Dylan, Greenwood, and God
The two popular songs; Bob Dylan’s âWith God on Our Sideâ and Lee Greenwood’s âGod Bless the U.S.A.â are patriotic masterpieces that the American society can relate to during crisis. The âWith God on Our Sideâ adapts a mixture of traditional Irish instrumentation and the modern techno groove. The lyrics are more of a poem than just ordinary lines that flow with the beats in a traditional American style. On the other hand, the song âGod Bless the U.S.A.â adapts country music instrumentation and influenced by heavy techno groove. However, the lyrics of this song are longer and more complex than those of the âWith God on Our Sideâ song.
The two songs present patriotic messages of hope in crisis. The element of a supernatural force is presented as an assurance to a hopeless society of the power of will to overcome. Irony in interpreting Dylan song plays the role of reminding the audience of war mongering past generation who cannot justify why they had to go to unnecessary war and still seek Godâs intervention. The song âWith God on Our Sideâ is more compelling since every person in distress can relate to it besides having a moderate soothing tone. The contemporary songs addressing similar issues include Jimi Hendrixâs âThe Star-Spangled Bannerâ and Aaron Coplandâs Appalachian Springâ.
Disco
Disco music was hated in the 1970s because of the cultural shock it brought upon the older generation who were accustomed to soft earthly tones of the 1960s. The soft tones had compositions about social issues directly affection the people and preached unity of pursue unlike the lewd, weird, immature, and explicit disco lyrics. Disco music is characterized by excess sound, immature lyrics, and excessively explicit content that glorifies defiance to the norms of the society.
The current rock music has experienced metamorphosis and has the characteristics of disco in term of explicit content and glorification of satanic regalia (Starr and Christopher 21). Disco has influenced the beats and lyrics of several contemporary musical compositions. For instance, Rihanaâs âMan Downâ and Kanye Westâs âBlack Headâ glorifies the satanic culture and riddled with several antisocial symbols.
Bitches Brew
The track âSpanish Keyâ from Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew has a fusion of jazz and rock music elements. The musical elements that come from rock music include a fusion of electronic, ambient and world high pitch tones. The music elements from jazz music include the proper balance of production aural, sound accordion in the background low pitch. The use of used catchy and âtwangyâ soundtrack music for the background in this music has a higher valence than in the companion CD. Response to music groove imitates the soulâs harmony and euphoria which are triggered by the instrumentation sound (Bergman 13). However there is connection tonal composition, pitch, and balanced groove. I love this music because of its soothing tone and flowing lyrics.
Jazz and Popular Music
Jazz music is likely to become as popular and swing music in the 1930s since Jazz music has lovely infusion of ambient sound and live instruments which can be played in a live band. Jazz music holds appeal for younger adult audiences since its composition fuses the traditional sound and soft modern music to create a sound that sound people can relate to (Bergman 27). For instance, John Coltraneâs âPsalmâ and Miles Davisâ âBlue in Greenâ songs have a global appeal among the young generation. The essential stylistic differences between jazz and pop compositions are that jazz is more experimental, complicated, and mellow than pop. Besides, Jazz has a faster rhythms and complex chords unlike the repetitive lyrics and synthetic background associated with pop.
Works Cited
Bergman, Mark. In the groove: Form and function in popular music, San Diego: Cognella University Press, 2013. Print.
Starr, Larry and W. Christopher. American popular music: from minstrelsy to mp3, New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print.