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.