How lyrics have demonstrated hard work over time | Teen Ink

How lyrics have demonstrated hard work over time

April 13, 2023
By avafilber BRONZE, Lomira, Wisconsin
avafilber BRONZE, Lomira, Wisconsin
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

What if they deserve a raise but don’t get one? Will they quit their job? Don’t Stop believin’ hold on to that feelin’, Journey takes us on the course through life with ups and downs but in the end, everything will work out for the better. During current times people are going to face the fact that motivation is not always there, verses in 1980 they had to fight for the right to equal pay because women were “less superior.” The goal in life is to Take Care of Business while doing as little as possible. Taking the easy way out is never acceptable because people might never learn the right way on how to do it right in the first place. Today’s music, 2010, inhibits people from being undetermined for they have an easy-going lifestyle whereas in the 1980s they had to fight and proclaim for equal pay as seen in Dolly Parton’s, 9 to 5.

A song written in 1973 titled, Takin’ Care of Business, demonstrates that easy work is hard to come by. Randy Bachman utilized hyperbole and understatement to convey the message that you must work hard for what you get in return. The lyrics describe in order to get your pay you can’t just sit around “start [their] slaving job to get [their] pay” they have to work to get the product of their toil (Bachman 36). Bachman uses this hyperbole to compare their hard-working job to how it feels like they are being treated like a slave. Likely, their job doesn’t pay as little as being a slave. Bachman exaggerates their profession to emphasize how much they worked for what they get in return. The lyrics also include an understatement to highlight the difficulty of their occupation. Everything isn’t as straightforward in life, “if it were easy as fishing [they] could be a musician”, this shows struggle exists, but they just need to keep going (Bachman 13). The use of an understatement and standard simile to compare how usually people think about musicians to fishing which is easy in this case. If not they couldn’t convey the message of how much patience you need to have at some points, such as fishing. Bachman tries to express how difficult his work life is through how patient he has to be and in what way the human eye sees his occupation.  As expressed, Bachman conveys the message that easy work is a rare occurrence by using hyperbole, understatement, and standard simile. 

Journey’s song, Don’t Stop Believing, from 1981 demonstrates that taking chances in life can pay off by using standard metaphor and an oxymoron. The lyrics describe that people will do anything to gamble their hard-earned money. Taking risks “paying anything to roll the dice” will either play out for the better or may lose (Cain 19). Journey uses an implied metaphor to capture the comparison between what you have to anything. Physically they can’t pay anything, they can only pay what they have. Journey tries to demonstrate that if they take the chance they might get a great outcome in return. The lyrics also include an oxymoron to identify the contradicting events of taking chances. When they take chances “some will win, some will lose”, and most of the time you will lose (Cain 21). They use an oxymoron to compare how many chances they take chances. A few are raised to gamble when they were younger but others while others are not. They think that they will either win or lose until they keep doing it to win. In reality, it is better to know for sure but to take those chances you need the money. 

Another song, 9 to 5 written by Dolly Parton from 1980 uses literal meaning with personification to tell listeners that having a job can get the things they want in life if they work hard. The lyrics describe that having a job is the way to keep them financially stable “what a way to make a livin’” to spend on bills and any other objects they may want (Parton 10). Parton uses this literal meaning to capture the true meaning that time is money. If not, how else would they make a living and afford the things they now have. In addition, money is hard to come by and she’s trying to bring awareness that it should be easier. The lyrics also include personification to demonstrate what they are working for. Sometimes “[they] would think [they] deserve a fat promotion,” but other times that’s all your boss can afford (Parton 19-20). These lyrics refer to women and how mistreated they were treated back then, such as lower pay than men and being known as the cook and cleaner. Also, this is the person thinking they deserve more money because what they get in return is not equivalent to what they are doing in return. Overall, having a job will get them things they want but sometimes they deserve better. 

Bruno Mars's song, The Lazy Song from 2010 uses an understatement and an explicit message to help the reader to comprehend easier and compare anything to what they actually have to do. The lyrics describe that after working for so long “they swear they’re not doing anything” but they just don’t have any more ambition to keep going (Lawrence 17). Bruno uses this understatement to relate to others who feel the same. Everyone has at least experienced this once in their life, specifically after they wake up in the morning and they don’t have that ambition to keep them moving. Later in the song, Mars exaggerates later in his song that he still gets his way even if he does nothing during the day. The lyrics also include another explicit message to highlight what Bruno is feeling about that type of day. Not every day are they able to “kick [their] feet up then stare at the fan” sometimes they have to work (Lawrence 6). The explicit message is that he’s just going to sit and stare at the fan. In reality, he’s probably going to watch a movie or something around that. This could be the cause of having too much to do and he doesn’t know where to start. According to prnewswire.com, “54 percent of Americans are overwhelmed by the amount of work they have.” This shows that more than half of America struggles with where to start when they keep putting off work. 

Today’s music focuses on people not having ambition for they are used to getting whatever they want, whereas in 1921 they had to keep having faith as seen in Journey’s, Don’t Stop Believin. They have to work hard even if they feel like they are being treated like a slave. Since people are working hard everything might work in their favor and they can go shopping which can provide them with short-term happiness. Then they can take chances that might pay off and earn more than they had in the beginning. With this knowledge, humans can’t give up or be a quitters. From time to time, they are not going to have that motivation and that’s ok it’s how they deal with that. All in all, when they work hard it pays off and they have more oportunities.


The author's comments:

Our English class had to find 4-6 songs that display a certain thing. I chose how if you work hard it will pay off to provide a better life.


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