Dave Matthews Band: "Funny the Way It Is"

In the song “Funny the Way It Is”, Dave Matthews utilizes comparative irony, first person point of view, and vivid imagery to display how “funny the way” things turn out in life. Dave Matthews shows people examples of the common yet complex way things can turn out in life through his music.

Dave Matthews uses vivid imagery throughout his song to give the listener an easier way to relate and imagine the things he viewed while writing. “Lying in the park on a beautiful day/Sunshine in the grass, and the children play” gives a perspective of the setting that is surrounding them at this point in time. It is a warm and relaxing day for many of the people in this specific area and “You hear the laughter while the children play”. Matthews also tries to express imagery while keeping this peaceful mood by making you imagine “mountains and oceans and winters and rivers and stars” because they are all relaxing things to have a vision of. Dave Matthews wants you to an aspect of the emotions he was feeling while writing this song and says “Standing on a bridge, watch the water passing under me” to  present the tranquil views he had envisioned.

Matthews utilizes comparative irony in several places throughout his song to make people witness the irony that they may come across in life every day without even realizing. Throughout the song he keeps a very peaceful view but obscurely hides the wrong and ironic things that are appearing. “On a soldier’s last breath his baby’s being born” is an ironic example because as this soldier is losing his life, a new life is being brought into the world. Although a soldier’s life is ending a new life is beginning because of dying soldier. Matthews compares an ending by death to a new beginning to life through a soldier’s child being born. As Dave said it was “a beautiful day” yet he was witnessing “Siren’s passing, fire engine red” which is ironic because on such a beautiful day you would expect everyone to be happy and peaceful but “Someone’s house is burning down on a day like this”. Considering it is such a wonderful day for you, you do not expect someone else to be having a dreadful day and it is ironic how those types of things happen in everyday life. As you are enjoying a day like this “You hear the laughter while the children play war”. The irony of that line is that children are laughing and enjoying themselves while playing war yet war is a serious and horrible thing to have to experience. As Matthews continues singing his song he presents irony while saying “Somebody’s broken heart becomes your favorite song” meaning while someone’s heart is breaking a song about it is being produces. As this song is heard by people it becomes their favorite song but to make this song it took a broken heart to occur. This song that someone really enjoys and makes them happy came from someone else’s sadness.  It is “Funny the Way” the things you come across everyday can turn out to be so ironic.  

            Although both irony and imagery were utilized throughout this Dave Matthews song, he also uses first person point of view. “Standing on a bridge, watch the water passing under me” is an example of this because it gives us a different perspective as to what he is feeling rather than ourselves. He is standing on a bridge watching the water himself which gives us an aspect of what he is seeing. He was “Lying in the park on a beautiful day” wondering if there is “someone up there looking down on me?”. This is an example of first person point of view because he wonders if someone is watching down on him while he is alone and he sings it as if he were talking to himself. Throughout the duration of this song Matthews questions things about himself and that revolve around him.

                The Dave Matthews Band use their music to create a perspective of how “Funny the Way” things often turn out to be. He used comparative irony, first person point of view, and vivid imagery to create a new aspect of the way people look at things throughout the day. Comparing ironic objects and presenting the vivid images he was imagining helped to convey how ironic things really can turn out at the end of the day.

song analysis 1

In the song "Enchanted", Taylor Swift, utilizes passionate imagery, a realistic point of view, and unbelievable personification to express her emotions towards a person she feels was important and life changing for her to have met.

               Taylor Swift uses many examples of imagery throughout the song “Enchanted” to express the emotions she is feeling about someone new coming into her life. “There I was again tonight/ Forcing laughter, faking smiles/ Same old tired lonely place” expresses that Taylor was unhappy before meeting this new person in her life. “Your eyes whispered” Have we met?”/ Across the room your silhouette/ Starts to make its way to me/ The playful conversation starts” shows that Taylor did not know this person at all but knew he was going to be an important person in her life. Imagery is shown here because as this person is on his way towards Taylor she can see his silhouette coming from across the room to talk to her.  Taylor was extremely “enchanted” to meet this new person and shows her happiness because she was “wonderstruck, blushing all the way home”. Meeting this person had made a huge impact on Taylor’s life at the time as she shows in this song by saying things such as “this night is flawless, don’t you let it go/ I’m wonderstruck, dancing around all alone/ Ill spend forever wondering if you knew/ I was enchanted to meet you”. “2 AM, who do you love? /I wonder ‘til I’m wide awake/And now I’m pacing back and forth/ Wishing you were at my door” shows that she had really cared about him and wished she knew if he had felt the same way.   

               Through out the song, Taylor also uses a realistic point of view so that people listening can relate to the song very well. In her songs she sings about her own life experiences and this one is about meeting someone new. "shifting eyes and vacancy/ vanished when I saw your face" shows that she is singing about herself and her ow emotions towards this certain person. Before meeting this boy Taylor felt out of place and un-welcome but as soon as she saw this boy she felt as if she was "enchanted to meet" him. "And now I'm pacing back and forth, wishing you were at my door" proves that Taylor is "wonderstruck"  about meeting him. As soon as she met him she feels like it had completely changed something in her life. She expresses the way she is feeling by saying "I was enchanted to meet you" because she wants to keep seeing this boy. Through out the song she uses her point of view to show how her encounter with this person had made her feel.

               Also, personification is used throughout this song to display the emotions Taylor was feeling before and after meeting this boy. Before she did not feel welcome and their were "Walls of insincerity" because people did not give her the right respect until she met this boy.  One example of this is when Taylor was having her first encounter with this person and says "Your eyes whispered 'Have we met?'" because while looking into his eyes she knew he was feeling the same way as her even without speaking. When she sees him his "silhouette starts to make it's way" towards her because he had also seen her and had an interest in meeting her. As the night goes on she begins to fall for him and she uses this intense personification to portray that. "This night is sparkling" shows that because Taylor had met this boy her night became magnificent and she was enjoying it. She feels as if "this night is flawless" and nothing could possibly go wrong because she has this person by her side.

             Through the song "Enchanted", Taylor Swift uses several different literary devices such as imagery, point of view, and personification to portray the way Taylor was feeling. She felt as though her life had changed within an instant and this point in her life was  extremely important.