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The Best Day
Taylor Swift

One of today’s most popular country music artists is Taylor Swift. She is an extremely talented singer, guitar player, and song writer. Her song The Best Day form her album Fearless is a great example of her many talents. She was able to incorporate a number of poetic devices that amplified the songs purpose
The song contains some poetic devices that create a more enjoyable mood to the song. The whole song is a narrative; it tells of certain memories she has that involve her and her mom starting when she was five years old and progresses through thirteen and up until the present. The lines “I'm five years old, it's getting cold, I've got my big coat on” “I'm thirteen now and don't know how my friends could be so mean” and “There is a video I found from back when I was three” are the beginning lines of her memories. Imagery is also used to set the mood of the memory; the line “Past the pumpkin patch and the tractor rides, look now, the sky is gold” is a beautiful image that people can relate to because everybody has seen a sunset and most people have gone to a pumpkin patch. She also includes allusions to Snow White in the lines “Don't know if Snow White's house is near or far away” and “It's the age of princesses and pirate ships and the seven dwarfs”. Everyone is familiar with the story of Snow White so this reference is comforting and reminds listeners of their childhood. Also the lines “I don't know why all the trees change in the fall” and “And now I know why the all the trees change in the fall” suggest a motif in the song; the first line occurs early in the song and then in the very last stanza of the song there is another reference to it. There is also a sophisticated rhyme scheme throughout the song.
Narration, imagery, allusion, motif, and rhyme are some important poetic devices used in Taylor Swift’s song The Best Day from the album Fearless. All the devices used create a comfortable mood and make the message clearer. Taylor Swift is an amazing singer and songwriter and this song especially shows her musical abilities.

Song Analysis

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All I Have to do is Dream


The world famous husband and wife song writing team Boudleaux and Felice Bryant was a talented duo who wrote many huge hits for the Everly Brothers and other artists. One song in particular that was a huge hit for the Everly Brothers written by Boudleaux was All I Have to do is Dream. This song contains a good amount of poetic devices demonstrating Bryant’s natural song writing ability.


All I Have to do I s Dream contains some basic poetic devices used in a sophisticated manner. The lines “Drea-ea-ea-ea-eam, dream, dream, dream” and “When I want you in my arms” are two basic examples of alliterations. The alliterations in this song help to express what the singer is feeling. “Only trouble is, gee whiz I'm dreamin' my life away” this line is a hyperbole because it is saying that he is dreaming so often that he is dreaming his life away but that is an over statement because he is not dreaming every minute of every day of his life. Another example of a hyperbole is in the line “I need you so, that I could die”; here he is saying that he needs this person so much that he could die without that person which is not true because it is impossible to die from not being able to be with someone. Some other poetic devices used in this song are metaphor in the line “I can make you mine, taste your lips of wine” by saying this persons lips are made of wine. There is also imagery in “taste your lips of wine”, motif in “Drea-ea-ea-ea-eam, dream, dream, dreamDrea-ea-ea-ea-eam, dream, dream, dream”, and a rhyme scheme in “When I feel blue in the night; And I need you to hold me tight” and throughout the whole song.


All the poetic devices used in this song benefit it in many ways. The hyperbole's especially make the song better because they help to express the passion the singer has for this person in a sweet and romantic way.

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Keep on pushing


I've got to keep on pushing (mmm-hmm)

I can't stop now

Move up a little higher

Some way, somehow

'Cause I've got my strength

And it don't make sense

Not to keep on pushin'


Hey, Hallelujah, hallelujah -Alliteration

Keep on pushin'


Now maybe some day

I'll reach that higher goal

I know that I can make it

With just a little bit of soul

'Cause I've got my strength

And it don't make sense

Not to keep on pushin


'Now look-a look (look-a look) -Alliteration

A-look-a yonder

What's that I see

A great big stone wall

Stands there ahead of me

-Metephor

-Symbolism: symbolises the civil rights movement

-Imagry

But I've got my pride

And I'll move on aside

And keep on pushin'


Hey, Hallelujah, hallelujah -Alliteration

Keep on pushin'


Keep on pushin'
What I say, yeah
Keep on pushin’
Well, that’s alright


-Rhyme Scheme

-Social Relevance: relates to the civil rights movement

-Local Color

Curtis Mayfield

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Many artists of the 20th century are considered to be some of the greatest artists of all time. The music of these artists inspired people in many ways to achieve things they thought were out of reach. One especially influential artist was Curtis Mayfield.
Curtis Mayfield was and R&B soul artist whose songs have inspired many other artists over the years. His work also influenced many politicians. Mayfield wrote songs of love and ones about racial and social equality. He started in a band called the Impressions, but he left them behind to pursue a solo career in 1970. His music both with the Impressions and in his solo career influenced many other artists such as Bob Marley, who lifted lines from Mayfield’s song People Ger Ready to populate his own recording One Love. Mayfield’s song Keep on Pushin was a civil rights anthem and a favorite of Martin Luther King Jr. His unique style of music attracted many people and gave them hope for a better tomorrow when times were tough.
Curtis Mayfield was a beautiful song writer whose work inspired a lot of people and fellow artists. The music of the Impressions and Curtis Mayfield will be remembered as ballads of love and racial and social equality for many generations to come.

Curtis Mayfield Pictures

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Click Here to watch Curtis Mayfield

Timeline

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  • June 3, 1942: Curtis Mayfield is born in Chicago, Illinois.

  • 1958: Curtis Mayfield joins the Impressions, a gospel-influenced R&B vocal group that enjoys great success in the Sixties with such groundbreaking singles as “Gypsy Woman,” “It’s All Right,” “Amen,” “People Get Ready,” “Woman’s Got Soul,” “We’re a Winner” and “This is My Country.”

  • December 4, 1961: Curtis Mayfield hits #2 on the R&B chart and #20 on the pop chart with “Gypsy Woman”.

  • November 9, 1963: Curtis Mayfield hits #1 on the R&B chart and #4 on the pop chart with “It’s All Right”.

  • 1970: Curtis Mayfield leaves the Impressions to launch a solo career. His debut album, ‘Curtis’ —released on his own Custom label—enters the charts in October. It contains frank, topical songs like “(Don’t Worry) If There’s a Hell Below We’re All Going to Go” and “We People Who Are Darker Than Blue.”

  • 1972: Curtis Mayfield hits #4 with “Freddie’s Dead (Theme from Superfly)”.

  • October 21, 1972: ‘Superfly’ tops the Billboard’s album chart for the first of four weeks. This soundtrack to a film about a Harlem drug dealer’s attempt at a final “big score” delivers two major hits: “Freddie’s Dead” (#2 R&B, #4 pop) and “Superfly” (#5 R&B, #8 pop).

  • August 1, 1974: Curtis Mayfield makes the pop Top Forty for the last time with “Kung Fu,” which precedes Carl Douglas’s “Kung Fu Fighting” by two months. However, he’ll crack the R&B Top Forty a dozen more times between 1974 and 1981.

  • July 1, 1975: One of Curtis Mayfield’s most unflinchingly realistic and downbeat message albums, ‘There’s No Place Like America Today’, is released.

  • October 1, 1982: ‘Honesty’, Curtis Mayfield’s strongest album in years, appears to positive reviews.

  • August 13, 1990: Curtis Mayfield is paralyzed from the neck down after high winds cause a lighting rig to fall on him at a concert in Brooklyn, New York.

  • March 1, 1993: People Get Ready: A Tribute to Curtis Mayfield (Shanachie Records) is released. Mayfield favorites are covered by Jerry Butler, Don Covay, Steve Cropper (of Booker T and the M.G.’s) and others.

  • March 1, 1994: Curtis Mayfield is give the Grammy Legend Award at a ceremony in New York. This same month, All Men Are Brothers: A Tribute to Curtis Mayfield (Warner Bros.)—featuring covers by Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, B.B. King, the Isley Brothers, Bruce Springsteen and Eric Clapton—is issued.

  • March 15, 1999: Curtis Mayfield is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the fourteenth annual induction dinner.

  • December 26, 1999: Curtis Mayfield dies in Roswell, Georgia.

10 Interesting Facts

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  • First sang before the public in his grandmother’s Traveling Soul Spiritualists’ Church at age 7.

  • Self taught on guitar by his very early teens.

  • High School Drop Out. At age 16.

  • 1964 Mayfield wrote the prescient "Keep On Pushin'".

  • “Keep On Pushin’” served as a civil rights anthem, a favorite of Martin Luther King.

  • His most commercially successful recording was the soundtrack to “Superfly” .

  • August 13, 1990 high winds toppled the stage lighting rig and Mayfield was underneath and was paralyzed form the neck down.

  • Unable to play guitar (or any other instrument), he could still sing.

  • When he died he had six sons, three daughters, and seven grandchildren.

  • On March 15, 1999 Curtis Mayfield is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the fourteenth annual induction dinner.