I'm working on assignment where we take a song's lyrics and look at it like poetry. I need to find things like, metaphor, simile, personification, imagery, etc in a set of lyrics. Can anyone think of any songs that might work for this? I wanted to do "Life Wasted" but I don't think there's enough in there. Thanks for any help.

Present Tense is the first one i thought of..it has personification and metaphor to an extent (the analogy of the tree at the start)..but i'm not sure what else you'd get from it..

Given to Fly could be seen as metaphorical throughout, and you could probably consider contextual stuff and link it back to Plato and his cave philosophy. It also has personification/similie with the waves/sea being given human qualities ('wave came crashing like a fist to the jaw"), and you could also consider the way the human is given surreal qualities (the ability to fly), or perhaps examine these as metaphors..?

Light years is another one i just thought of, the lyrics are riddled with symbolism, for example that first verse: "i've used hammers made out of wood" - representing the start of man, becoming aquainted with tools, and having control of things. It also has hyperbole, because it juxtaposes large imagery (understanding of everything in the verse) with the realisation of not being able to make sense of anything (the last line of the verse and the chorus).

I'm sure there are far better examples but these were the first few that leapt out at me, i hope they're any kind of help - just be really thorough when looking through stuff, even the subtlest of things could have a surprising amount of depth to them

Wishlist

Winner!

I've always thought Sleight Of Hand would work well as a poem. Eddie tells a wonderful story.

Tremor Christ

i am mine possibly
parachutes maybe

Given to fly, or Parachutes

I think a lot of pj songs translate well into poetry when you Stip (strip) down the music/lyrics.

How about Immortality? Sometimes?

also
bushleaguer
push me/pull me
who you are

These'd be two good ones (except for Eddie's clumsy use of 'aforementioned', but you could skip over that )

Thanks for all the good ideas. I really appreciate all the help.

I got shit and long road are the first songs that jumped into my head.

for some reason this post cracked me up. "jumped into my head" DOING! DOING! DOING! DOING! .

:getsanotherbeer:

life wasted is a terrible choice

There are not necessarily my favorite pearl jam lyrics but I'd reccomend Insignificance, Immortality, or Tremor Christ if you're looking for imagery more than a narrative. Plus these songs have enough lyrics that you have something to really work with

Tremor Christ would be my first choice from that list.