The Language of Lyrics

Pettijohn, Terry F.; Sacco, Donald F.

doi:10.1177/0261927x09335259

Cited by 63 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…In an investigation where listeners rated Billboard pop songs of the year, Pettijohn and Sacco (2009b) found songs that were popular in threatening social and economic conditions are longer, slower, more meaningful, more comforting, and more romantic-perhaps because these tunes console threatened listeners. A lyrical analysis conducted using LIWC and the GHTM finds during bad social and economic times, Billboard pop songs of the year use more words per sentence and focus more on the future and social groups (Pettijohn & Sacco, 2009a). A quantitative analysis of these Billboard pop songs of the year also reveals in threatening social and economic conditions, songs have less beats per minute and are more likely to be in key signatures that are somber and serious sounding (Pettijohn, Eastman, & Richard, 2012).…”

Section: Socioeconomic Trends and Musicmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While previous studies uncover lyrical trends in popular music (DeWall et al, 2011;Hobbs & Gallup, 2011;Pettijohn & Sacco, 2009a;Rothenbuhler & Dimmick, 1982), analysis of country music lyrics finds the trials and tribulations of life in culturally and religiously conservative small towns have been a constant theme since the genre's inception (Ellison, 1995;Hortsman, 1986;Peterson & DiMaggio, 1975;Rogers, 1989). Thus, because the genre historically focuses almost exclusively on a small number of traditional themes, we expect that unlike popular music where lyrics about different social processes (home, money, religion, death, leisure, work, sex, and family) vary, Billboard country songs of the year will not vary according to the larger social and economic conditions.…”

Section: Lyrical Themesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Gone country: An investigation of Billboard country songs of the year across social and economic conditions in the United States.

Eastman

Pettijohn²

2015

Psychology of Popular Media Culture

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Researchers have found that within the unfolding trends in pop culture, both pop music and the artists who perform pop songs vary predictably according to socioeconomic conditions. Popular songs are longer, slower, more lyrically meaningful, and in more somber sounding keys during difficult social and economic times. Furthermore, male and more mature-looking pop music performers are more successful during difficult economic times. In the current study, we assess the musical and lyrical properties along with the sex and age of the artists who recorded the 63 songs to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Annual Country Charts between 1946 and 2008. In contrast to findings on pop songs, country songs of the year are lyrically more positive, musically upbeat, and use more happy-sounding major chords during difficult socioeconomic times. While older country musicians are more popular in difficult socioeconomic times, unlike pop performers, the country artists of the year are more likely to be females when the social and economic environment is threatening. We hypothesize these differences exist because unlike the middle-class audiences who consume sadder popular songs because they match their affective mood in times of recession and social threat, the more marginalized working-class listeners of country music use happier sounding songs from comforting female figures, like the wives and mothers portrayed in country songs, as a catharsis in difficult socioeconomic times.

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Section: Socioeconomic Trends and Musicmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Lyrical Themesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gone country: An investigation of Billboard country songs of the year across social and economic conditions in the United States.

Eastman

Pettijohn²

2015

Psychology of Popular Media Culture

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“…Lyric is a component in song. Pettijohn & Sacco (2009) describe that lyric tell stories and communicate with listeners in a manner similar to how people have conversations with each other. Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded song is a poem that uses music and uses the figurative language in its lyrics, and lyrics is a component on song which like a stories or conversation between people.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Figurative Language Analysis in Celine Dion’s Song Lyrics Falling Into You Album

Ardhyanti

Supriyatiningsih

2020

J. PRJ

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Figurative language is the ways to show the writer’s thought use the special word, which have hidden meaning of it. This research analyzed Celine Dion’s songs, they are Fly and Falling into You. The objectives of this research are to find out the types of figurative language and meanings of the figurative language in Celine Dion’s songs. The writers take two songs from this album, they are Fly and Falling into You. The method of this research was qualitative descriptive. The data were taken from Genius.com website. Figurative language that the writers found in this research were six metaphors, two symbolisms, two imageries, two similes and one personification. In the Fly song there were four metaphors, and one symbolism. Besides in the Falling into You song there were two metaphors, one symbolism, two imageries, two similes, and one personification. The writers found the hidden meaning of these two songs. The Fly song told about parents who express deep sadness at the loss of her child. While, the Falling into You song told about someone who show his/her felling to someone they loved.Keywords: Figurative Language, Song Lyrics, Contextual Meaning

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“…This song commercialization is inseparable from how the lyrics are made. Lyrics can be used to predict personalities [1]. Hence, one's personality can be used to identify a genre and song classification, and vice versa.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Song writing is basically following the current social situation [1]. From time to time, they have changed relatively according to the social situation and the economic condition of the society.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Students’ acceptance of song lyrics containing national characters

Iswara

Gunara

2018

SHS Web Conf.

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Abstract. This paper aims at analyzing the acceptance of elementary school students of song lyrics containing national characters. The study was employed using research and development method, and this paper is the result of the interview related to the learning of nine song lyrics containing national characters. The results showed that all students had no difficulty in learning the vocabulary in the lyrics. However, the students were generally passive when asked about the meaning of the lyrics, hence the ability of students in singing the songs does not represent their understanding of the content of the lyrics. The implication of this research is that students always love songs and can sing songs, but it does not guarantee that students really understand the contents of the song.

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The Language of Lyrics

Cited by 63 publications

References 41 publications

Gone country: An investigation of Billboard country songs of the year across social and economic conditions in the United States.

Gone country: An investigation of Billboard country songs of the year across social and economic conditions in the United States.

Figurative Language Analysis in Celine Dion’s Song Lyrics Falling Into You Album

Students’ acceptance of song lyrics containing national characters

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