Love will set us free...

Influenced by friends, books, art, and other musicians such as Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and Willie Nelson, Brett Dennen’s music can be classified as “peace mongering folk/ pop”. His songs are filled with earnest, soulful love, and sweet, stirring peace, communicating his disgust for politics, prisons, and violence. His lyrics advocate peace and opportunity, all the while bringing hope to his listeners and the world. Dennen comments, “Songs should inspire you to start a revolution… it’s [our] job to put a message out there, to use [our] job to change the world. I mean, everyone has the opportunity to add to making the world a better place. But, we’re especially unique as artists because people look to us, people gather around us. We can really have an affect.”

In his song, “Ain’t No Reason”, Brett Dennen questions the way we as Americans live, commenting, “there ain’t no reason things are this way, that’s how they’ve always been and they intend to stay.” With this, he challenges us to see the irony in our world, and encourages us to make a change. In this song, Dennen flashes different scenes, or examples, in order to enlighten listeners of different plights in our society, highlighting our ignorance toward other nations. In one verse, he sings of the arrogance that surrounds Americans everyday, “…wearin’ paychecks like necklaces and bracelets…slavery stitched into the fabric of my clothes…” Dennen presents the oblivious nature of our nation towards the nations less fortunate than ours. In another verse. he suggests the precious value of life and how “people walk a tight rope on a razor’s edge, carryin’ their hurt and hatred and weapons.” Through all of this negativity, Dennen stresses that “love will come set me free”, indicating that love, the ultimate freedom, will unlock us from our downward slope.

As singer/ songwriter Brett Dennen puts it, “Music is the magic of change”. These six words epitomize his life and the messages that he puts forth. His song, “Ain’t No Reason” emphasizes the songwriter’s appreciation for struggle, while ultimately encouraging optimism throughout hard times.

LYRICS

There ain't no reason things are this way

It's how they've always been and they intend to stay

I can't explain why we live this way

We do it everyday

Preachers on the podiums speaking to saints

Prophets on the sidewalk begging for change

Old ladies laughing from the fire escape, cursing my name

I got a basket full of lemons and they all taste the same

A window and a pigeon with a broken wing

You can spend your whole life working for something

Just to have it taken away

People walk around pushing back their desks

Wearing pay checks like necklaces and bracelets

Talking 'bout nothing, not thinking about death

Every little heart beat, every little breath

People walk a tight rope on a razor's edge

Carrying their hurt and hatred and weapons

It could be a bomb or a bullet or a pen

Or a thought or a word or a sentence

There ain't no reason things are this way

It's how they've always been and they intend to stay

I don't know why I say the things I say,

But I say them anyway

But love will come set me free

Love will come set me free

I do believe

Love will come set me free

I know it will

Love will come set me free

Yes

Prison walls still standing tall

Some things never change at all

Keep on building prisons, Gonna fill them all

Keep on building bombs

Gonna drop them all

Working your fingers bare to the bone

Breaking your back, make you sell your soul

Like a lung is filled with coal, Suffocating slow

The wind blows wild and I may move

But politicians lie and I am not fooled

You don't need no reason or a 3 piece suit

To argue the truth

The air on my skin and the world under my toes

Slavery is stitched into the fabric of my clothes

Chaos and commotion wherever I go

Love, I try to follow

But love will come set me free

Love will come set me free

I do believe

Love will come set me free

I know it will

Love will come set me free

Yes

There ain't no reason things are this way

It's how they've always been and they intend to stay

I can't explain why we live this way

We do it everyday

My Crayons

Colors

My hypnopaedic statement serves as a personal revelation as well as a public one. One should always strive to use their own "crayons" to reach a goal; to create an image; become themselves; or to paint a new meaning. One should never borrow or steal other's "crayons" to make their own portrait. Be yourself and everything will turn out as "pretty as a picture".

Poetry Essay

Samuel Taylor Coleridge once said, “I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry: that is, prose= words in their best order; poetry= the best words in the best order.” In his Songs of Innocence and Experience, William Blake often creates two poems that highlight his central ideas. Each duo would contain a different view, mainly positive and negative, to depict a common theme. In his pair The Lamb, and The Tiger, Blake rises the question of origin and creation with respect to religion. Just as Coleridge remarked that poetry consisted of the “best words in the best order”, Blake’s poetry makes use of diction that involves the best word choice, proving Coleridge’s description.

In his positive poem, The Lamb, Blake’s speaker continually questions a lamb, “who made thee?” By using rhyming couplets that give the poem a song- like quality, one may infer that the speaker is a child. The softness of the words that Blake included furthers the tranquility and mildness of the poem. The flowing l’s and soft repeating vowel sounds contribute to the effect and also create a beat that focuses on the nativity of a child’s wondering, while ultimately innocently questioning creation and religion.

On the other hand, Blake’s The Tiger makes use of harsher tones and rhythm. While The Lamb uses soft and song-like words, The Tiger uses hard and cacophonous words, alluding to the demanding nature of the poem. Along with the hard consonant sounds, the rhythm and rhyming suggest a hammering beat that contributes to the commanding question of creation. Blake’s rough adjective choice contrasts The Lamb’s euphonious diction. This negative side of the question, “Who made thee?” makes the speaker wonder “Did he who made the Lamb make thee?”

As both positive and negative sides are represented with The Lamb and The Tiger, word choice helps to convey the overall underlying theme. So, when Coleridge described poetry as using the best words, William Blake truly and definitely proved it.