Irony Analysis

Amelia Maloney

Irony Analysis

Poetry of Song G

            Through multiple contradicting situations in “Funny the Way It Is,” Dave Matthews uses detailed irony, contradicting imagery, and helpful point of view in order to show how life is “funny the way it is.”

            Dave Matthews uses the device of irony in almost all of the lines of the song, which helps convey the message of how life is funny sometimes.  All of the irony examples, such as “Somebody’s going hungry and someone else is eating out,” provide irony, but it also highlights a serious problem of hunger in the world.  Matthews uses other lines of irony to show serious problems that show how life is negative in different ways, like “One kid walks 10 miles to school, another’s dropping out.”  This shows the listener the problem with kids in school and how some people are not taking it seriously.  The singer uses lines such as “Somebody’s broken heart becomes your favorite song” in order to show the irony of someone’s break up story becoming a popular song for an unharmed listener.  All of these examples of irony help make the song more understandable and helps convey the message that in different ways, life can be disappointing for some people, while it is perfectly fine for everyone else.

            Another helpful device that the singer uses is imagery, which almost all of it is contradicting.  The setting in the first verse of the song is peaceful, but with the line “Someone’s house is burning down on a day like this,” helps show the contradiction between a peaceful day and something tragic happening.  Some of the lyrics also highlight innocence in situations that are ironic as well, such as “You hear the laughter while the children play war.”  There is a lot of contradiction in the song, which helps make the whole message of irony more clear.  This contradicting imagery is helpful because the listener can picture what is happening during the different lyrics. 

            Point of view is a frequent device that Matthews uses in this song.  A line such as “Funny the way it is, if you think about it,” makes the listener think about how life actually is funny in its own way.  Third person point of view is used as well, “He’ll never catch her, but he can’t stop trying,” helps point out how even though someone knows they can’t have someone, they just can’t give up on reaching their goal.  Point of view in the lyric “And that war song is playing, “why can’t we be friends?” is useful because it’s asking a question, and there is also contradiction within the lyric.  People don’t associate war with friendship and that is why that lyric is helpful with both point of view and irony.  Point of view is not as important as the other two devices, but without it, the song would be confusing to listen to.

            The devices point of view, imagery and irony all contribute to the universal idea of this song.  Point of view is the least important of the three because it does not really help highlight irony or paint a picture for the listener.  Irony is the most important device because almost all of the lines are examples of irony.  This song was interesting with the help of all three devices and without them, the song would have been boring to anyone who listened to it.

Song Analysis One "Three Little Birds"

Amelia Maloney

Transitioning from positive words to a narrative in “Three Little Birds”, Bob Marley utilizes soft imagery, detailed point of view, and a happy tone in order to convey the message that there is nothing to worry about and that “every little thing gonna be all right.”

                The entire song is focused on positivity and the use of imagery helps paint a picture of what is going on in the song.  The second set of lyrics is set up as a narrative and the use of imagery, such as “Three little birds/sit by my door step” can be pictured by the listener because of the choice of wording.  The imagery in this song can be characterized as soft and relaxing, like “Smile with the rising sun,/Three little birds/ Sit by my door step/Singing sweet songs.”  Those lyrics are pure imagery because the listener can picture birds singing and the sun rising in the morning, without a care in the world.  Most of the lyrics use good imagery because of the word choosing and also by the way the singer sings the lyrics.  Imagery is a good device because of the positive lyrics and the happy tone of the song.

            Another tool in the song that the artist uses is point of view.   The lyrics in the beginning of the song, “Rise up this mornin’/Smiled with the risin’ sun.”  These lyrics are being told in a story form by the artist, which makes the song easier and more interesting to listen to.  The use of point of view helps the song because the singer is describing the morning through their own eyes and not through someone else’s.  This is a good device because when you listen to the song, you can picture the singer waking up to birds singing on his doorstep.  Without point of view, the song would have been not as interesting to listen to.

            The tone that the singer uses is the most important part of the song.  The tone is positive and is promoting happiness and saying that there is nothing to worry about.  When the singer says, “‘Cause everything gonna be all right”, the positivity is felt by the listener.  There is nothing negative about the song because of the tone and it conveys a message of happiness.  The word choosing helps with the tone because they have to do with being happy and not having anything to worry about.  This device is a very important factor because without tone, the song would be boring to listen to and would have no emotions from the listener.

            I thought that this was an interesting and happy song to listen to because of all three devices that were present.  The tone sets up the song to be positive and it also conveys a message of happiness.  The imagery helps paint a picture of the song with the word choosing and the set up of the lyrics.  Point of view in this song is just as important because it assists in telling the listener what is happening through the artist’s eyes.  All three devices were well done and made this a relaxing song to listen to.