In completing this assignment, I found that pleasure, as a theme, was overwhelmingly the most prevalent idea. For community service, I had a very hard time finding any acceptable songs that I did not have to "stretch" to meet the definition of the assignment, so much so that I had to resort to Christmas music. This is because in American society, pleasure isn't a transitory concept that one grows weary of with time: it is the embodiment of success, the ultimate goal in life. Also, music is generally something you listen to when you're having fun, and pleasure is a big part of fun. This difference also shows a difference between American and Hindu culture: while most Americans are individualistic, always looking out for themselves first, many Eastern traditions expect people to be of a group mentality: be part of the group, and sacrifice for the whole to achieve.
I was surprised while doing this assignment by how many songs that I tried to pin as community service were more self-centered "help me" songs or "nobody's helping them" songs, rather than "help others" songs. Examples of this would be Metallica's Welcome Home Sanitarium and Black Sabbath's Iron Man, both of which point out a sad situation but make no suggestions on resolving it. The only song I found that clearly advocated doing good things was "Mr. Roboto," who does the jobs no one wants to do and works thanklessly (except for the song in his tribute) to help others. The Beatles and John Lennon songs more revolved around the theme of coming together than necessarily doing good, but the implication is that the former will lead to the latter. In the end, though, I had to resort to cheesy Christmastime songs to finish out my five, because that is the one time of year that Americans are receptive to the idea of giving toward others.
I understand what your saying about the community service songs. I was surprised too when most of the songs I found were skirting around the issues. They were great at listing out the problem, but weren't proclaiming any direct statements of "help." But I also think that the writers most likely wanted us to interpret the lyrics in a "This is what's wrong, now go and use this as a catalyst and help the world" kind of way.
It's interesting that you said pleasure is the ultimate goal in life. Maybe we are thinking of pleasure in different ways, but I believe it is a transitory concept that people do move on and kind of grow up from. Of course one wants to look back on life and have had a good time, but I think making a difference in the world would have a more lasting effect.
@Sarah: I completely agree, and I think I took the assignment a little too literally and that's where I ran into a lot of problems. Hopefully now that you've pointed that out, the second half will be a little easier.
@Kayla: I agree with that, too. I think I was thinking from a short-sighted young person's perspective, where wealth, fame, and money are the goal, and then those are primarily used in a strictly Charlie Sheen fashion. I think everyone wants to make an impact and be remembered, but I'm not sure everyone wants to do that through making a difference in the world, in a productive and positive way. I think some people would just be happy being the best paid actors on TV for a second-rate show no one really watches.
I shouldn't have generalized so broadly, but I do think that what I said was true for a portion of the population: they want to be remembered, but they don't necessarily want to do good to achieve that. Wealth and fame is good enough. I also think that given the choice between doing good and spending money on worldly pleasures, a generous portion will unfortunately choose the latter.
I understand what your saying about the community service songs. I was surprised too when most of the songs I found were skirting around the issues. They were great at listing out the problem, but weren't proclaiming any direct statements of "help." But I also think that the writers most likely wanted us to interpret the lyrics in a "This is what's wrong, now go and use this as a catalyst and help the world" kind of way.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that you said pleasure is the ultimate goal in life. Maybe we are thinking of pleasure in different ways, but I believe it is a transitory concept that people do move on and kind of grow up from. Of course one wants to look back on life and have had a good time, but I think making a difference in the world would have a more lasting effect.
ReplyDelete@Sarah: I completely agree, and I think I took the assignment a little too literally and that's where I ran into a lot of problems. Hopefully now that you've pointed that out, the second half will be a little easier.
ReplyDelete@Kayla: I agree with that, too. I think I was thinking from a short-sighted young person's perspective, where wealth, fame, and money are the goal, and then those are primarily used in a strictly Charlie Sheen fashion. I think everyone wants to make an impact and be remembered, but I'm not sure everyone wants to do that through making a difference in the world, in a productive and positive way. I think some people would just be happy being the best paid actors on TV for a second-rate show no one really watches.
I shouldn't have generalized so broadly, but I do think that what I said was true for a portion of the population: they want to be remembered, but they don't necessarily want to do good to achieve that. Wealth and fame is good enough. I also think that given the choice between doing good and spending money on worldly pleasures, a generous portion will unfortunately choose the latter.