The other day I began to realize how prevalent archetypes and elements of the hero’s journey are in nearly every aspect of life, including most of the music to which we listen. When contemplating what to write this blog on, I realized that the very songs I was listening to are filled with archetypes and elements of the hero’s journey.
The two songs I have selected to analyze are both well known and had reached the top of the music industry charts about forty five years apart. The first is Bad Romance by Lady Gaga and the second Yesterday by The Beatles. The two songs are contrary although they both deal with the same and most powerful topic of love. Bad Romance is very upbeat, fast and demanding for a lover, while Yesterday is much slower with a soft almost melancholy melody. The singer Paul McCartney is reminiscing over a lost lover.
The melodies and lyrics to the two songs can be found at the following websites:
Yesterday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNnaxGFO18o
Bad Romance-
The topic of the song is that Lady Gaga is in search for the perfect man to love. She is willing to sacrifice anything, including her life, in order to be loved profusely by a certain man who is portrayed as devil like. Lady Gaga is embarking on an archetypal journey throughout the song as she is on a frantic search for the perfect lover, who in her eyes will ensure a “bad romance”. The song Bad Romance does not encompass the stages of a hero’s journey; however, it does include some characteristics of the hero’s journey. Lady Gaga is slightly monstrous in regards to her mad desire for love throughout the song and yearns for a perfect lover to restore her happiness. The man she is infatuated with is also monstrous, although she views him as perfect. Subsequently, on her journey to find love she encounters a monstrous man. As Lady Gaga pines for love her loyal band companions assist her by playing a very upbeat pop tune. The entire song is a stirring speech towards the man she loves. In the speech she communicates her incredible love to him and just how desperate she is to be with him in a “bad romance”. The man Lady Gaga is insanely in love with is a male tempter, as he is characterized by sensational handsomeness. He has driven Lady Gaga into madness which has resulted in her becoming overwhelmed with desperation. Throughout the song the male tempter is slowly leading Gaga to her down fall and he can be interpreted as a devil figure that controls Lady Gaga’s soul. As the song ends Lady Gaga begins to realize that she is only fantasizing and will never have her much wanted “bad romance”.
Yesterday –
The topic of the song is simple: that we must cherish want we have in the present as happiness is not ever lasting. The singer Paul McCartney is reminiscing about how fortunate he was yesterday and how he now “longs for yesterday” and its happiness. Paul McCartney is embarking on an archetypal journey as he yearns for yesterday. He on a quest to restore the love and joy he previously had, this is demonstrated through the lyrics and melancholy tune. Unlike Bad Romance, Yesterday does incorporate a stage of the hero’s journey. The initiation of the song occurs when his love is lost for a reason unbeknownst to him. Paul McCartney enters a new world, a world filled with pining for love and regret. The characteristics of the Hero’s Journey in Yesterday are abundant. The singer yearns for a beautiful woman who made him happy, in the song it is either his deceased mother or a girlfriend who he is no longer with. Paul McCartney is struggling to regain joy and climb out from the depths of misery his band of companions accompany him by playing a melancholy tune. As the song ends Paul McCartney announces that he needs a “place to hide away for I believe in yesterday” he comes to a decision that he will remain solitary in his misery and continues to reminisce about the pleasures of yesterday.
Interestingly the melody of the song “Yesterday” came to Paul McCartney in a dream. As he didn’t have lyrics, just the melancholy feeling to the song, he wrote the lyrics using a story that we all know, one of lost love, filled with heroic archetypes. Although Lady Gaga’s song deals with the same topic she composed a strange, twisted and insane love story. Typical for her, she made deliberate efforts to be different. She did not follow the hero’s journey but did manage to incorporate heroic archetypes. Yesterday and Bad Romance are just two songs I happened to hear today. Subsequently, upon closer listening to other songs I was surprised to learn how prevalent archetypes and elements of the Hero’s Journey are in our everyday music.
Have you discovered any archetypes in aspects of life that surprised you?
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