo, and more like your mother in a straitjacket.” The Venus de Milo is a famous statue of the Greek goddess Aphrodite (or Venus to the Romans). Venus being the goddess of beauty, looking less like the Venus de Milo and more like your mother might be considered a bad thing. In addition, the Venus de Milo’s arms are missing (it being an ancient work of art). Straitjackets hold the arms back, so it could be similar in appearance to the Venus’s missing arms.
The second instance of allusion is in the lines “no more conversations about what Breakfast Club character you’d be/ I’d be the one that dies (no one dies)/ Well then what’s the point?”. The Breakfast Club is a famous eighties teen movie. As the song asserts, no one does die. The writer of the song threw the line in after his friend talked him into watching the movie, which he didn’t enjoy. The movie is, however, generally liked, so many people talk about what character they most resemble, or resembled in high school.
The third example of allusion in “We Are All Accelerated Readers” appears in the line “I’m not Bonnie Tyler and I’m not Toni Braxton”. Both women are singers, and neither are British, which I find curious considering the band’s nationality. The following line, “this song is not gonna save your relationship” implies that Gareth, the writer, is not a songwriter whose songs save people’s relationship. It also suggests that Tyler’s and Braxton’s songs do.
The main example of metaphor in the song is “you should have built a wall, not a bridge”. As far as I can tell, this means that the person in question should have blocked the other person off entirely, not made an effort to overcome problems with them. The building of bridges and walls is a common metaphor, but not necessarily together, and it is interesting having the two juxtaposed.
Overall, “We Are All Accelerated Readers” is an excellent song, with Los Campesinos’ great songwriting and music. As a seven-piece band, they accomplish a very unique musical sound, which I enjoy. Even better, it includes great uses of metaphor and other poetic devices, particularly allusion. In summary, this song is an excellent example of metaphor and allusion.

Student Song Sharing Lyrics

Recently, I saw the Dresden Dolls live, and I can say without doubt that they are amazing. They're incredible live, and it was great to hear Amanda Palmer (the lead singer who also has a solo album full of amazingness) talk about all of her songs on the album. This particular one didn't have a story behind it, but it was towards the end (the last on the album but they sang a couple of other songs after that) and in my sleepiness I really was able to enjoy the song in a different way. I really heard the lyrics, and interestingly enough, my friend Sabrina and I once "divided up the states between us". This song, with its obvious 9/11 theme, also makes me think of my friendship with her. So enjoy!

“Truce” by the Dresden Dolls

You can have Washington, I’ll take New Jersey
You can have London but I want New York City

I should get Providence – I’ve got a job now
Los Angeles – obvious – that's where you belong now

You can have Africa, Asia, Australia,
As long as you keep your hands off Cafe Pamplona
We can split Germany right down the middle
You'd hate it there anyway
Take Berlin and we’ll call it even

You can take all of the carry-on baggage
I'll trade the saskia jokes for the alphabet language

And special occasions we'll split between parents
Who forced us to hate them on alternating weekends

You call it over and I call you psycho
Significant other?
Just say we were lovers and we'll call it even
We'll call it even

I am the ground zero ex-friend you ordered
Disguised as a hero to get past your borders
I know when I’m wanted, I’ll leave when you ask me to
Mind my own business and speak when I’m spoken to

I am the tower around which you orbited
I am not proud, I am just taking orders
I fall to the ground within hours of impact
I hit back when hit
And attack when attacked

You get Route 2 between Concord and Lexington
I want Mass Ave from the square to my apartment

And if we should meet through some misunderstanding
I’ll be very sweet, very patient, and forgiving
(Now get off my side of the state)

And if we should see one another in passing
Despite these techniques, there is sometimes no avoiding
(There must be some kind of mistake)

We'll raise high the white flags and bow heads and shake hands
Declaring the land we're on un-American
We'll call it even
We’ll call it even

I am the tower around which you orbited
I am not proud, I am just taking orders
I fall to the ground within hours of impact
I hit back when hit
And attack when attacked

And I am an accident waiting to happen
I'm laughing like mad while you strangle the captain
My place may be taken but make no mistake
From a little black box I can say without shame
That you've lost, that you’ve lost
Do you know what you've lost?

So take whatever you'd like
I'll strike like the States on fire
You won't sleep very tight
No hiding
No safe cover
Make your bed and now lie
Just like you always do
You can fake it for the papers but I’m on to you, I’m on to you

(repeats)

More Lyrics!

I might do this song instead. This is "My Year in Lists" by Los Campesinos. Can't decide which I like better!

You said "send me stationary
to make me horny"
So I always write you letters
in multicolours
Decorating envelopes
for foreplay
Damn extended metaphors,
I get carried away on the back of a natural disaster,
fixed with parcel tape and with kids sticking plasters
Nothing says "I miss you" quite like war poetry you carved in your door with a Stanley knife

My year in lists
Stomping on your fingers as you're clinging on to the abyss
So put on every winter coat that you've owned since '98
And every midnight sees the countdown to another awful day

I cherish with fondness the day (before) I met you
I cherish with fondness the day (before) I met you
I cherish with fondness the day before I met you

On your request, I compile a list
Of my top five resolutions for this year (one!)
I declined 'cause I decided that I (two!)
Do not believe in the new year anymore (three!)
And you must confess that at times like these
Hopefulness is tantamount to hopelessness (four!)
And I accept that it's time for a change but not in
Places like this with people like these (five! five! five! five! five!)

My year in lists
Stomping on your fingers as you're clinging on to the abyss
So put on every winter coat that you've owned since '98
And every midnight sees the countdown to another awful day

I cherish with fondness the day (before) I met you
I cherish with fondness the day (before) I met you
I cherish with fondness the day before I met you

Song Lyrics #2: We Are All Accelerated Readers

"We Are All Accelerated Readers" -Los Campesinos

I was sick in my mouth
because of the fear of the scent
of an ex-girlfriend
And no more conversations about what Breakfast Club character you'd be
I'd be the one that dies (no one dies)
Well then what's the point?

You should have built have a statue,
and so I did of you
And you were ungrateful,
and slightly offended
at the dimensions of it
You said you looked less like the Venus de Milo,
and more like your mother in a straightjacket
I think it's great that you're doing fine now,
but enough is enough
And I've had enough

Since we became accelerated readers, we never leave the house

You should have built a wall
You should have built a wall

And I'm not Bonnie Tyler, and I'm not Toni Braxton
And this song is not gonna save your relationship
Oh no... shit!
And this sentimental movie marathon has taught us one thing
It's the opposite of true love is as follows:
Reality!

You should have built a wall, not a bridge
(Since we became accelerated readers, we never leave the house)
You should have built a wall, not a bridge

Since we became accelerated readers, we never leave the house
Since we became accelerated readers, we never leave the house

----------------------------------------------------

Left and Leaving Analysis

The song Left and Leaving by the Weakerthans is a song truly packed with poetic devices. It is about a person alone in a city, wishing the person he loved was with him, and had not left. The first line of this beautiful, calm song opens with personification of a city. This song, told in first person, is packed with gorgeous imagery, in nearly every line. It uses a few similes and metaphors which are original and fresh. The mood of this song is clearly in every line, along with its tone. Left and Leaving is truly an exemplary use of literal and metaphoric lyrics in one song.

Notable devices used in Left and Leaving include personification and objectification. The entire first few lines of this song are personification of a city, portraying it as a living, breathing organism which watches its citizens. “My city’s still breathing, but barely it’s true, through buildings gone missing like teeth. The sidewalks are watching me think about you…” Objectification is also used later in the song, with memories, an abstract concept, rusting and eroding. The song also portrays years as drowning and time lingering, other examples of objectification. This particular 2000 song by The Weakerthans features much objectification and personification.

As far as imagery, Left and Leaving is a great example. The song conjures images of a sad, lonely city “sparkled with broken glass”. In the second verse, the lyrics describe a person at a dress rehearsal in a sort of sad room with a “stain in this carpet,” meeting with “strangers whose faces I know”, which is also an oxymoron. The song also describes all that his lover gave him, which was “a blanket, some matches, this pain in my chest”. This evokes an image of a few threadbare items, reeking of loneliness. In one of the last few lines, the person “wait[s] in 4/4 time, count[s] yellow highway lines”, which makes the listener picture a person by a highway, waiting to the beats of music (auditory imagery), focusing on the cars passing by.
Going along with the stunning imagery is a clear mood and tone of the song. The singer obviously feels lonely, giving the song a solemn and lonesome tone. This is shown in lines such as “this pain in my chest… the best parts of lonely”. The mood is forlorn and slightly melancholy, as we can see that the subject is in a big sad city which “will never take me anywhere but here”. This certainly gives a lonely mood and tone.

In addition to the poetic devices listed, the song also gives a couple of examples of similes and metaphors. The personification of the city is a metaphor, since it compares a city to a person without using like or as. “Buildings gone missing like teeth” is a simile, comparing structures to teeth. This further adds to the metaphor of the city as a person. The song touches upon not only objectification and personification, but also portrays lovely imagery and even some devices like oxymora and metaphor. It is without a doubt an excellent song filled with poetry.

Lyrics!

For our first song analysis, I've chosen the song Left and Leaving by the Weakerthans.
For me, the song is a reminder of my second summer at PCC, where I heard it. I think of the exact day, and it brings me back to the Shea-Durgin hill, waiting for core course (I think it was the one where we formed the giant stop sign) to start.
Immediately, the lyrics caught me, and I made a mental note of them so I could look them up later. Without further ado, here's the song, including the first line that hooked me from the start.
"My city's still breathing (but barely it's true)
through buildings gone missing like teeth
The sidewalks are watching me think about you
sparkled with broken glass

I'm back with scars to show
Back with the streets I know
Will never take me anywhere but here

The stain in the carpet, this drink in my hand
the strangers whose faces I know
We meet here for our dress-rehearsal to say
'I wanted it this way'

wait for the year to drown
Spring forward, fall back down
I'm trying not to wonder where you are

All this time lingers, undefined.
Someone choose who's left and who's leaving

Memory will rust and erode into lists
of all that you gave me:
a blanket, some matches, this pain in my chest
the best parts of lonely

duct-tape and soldered wires
new words for old desires
and every birthday card I threw away

I wait in 4/4 time.
Count yellow highway lines
that you're relying on to lead you home. (x2)"

I hope you enjoy the song! I'm going to embed a tumblr post in here with the song. Now to research the artist! (whom I know nothing about besides that they're Canadian...)

Hey There!

Hey, I'm Kara, and this is my fourth blog. My first blog, which I update once a week, is Kara's Random Musings, which is pretty self-explanatory. My second blog was my book blog. I don't really want to delete it, but I also don't like reviewing books. I've got a few posts up, but it's on a permanent hiatus. So don't expect any updates.
My third blog is a recent project: the Tri-Blog is a triple collaborative blog which me and my friends Tim and Matt will be updating bi-weekly. Check us out! We've got no comments yet.
This is a blog with which I'll review songs of a certain theme and genre for my Poetry of Song class. Blogging is required by my teacher, who is a huge blogger.
By Friday I'll have picked a theme and genre for this blog. In the meantime, please visit any of the other links!