Eclectic Analysis - Jason Mraz "Plane"

Eclectic Analysis - Jason Mraz "Plane"

Historical Background:

For my first eclectic analysis, I will be using a song by Jason Mraz. The piece, "Plane" is the eighth track on his second studio album: Mr. A-Z released in July 2005. In this analysis, I will be using the multi-leveled eclectic method laid out by Dr. Lawrence Ferrara to explore the intricate piece. To begin, let's look at how Mr. Mraz go to where he is today. 

 

About the Artist: 

Jason Mraz hails from Mechanicsville, VA, where the singer/songwriter grew up amidst the sounds of the Dave Matthews Band and local roots musicians the Agents of Good Roots. However, it was Mraz's interest and participation in musical theater that served as his first introduction to music. Following high school, he moved to New York to attend the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, but dropped out a year later when he took up the guitar and began to focus on songwriting. Nonetheless, Mraz's training as a vocalist would later show itself on his debut album, which was marked by the pure clarity and range of his tenor range. After busking around New York, Mraz eventually returned to Virginia; in 1999, however, he made his way out West and settled in San Diego, CA, having been drawn to the city's coffeehouse scene and historical support of singer/songwriters, most notably Jewel. Mraz began playing shows and soon landed a weekly residency at the local hot spot Java Joe's, which had previously played host to Jewel during the early stages of her career. He also formed a duo with drummer Noel "Toca" Rivera, who accompanied Mraz's acoustic material by banging the djembe. Together, the musicians honed a live show that featured as much comedic banter as actual music. Over the next two years, Mraz's following expanded outside of the San Diego limits and began to encompass Los Angeles, garnering the attention of record labels. Mraz signed to Elektra Records in early 2002 and returned to Virginia to write and record his debut album, a project that saw him working with producer John Alagía (the Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer) and his high school heroes, the Agents of Good Roots, who became his backing band. The resulting effort, Waiting for My Rocket to Come, was released that same November, blending Mraz's early influences with elements of country, roots rock, and coffeehouse folk. The buoyant first single "Remedy (I Won't Worry)," which Mraz had co-written with pop hitmakers the Matrix, proved to be a big hit, and Mraz headed out on the road to support it. One of those shows, an October 2003 date at the Eagles Ballroom in Milwaukee, was later documented on Mraz's summer 2004 live release Tonight, Not Again. The album tided his fans over until July 2005, when the songwriter returned with the sophomore studio effort Mr. A-Z. Mraz's popularity reached a new high in 2008 with the release of We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things, which peaked at number three and spawned his first chart-topping single, "I'm Yours." 

- http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/bio/index.jsp?pid=499054&aid=1119958

About the Album:

Mr. A-Z is an album by Jason Mraz, released on July 26, 2005. It is the studio follow-up to his first studio album Waiting for My Rocket to Come, released in 2002. While panned by many critics, it was a moderate commercial success and debuted at #5 on Billboard's Top 200 albums chart. It was nominated by the Recording Academy, for Best engineered album, and producer Steve Lillywhite, who previously worked with U2, Dave Matthews Band and The Rolling Stones, won for Producer of the Year for his work on Mr. A-Z.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._A–Z

Popular Culture in 2005:

It was a big year for sequels to films and the top three grossing films were Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Top best-selling albums of the year uncluded Mariah Carey's The Emancipation of Mimi, 50 Cent's The Massacre, and Green Day's American Idiot.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005 

Open Listening:

The song opens with a piano playing, bells dinging, and the muffled voice of a captain speaking over a microphone on a plane. I assume it is Jason who is on this plane and reflecting about his trip. His voice in the beginning of the piece sounds distant and tired, there are also hints of remorse and regret. It is very ethereal sounding and as the song continues, it sort of sounds, just like the plane is taking off in the song, so is Jason, using his voice and the tones of the instruments. His soul gets more and more into his singing and in the end, static is all the audience can hear. It reminded me of a strong pop ballad that had many levels to it; with Jason not only using his voice to sing it but also, his soul.

Syntax:

Because I am not familiar with the appropriate syntactical language, I will do the best I can in analyzing the song's formal structure:

Length of Song - 5:14

The song's form is set up in the following way - Verse 1, Chorus A, Verse 2, Chorus A, Bridge, Verse 3, Chorus A, Outro. As the song begins the audience only hears piano, bells, and the muffled of a flight captain speaking over a loudspeaker to his passengers in a plane. Jason Mraz's voice is soft as the song starts and as the song continues, both his voice and the instruments crescendo and the decrescendo of and on throughout the lyrics. The instruments used in the song include a piano, bells, violins, drums, guitar, horns, and eventually noises of static.

Phenomenonology/Sound-in-Time:

0:00-0:15 

Piano and bells start playing and a captain's muffled voice starts speaking. As I said before, it seemed as if he was talking to the passengers before taking off, however, as I listen again I realize that he is actually speaking to ground control, asking if it's safe to take off. It is very delicate sounding.

0:16-1:16

As the first verse begins, Mr. Mraz sounds as if he has just woken up, singing in tone that is full of tiredness and sadness. The bells and piano keep playing as he is singing, but when he ends the first verse and gets into the chorus, at around 0:48, there is one hit of, what I am guessing, is a bass drum. This seems to represent the jolt one may receive from being on a plane, before it takes off. It then goes right back to Mr. Mraz singing softly, with the piano and bells backing him up.

1:16-2:20

The audience is now introduced to the sounds of violins as Mr. Mraz goes into the second verse. The bells and violins continue with the violins occasionally playing every 4 to 5 seconds. Also, with the beginning of the second verse, his voice and the instruments around him seem to crescendo, making it sound as if his voice is in charge of how loud or soft those instruments get. His voice also seems to get more echoey and dreamlike, as if he is in a different state of mind. The violins however join the bells and piano continuously as the second chorus begins, along with occasional sounds of the upright base in the background.

violins.

2:20-2:57

It is at this point of the song that a drum rolls for about 3 to 4 seconds and everything crescendos even more. This seems like the height of the song, representing both a lift off of the song and the plane represented. The drum roll represents the build of anticipation with a large rhythm change after, making it sound more heavy. Violins start to play both quick and slow along with the drums in full swing. Jason's voice during the bridge becomes extremely ethereal, and goes from almost dreamlike to ghostlike.

2:57-3:30

There is a sudden decrescendo in the instruments and voice as Mr. Mraz begins the second verse. Only piano and drums are playing, in which it sounds as if a clock is ticking in the background, representing the time that pass when on an airplane and the switching of time zones. The beat is steady and his voice seems to be more comforting than tired anymore. Around 3:20, he sings the words, "Here I'm tumbling, for you" in which his voice tumbles a little bit, representing that the plane that he is in on is "tumbling," or experiencing turbulence. Seven seconds later, at the end of the verse going into the final chorus, the sound of an electric guitar loudly stums in the background leading to another strong clashing of the instruments and a crescendo of both instruments and voice; another high point in the song.

3:30-4:16

At this point the final chorus starts and all the instruments come together in a final blasting crescendo. This represents both the song and plane being at full height in the sky. Jason Mraz's voice is at full power, filled with life and soul. It is almost as if he is trying to fill the room, in which the song is playing, with his voice, engulfing the room with his passion and message.

4:16-5:14

As the final chorus ends and the outro begins, horns sound as all other instruments keep playing at their loudest sound. Mr. Mraz starts to sing the words, "You keep me high, You keep me high minded" twice in a row, each time sounding as if the plane he is on is flying off into the distance, getting fainter and fainter. As the song comes to a close, the audience is left with the sounds of soft static.

Musical and Textual Representation:

(Verse 1) 

Drain the veins in my head

Clean out the reds in my eyes to get by security lines
Dear x-ray machine
Pretend you don't know me so well
I won't tell if you lied
Cry, cause your droughts been brought up
Drinkin' cause you're lookin so good in your starbucks cup
I complain for the company that I keep
The windows for sleeping rearrange
When I'm nobody
Well who's laughin now

(Chorus) 
I'm leaving your town, again
And I'm over the ground that you've been spinning
And I'm up in the air so baby hell yeah
Well honey I can see your house from here
If the plane goes down, damn
I'll remember where the love was found
If the plane goes down, damn

(Verse 2) 
Damn, I should be so lucky
Even only 24 hours under your touch
You know I need you so much
I cannot wait to call you
And tell you that I landed somewhere
And hand you a square of the airport
And walk you through the maze of the map
That I'm gazing at
Gracefully unnamed and feeling guilty for the luck
And the look that you gave me
You make me somebody
Oh nobody knows me
Not even me can see it, yet I bet I'm

(Chorus) 
I'm leaving your town again
And I'm over the ground that you've been spinning
And I'm up in the air, so baby hell yeah
Oh honey I can see your house from here
If the plane goes down, damn
I'll remember where the love was found
If the plane goes down, damn

(Bridge) 
You keep me high minded
You get me high

(Verse 3) 
Flax seeds, well they tear me open
And supposedly you can crawl right through me
Taste these teeth please
And undress me from the sweaters better hurry
Cause I'm heating upward bound now
Oh maybe I'll build my house on your cloud
Here I'm tumbling for you
Stumbling through the work that I have to do
Don't mean to harm you

(Chorus) 
By leaving your town again
But I'm over the quilt that you've been spinning
And I'm up in the air, said baby hell yeah
Oh honey I can see your house from here
If the plane goes down, damn
I'll remember where the love was found
If the plane goes down, damn
I'll remember where the love was found
If the plane goes down, damn
I'll remember where the love was found
If the plane goes down, damn
Damn 
Damn
Damn, you

(Outro) 
You keep me high
You keep me high minded
You keep me high
You keep me high minded

Referential Analysis: 

The overall song, is about a 24 hours love story. Our protagonist, probably being Mr. Mraz himself, is getting on a plane after seeing the one he loves for one day. Their entire relationship is always saying goodbye and he sings, "If the plane goes down, I'll remember where the love was found..." saying that, if the plane goes down, he knows that he loved her. 

In the first verse, Jason Mraz talks about the process of getting on a plane. He is tired and needs coffee to get through the exhausting endeavor ("Drain the veins in my head, Clean out the reds in my eyes to get by security lines...Cry, cause your droughts been brought up, Drinkin' cause you're lookin so good in your starbucks cup..."). 

The chorus represents someone saying goodbye to the one that he loves. He is constantly thinking of her and wondering where she is at that very moment. He says, "If the plane goes down, I'll remember where the love was found..." saying that, if the plane goes down, he knows that he loved her. 

The second verse goes into their past 24 hours and how he wishes she could be with him right then and there (Damn, I should be so lucky, Even only 24 hours under your touch, You know I need you so much, I cannot wait to call you, And tell you that I landed somewhere, And hand you a square of the airport..."). He is proud to have known her and he feels she has done so much in establishing who he is today. She has changed him for the better. 

The third verse, which becomes quiet from the previous chorus, expresses his love for her even more. It seems to be more intimate and revealing ("Flax seeds, well they tear me open, And supposedly you can crawl right through me, Taste these teeth please, And undress me from the sweaters better hurry, Cause I'm heating upward bound now, Oh maybe I'll build my house on your cloud.) 

The repetition of all the lines at the end represents his passion for her and how much he means the words that he is saying. He is sick of working and leaving her all the time, but it needs to get done he doesn't want to offend her for doing so.

Virtual Feeling:

This piece evokes the following feelings, in order: 

- fatigue

- discouraged

- paralyzed

- empty 

- despair

- restless

- tortured (emotionally) 

- pained 

- mournful 

- angst

- understanding 

- sympathetic 

- absorbed

- quiet 

- acceptance 

Onto-Historical World: 

Mraz's onto-historical world is centered in the 2000s, in an age where we are always on the move and never have a moment to catch our breath. He wrote this song in response to him being only able to spend 24 hours with the woman he loved, because he needed to get back on a plane to continue his tour. He talks about the influence travel has on us and how we get through the intense process. Since September 11, 2001, travel has become even more difficult what with all the of the security regulations and the amount of time spent as we waste our time standing in lines, instead of being with the people we love.

Open Listening #2: 

The entire piece is a testament to those who always have to leave behind a loved one in order to pursue their dreams. Yes, the 24 hours they spend together are fantastic but as soon as its over, you just want to relive the experience all over again. Getting on a plane is seen as a metaphor; a plane is like a relationship, a strong one stays up in the sky and flies, whereas a weak one falls and crashes. Morbid is may seem, it is true. There may be some turbulance along the way, but if the relationship, like a plane, is strong and gets to its destination, it has survived one more day. The song may be somewhat depressing, but it has a sense of hope and acceptance to it. 

Performance Guide: 

In my opinion, Mraz does a fantastic job in performing this piece. In an interview, he says that the song started out very dark and sad, but once he practiced it a bit and brought it on the tour, he put more energy into it and made it more positive (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Flu6o3ag9Lg). He starts out very quiet and slow, almost as if he is in a daze. If seen in concert, I bet the lighting would influence the piece a lot and the way Mraz performs it. The darker the lighting, the darker the mood would be on stage. However, as the song continues, the sound grows until he is almost throwing himself and the message towards the  audience. It's a very powerful song that is sung with such passion and heart, almost as if the person performing the piece should go through what the song says in order to really perform it to the fullest. 

Meta-Critique: 

Partaking in an eclectic analysis was not only enjoyable but very stimulating as well. It really exercised the way you thought about the song, and I discovered so many new things about it afterwards. It was difficult for me, however, to find that balance between objective and subjective information. Also, not presenting the words, "I think..." threw me off as well, as I am so used to expressing what I think and feel, being an educational theater major. Suspending biases during the open listenings were very difficult for me as I am a big Jason Mraz fan. It would be interesting, next time, to pick an artist I am not that familiar with and analyze one of their songs. However, in the end, I thought it was a very enjoyable experience and one takes what they want away from the experience in their own ways. For me, I took away a better appreciation for music analysis and the complexities that come with it. Next time, I hope to have a better understanding and be up to date on my syntactical language. Thank you! 

Assignment #9 - Meta-critique of Ben Brantley's review of "Exit of the King"

The following is one of Ben Brantley's New York Times Theater reviews. I have chosen it for my meta-critique, and am looking to focus on the way Brantley critiques the revival of Eugène Ionesco’s “Exit the King." 

March 27, 2009

THEATER REVIEW | 'EXIT THE KING'

Sorry, Your Highness, but You’re So Over

By Ben Brantley

This has to be the liveliest death on record. Never mind those scary figures of legend who kept on fighting with bullets, poisons and knives in their guts: Rasputin, Blackbeard, that psychopath from the “Halloween” movies. When it comes to refusing to shuffle off the old mortal coil, these men are all small time compared to his moribund majesty King Berenger, whose last hours on earth have been brought to life like a fire-trailing comet by Geoffrey Rush. 

Let me add that in the title role of Eugène Ionesco’s “Exit the King,” which opened Thursday night at the Ethel Barrymore Theater in Neil Armfield’s brutally funny revival, Mr. Rush is not only more entertaining than the usual never-say-die bogeyman but also more frightening. That’s not because you’re worried that the 400-year-old Berenger might come after you in your dreams, Freddy Krueger style; it’s because you know that the seedy, power-addled egomaniac onstage — who’s working overtime to dodge his own mortality — is, quite simply, you.

When “Exit the King” was first staged on Broadway in 1968 (for a repertory run of 47 performances), it prompted the critic Clive Barnes, writing in The New York Times, to call it Ionesco’s “incomparably greatest work.” Yet “Exit the King” has seldom been seen in these parts during the last four decades, and it has never secured the place on academic syllabuses of this Romanian-born French playwright’s more famous exercises in Absurdism, like “The Bald Soprano” and “Rhinoceros.”

You can understand why producers would flinch at the idea of a play that spends more than two hours telling theatergoers they are going to die, like it or not. This is the United States, where people still half-believe in the possibility of immortality through plastic surgery, gym memberships and green tea. Who expects to have a good time at what might be described as a vaudeville version of the teachings of the death guru Elisabeth Kübler-Ross?

But the lingering winter of 2009 — the centenary year, as it happens, of Ionesco’s birth — may be exactly the moment for New York to receive Ionesco’s king, and not just because of the presence of the Oscar-winning stars, Mr. Rush and Susan Sarandon. The world described when the play begins should, after all, sound awfully familiar to Americans these days.

The once-mighty country over which Berenger rules has become a sadly shrunken empire, drained of its power and youth by expensive wars and neglect of natural resources. The sun has lost 50 to 75 percent of its strength, an immense sinkhole threatens to swallow up pretty much everything that remains, and the royal palace is a royal shambles. The days of balls and lavish expenditure are gone. Or as Queen Marguerite (Ms. Sarandon) puts it: “The party’s over. People know that but carry on as if they didn’t.”

I don’t need to belabor contemporary parallels. The spry new English adaptation by Mr. Armfield and Mr. Rush makes it easy for you to draw your own topical comparisons. (Of course there are such occasional rib nudges as having an enthusiastic guard, played by Brian Hutchison, deliver a tribute to king and country in a voice that summons George W. Bush.) And much of the knowing pleasure of the early scenes comes from the grim, hyperbolic examples of just how bad things have gotten in Berenger’s realm. Example: At the beginning of his reign the population was “nine thousand million”; now there are merely “a thousand old people,” and “they’re dying as we speak.”

These dire statistics are delivered with panache by Ms. Sarandon, Mr. Hutchison, William Sadler (as the court physician, astrologer and executioner) and Andrea Martin as the only remaining, and hence ridiculously overworked, palace maid. (Lauren Ambrose’s Queen Marie, the king’s second, younger, wife, is still too idealistic to join in this cynical exchange.) And you can sense the audience warming with relief to the gallows humor, which is not so different from what is heard in late-night television monologues.

There are even times, in the opening moments, when you could imagine yourself at a music hall in last-gasp Berlin in the early 1930s, what with those rotting tapestries, a cast in German Expressionist makeup and fairy-tale-gone-rancid costumes. (Dale Ferguson is the tone-perfect set and costume designer.) Mr. Rush — in red-striped pajamas, heavy robe and Kokoschkaesque face — suggests a Mother Goose monarch reconceived by Tim Burton. Let’s gather at the cabaret, old chum, and chuckle balefully over our woes.

But the genius of the show’s presentation — derived from a 2007 production by Mr. Armfield with Mr. Rush in Melbourne, Australia — is in its use of rowdy comic grotesquerie to lure us into raw and very real emotional territory. The surface joke of the king who wouldn’t die, having already wrecked his country beyond repair, shades into a psychic X-ray of Everyman, refusing to believe in the death that is about to claim him. (Berenger is Ionesco’s name for his universal hero in other plays, including “Rhinoceros.”)

To this end “Exit the King” makes better use of what are usually thought of as Brechtian devices than any Brecht production I’ve seen in New York in years. The characters are introduced in a rag-tag royal procession, like the traveling players from “Hamlet.”

Actors break the fourth wall (appropriately, since the palace walls are said to be cracking by the minute) to let us know how much longer the play — i.e., the king’s life — has to run. The lines between audience and stage (the palace trumpeter is spotlighted in a theater box) are drawn and erased, like chalk in the rain, a process beautifully enhanced by Damien Cooper’s lighting.

But instead of distancing us from the exaggerated cartoon types onstage, these devices pull us into greater intimacy with them. Mr. Rush’s knockout portrayal has some of the weary, contemptuous razzle-dazzle of Laurence Olivier’s great music-hall persona in “The Entertainer.” Politics is showbiz and pageantry, for sure — we all know that. (And this production makes inspired slapstick use of weighty props of state like scepters and trailing robes.) What “Exit the King,” and Mr. Rush’s portrait, insist is that we acknowledge how much we transform our own lives into flashy, death-denying star turns.

If it’s Mr. Rush who leads us to the abyss, the rest of the cast follows him in style. Despite an overabundance of sententious lines, each ensemble member undergoes a sly transformation from symbolic gargoyle to the kind of person anyone will recognize who has spent time at a deathbed.

Every performance evokes a different style — from the superb Ms. Martin’s addled, ratlike servant to the American dude-ishness of Mr. Hutchison’s soldier and the sideshow hucksterism of Mr. Sadler’s doctor. Yet somehow the disparities work, feeding our sense of the loneliness implicit in the very idea of individuality. Ms. Ambrose’s overripe emotionalism as the young queen who still loves her husband is the perfect counterpoint to the acerbic pragmatism in Ms. Sarandon’s sustained coolness (an approach that pays off in Marguerite’s overlong concluding monologue).

Mr. Rush’s ecstatically mannered performance, which uses every old trouper trick in the trunk, at first makes you think of the venerable actor-managers of yore, like Donald Wolfit. But as he struts and frets his two hours on the stage, which include a hilariously spastic promenade, he seems to shed his skin along with the king’s accouterments.

Watching him is like staring at one of Goya’s more savage caricatures. At first you’re amused, fascinated and repelled. But the longer you look, the more human the image becomes until finally, you realize with a shudder, it has turned into a mirror.

Meta-Critique:                                                    This is actually one of my first times reading a Ben Brantley review, and in my opinion, I thought it was very well written. He not only critiques the actors, but also the other pieces of the puzzle that make up a play as well, including the set, costume, and lighting designer to name a few. His historical background and related information of the play is perfectly written, not too dense and not too light. Also, using onto-historical analysis, his writing is so influenced by the world around him. He says that it is a perfect time for this play to be put on, and the adaptation written clearly makes connections to today's society. What is interesting about his writing, that I have noticed, is that he loves to make American pop culture references. Freddy Kreuger, Tim Burton, and Laurence Olivier are just a few of the people he mentions in the review. One thing is clear, Mr. Brantley knows exactly who his audience is, and he writes for them. For the typical, educated, middle class New Yorker who know anything about anything, this is a reviewer for you!

Assignment #8 - Historical critique of "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang

"Rapper's Delight" was The Sugarhill Gang's 1979 single. While it was not the first hip hop single, "Rapper's Delight" is generally considered to be the song that first popularized hip hop in the United States and around the world. The song is ranked #248 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It was written by the members of The Sugarhill Gang (Henry Jackson, Guy O'Brien, and Michael Wright) in collaboration with two original members from the band Chic, bass player, Bernard Edward and guitarist, Nile Rodgers. It was recorded in October 1979 and released later that month. 

Making the Band:

It was the late 1970s, and hip-hop was just beginning to grow. Massive hip-hop block parties involving DJs, free stylers, and b-boys were taking over the streets of New York City. Over in Englewood, New Jersey, producer and label owner, Sylvia Robinson became aware of the hip-hop takeover and wanted to become apart of it all. So, she brought together three locals from Englewood: Guy O'Brien, or Master Gee; local rapper, Michael Right, or Wonder Mike; and Henry Jackson, or Big Bank Hank. These three rappers were then teamed up with 3 musicians: bassist Doug Wimbish, guitarist Skip McDonald AKA Little Axe, and drummer Keith LeBlanc. Together they recorded all of The Sugarhill Gang's work. 

History of the Song: 

In late 1979, Debbie Harry suggested that Nile Rodgers join her and Chris Stein, the co-founder and guitar player of Blondie, at a hip hop event, which at the time was a communal space taken over by young kids and teenagers with boom box stereos, which would play various pieces of music that performers would break dance to. The main piece of music they would use was the break section of the band Chic's "Good Times." A few weeks later, Blondie, The Clash and Chic were playing a gig in New York at a nightclub. When Chic started playing "Good Times" then rapper Fab Five Freddy and what were the members of The Sugarhill Gang jumped up on stage and started free styling with the band - Chic joined in and let them as Rodgers puts it "do their improvisation thing like poets." 

A few weeks later Rodgers was on the dance floor of a New York club and suddenly heard the DJ play a song which opened with Edward's bass line from "Good Times." Rodgers approached the DJ who said he was playing a record he had just bought that day in Harlem. The song turned out to be an early version of "Rapper's Delight," which Rodgers noted also included a scratched version of the song's string section. 

Rodgers and Edwards threatened legal action over copyright, which resulted in them being credited as co-writers. Rodgers admitted that he was originally upset with the song, but would later declare it to be "one of [his] favorite songs of all time." He also stated that "as innovative and important as ‘Good Times’ was, ‘Rapper’s Delight’ was just as much, if not more so."

The Year- 1979: 

The year 1979 was a big year in pop culture. Kramer vs. Kramer, Alien, and The Muppet Movie were three top grossing films in the U.S., just to name a few. In music, digital audio recording was just starting out with Stevie Wonder's album Journey through the Secret Life of Plants and Ry Cooder's pop/rock record Bop Til You Drop. In national news, The United States and the People's Republic of China establish full diplomatic relations,  Margaret Thatcher becomes the new prime minister of Britain, and U.S. Senator Edward Moore Kennedy announces that he will challenge President Jimmy Carter for the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination.

My Meta-Critique of my Historical Critique: 

In the beginning, I knew that the historical critique was important but after going through the actual process, I discovered not only it's significance but also the information one gets when partaking in the analysis. One idea might lead to another, and you soon discover the whole back story of one song. This is both good and bad in that you may be distracted with all of the information that is out there in the world today. However, one thought ran through my mind as I was gazing over the screen of my laptop: the internet is so massive and full of information, without it, we might have had to go to the library many weeks in advanced to receive this information. If one was writing an eclectic analysis of this very song in 1979, the only way you may have had inside information is probably by word of mouth. It is interesting to look back and see how far we have come in terms of the amount of access we have to information in the outside world.