English help needed! (Song suggestions)

[outrageous]

Ahh! Need some help quick!

Have to write a speech for English about imaginative journeys with own our chosen texts. So far I have 'Alice in Wonderland' but not a second yet. I was thinking of a song because it can't be a film again.

SO does anyone know of a song that would convey/say anything about imaginative journeys? Themes about the magical/mystical, memories, the spiritual are good. Just need a helping hand, if you can think of one off the top of your head it would help me lots!

Thanks guys

[FerretallicA]

Dream Theater - Scenes From A Memory

Whole album... once giant conceptual story about a regressive hypnosis session to find out about a murder. Most of the depth is lost without the music but there's enough there that it could still be used as a reference item.

Of course I'm biased in suggesting this one though, and there's probably better choices out there... one particular example that springs to mind:

Ayreon - The Universal Migrator

I'll leave it to you to research the story behind that though because I have to get back to work

[Watto]

There should be 1 or 10000 power metal songs about epic journeys but i'm to tired to think of any off the top of my head. Just think Rhapsody, Helloween etc and you should find something Edit: what about Lord journey through hell

[demented_broomstick]

Originally Posted by FerretallicA

Dream Theater - Scenes From A Memory

Whole album... once giant conceptual story about a regressive hypnosis session to find out about a murder. Most of the depth is lost without the music but there's enough there that it could still be used as a reference item.

Of course I'm biased in suggesting this one though, and there's probably better choices out there... one particular example that springs to mind:

Ayreon - The Universal Migrator

I'll leave it to you to research the story behind that though because I have to get back to work

I agree with scenes from a memory - in fact I did that for my HSC, specifically the song - that easterny one, you know what I mean. My teachers thought it was really good as well. I don't have a copy of it anymore, but if you would like I can give you an e-mail with some of the things I talked about in my essay.

[outrageous]

Yeah! That would be awesome, thanks guys.

[Celestial-Todd]

Originally Posted by demented_broomstick

I agree with scenes from a memory - in fact I did that for my HSC, specifically the song - that easterny one, you know what I mean

aka "Home"

[Keeper of the Seven Cheese]

It would definitely be a good one.

I did Tobias Sammet's Avantasia as mine for Physical Journey in 2005.

[FerretallicA]

Originally Posted by demented_broomstick

specifically the song - that easterny one, you know what I mean.

Nice to see so much of your studies sunk in and stayed with you

[outrageous]

Hmm, I wonder if I do a song, if I would have to talk about the music in the techniques? Say, I would talk about how the music emphasised the themes in the lyrics. Or would you just talk about the imagery and rhythm within the lyrics themselves?

[Ebony~Veiled]

a bit of both I think. The imageries serve a few purposes, most importantly emphasis on the theme of the song..

[pipsqeek]

Any of the King Diamond albums are complete stories. Awesome, too.

pipsqeek

[Goreripper]

Originally Posted by Watto

Edit: what about Lord journey through hell

Isn't that an instrumental?

[Lord Tim]

Indeed it is.

[outrageous]

Oh! LT, surely some song along the way would fit! You can be part of a HSC assessment!

[Lord Tim]

Feel free to use one for your reference if you like, all of the lyrics to everything I've written and released is at LORD - 100% Pure Aussie Heavy Metal and Dungeon - 100% Pure Aussie Heavy Metal on the LYRICS pages.


EDIT: How the forum automatically puts in the page title rather than the web address gets really annoying sometimes!

[metal evilution]

The three FALCONER albums are a connected story that's very well done. Also the last 3 songs on ICED EARTH's "Something Wicked This Way Comes" tells a cool little story. Guess you could also draw influence from the obvious choice for me IRON MAIDEN "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son" album.
Other than those, like Watto said almost every Power Metal act would have several examples.

[Ravendark]

Bah just do Dio's album Magica, nice big dumb story in it for ya.

[Robotman]

Originally Posted by metal evilution

The three FALCONER albums are a connected story that's very well done.

Can this be changed to:
The three FALCONER albums are a connected story

[metal evilution]

Originally Posted by Robotman

Can this be changed to:
The three FALCONER albums are a connected story

Not a fan eh?

[Robotman]

Originally Posted by metal evilution

Not a fan eh?

Self-titled (2001)- great album.
Chapters (2002) - some great songs (emphasis on some)
Sceptre (2003)- two great songs
Grime vs Grandeur (2005) - f'ing 'orrible
Northwind (2006) - I sense a pattern here.... hah-hah..

THat said - I beleive Mattias Blad sung on the new album so in that respect I'd be very keen to hear it.
Their albums generally get favourable reviews but there was life in the debut but that progressively got sucked out.

[Keeper of the Seven Cheese]

Don't analyse the musical techniques, whatever you do. They don't want to heat about that. Analyse the text with literary techniques. That's what they want to see. Show them you are an enthusiastic English student.

[TheDenimRager]

Originally Posted by DougieHammett

Don't analyse the musical techniques, whatever you do. They don't want to heat about that. Analyse the text with literary techniques. That's what they want to see. Show them you are an enthusiastic English student.

I did The Journey for my (2&3&4U ) HSC in 2004 and I've got a fair bit to say on this matter.

Doug's entirely right, but I wanna expand on it.

The gist of this most HSC students would know, but I'll go over it for clarity's sake:
The theory that the BOS adheres to now is that students should study texts, which are inherantly meaningless containers of ideas and themes and that meaning is generated through the actual process of reading and active interpretation. Because of this really wide definition, they've allowed the word "text" to incorporate a shitload of non-traditional study material such as visual media (paintings, etc), comics and cartoons, films, audio readings, websites (to some degree), "cybertexts", et cetera. However, where their theory really falls down is that its so unbelievably tolerant that it becomes ridiculous at some point how much is included under the definition. I know a guy who included a pot plant as an item of additional material for a school assessment. I shit you not - they couldn't do anything about him because whoever objected to it, he could out-argue them based on the BOS's own definition of a text.

Anyway, the point is that because of these faults in their approach to texts, their entire system basically falls down. One of the big points of contention ever since they introduced this curriculum approach was music and its lyrics.

I was a huge, HUGE fucking English nerd in years 11-12 - I did a fuckload of research into even the curriculum itself, and I ended up reading all these Department documents about the drafting of the curriculum, etc etc, I even ended up getting copies of the NSW English Teachers' Association's monthly magazine so I could get my head around it all.

Based upon all this nerdy shit I did , I could not recommend more emphatically against using song lyrics in any English work whatsoever. Basically, the approach that the Board (and, more importantly, their HSC markers) use when it comes to songs and lyrics are that all the questions you've just posed and then some (should I analyse the music, is a song a text unto itself or should I/can I include other songs, is a concept album a text unto itself or should it be broken down into individual songs, are the lyrics and the music of a song individual texts or are they an indivisible part of one text, etc - basically, a fuckload of annoying semantic questions) are all far too difficult and fiddly to deal with, and so, as a result, music/songs/lyrics are a no-go zone in terms of calling them texts.

This seems very strange when you consider that you're allowed to take a painting and use art analysis techniques to extract meaning from it (for example, a person in a painting who is shrouded in shadow is mysterious or dark or evil) but yet you're not allowed to take a piece of music and use music analysis techniques to extract meaning from it. Unfortunately, thats how it is, because of the way the curriculum has been put together.

I know more than a few people who got *savaged* for using lyrics as texts. One more unfortunate thing is that there's never (to my knowledge) been a decent explanation of the curriculum provided to teachers by the Board. I couldn't really get my head around it until I read some of the articles in that Association newsletter I mentioned - they do a great job of clarifying the huge fucking mess of an explanation that the BOS gave to teachers (and which got passed on to students). Because of this, most teachers aren't aware that using lyrics can be very very risky.

The other thing that I would mention is that song lyrics are often REALLY insanely hard to actually interpret. The entire way that a lot of modern lyrics were written isn't meant to be studied with existentialist readings or Marxist interpretations or whatever - try explaining how themes and ideas justify a feminist reading of Heading Out to the Highway by Judas Priest .

Now, I know there's plenty of exceptions and plenty of lyrics with more than enough meat to study for a HSC exam - Theatre of Tragedy and Opeth come to mind - if you really wanna use song lyrics, first try your best to find something to substitute (there's some poems out there by the likes of Eliot, Byron, Owen, Pound, etc that are absolutely gold additional material) but if you absolutely can't find anything to substitute, use the lyrics but don't call them lyrics. Its not the lyrics to the song The Amen Corner by Opeth, its a poem entitled "Ye Amen Corner" by the cult Swedish street-poet M. Akerfeldt .

I'd be happy to help out finding additional material if you need a hand. Just make sure to keep an open mind and don't forget that you could do poems (Coleridge and Wordsworth are always great for imag journeys), paintings (surrealists like Dali, Ernst, Magritte), comics, plays, biographies, I might even be able to put you onto some cybertexts, that might impress the teachers

[pipsqeek]

NERD!

[Nebulous]

Respect for that post haha. You know it's all pretty screwed up when the teachers need their own publication to explain the curriculum.

[demented_broomstick]

Originally Posted by sykosami

Hmm, I wonder if I do a song, if I would have to talk about the music in the techniques? Say, I would talk about how the music emphasised the themes in the lyrics. Or would you just talk about the imagery and rhythm within the lyrics themselves?

Yeah I would definatly talk about both. Especially with the easterny song you can talk about how the lyrics coupled with the scales used (i thinks is a phyrigian or something? I have a friend who knew the name and told me) give it that exotic feel, especially with the lyrics being so physical you get that kind of journey feel.

Maybe mention something about the instrumental at the middle, the tempo changes, basically pick apart every peice of the song and give it some meaning. Maybe even mention the cover art of the album. The odd time signatures giving a kind of "uneasy" feel or something, giving it that kind of uncomfortable feeling like one might get when they are angry and in a weird place. The constant flux it time signatures making you feel like you are moving about in the song, there is no time to get comfortable, you are out of your comfort zone - your journey is hectic and erratic.

I can't remember exactly but as far as I can remember there is kind of that heavy riffage at the beginning and end, and there is that kind of hectic bit in the middle and maybe, if the solo from the middle extends back into the end riffage you could say that is some metaphor that the hectic journey bit in the middle has effected that simple riffage, and so the person is changed somehow.

haha I wish I was at home with the cd so I could listen to it and remember.