Job Discussion Forums

[johnslat]

I get a kick out of using Springsteen's "Born in the USA" as a listening exercise. Every time I've played the song and then asked students to tell me what they think the song's "message" is, its "tone," I always get answers such as:

proud, patriot, loves country

which, of course, is totally misconstruing what's actually being sung:

"Born down in a dead man's town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that's been beat too much
'Til you spend half your life just covering up

[chorus:]
Born in the U.S.A. Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A. Born in the U.S.A.

I got in a little hometown jam
And so they put a rifle in my hands
Sent me off to Vietnam
To go and kill the yellow man

[chorus]

Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man says "Son if it was up to me"
I go down to see the V.A. man
He said "Son don't you understand"

[chorus]

I had a buddy at Khe Sahn
Fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone
He had a little girl in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms

Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years down the road
Nowhere to run, ain't got nowhere to go

I'm a long gone Daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
I'm a cool rocking Daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.

This song is about the plight of countless Vietnam Veterans as they struggle to adjust to civilian life while coping with the psychological and physical after-effects of war. Listeners, who focus their attention primarily on the title and chorus of the song, very often misinterpret it's meaning. Springsteen addresses this very issue in his 1998 book Songs, "In order to understand the song's intent, you needed to invest a certain amount of time and effort to absorb both the music and the words. But that's not the way a lot of people use pop music.�

They hear, but they don't really listen. The title, the chorus, and the stirring lilt of the music make most think it's some kind of anthem of praise when, in fact, it's just the opposite.

I LOVE handing out the lyrics after they give me their ideas about the song.

Regards,
John

[Sashadroogie]

Isn't that 'hearing' but not 'listening', from the subject line, or have I missed some point or other?

[johnslat]

Dear Sasha,

Well, what I think is that they listen to the song (i.e. the music and the chorus,) but they don't really hear the message

However, I suppose it could go your way, as well.

Regards,
John

[spiral78]

It's all about the rhythm

[Sashadroogie]

Dear Johnslat

Ah OK, now I get you. Good explication.

S

[Guy Courchesne]

[Glenski]

Not really a listening/hearing exercise to me. I never knew the lyrics until just now myself and assumed it was a patriotic song, too. There are plenty of songs (in any language where this is the case.

If they aren't up to reading (or having learned) the lyrics, about all they are going to "get" is the chorus.

[johnslat]

Dear Glenski,

Sorry you disagree. However, I think it's a good way of getting students to recognize a couple of things:

1. that they can listen to something again and again (and most of my students were very familiar with the song) and yet not really hear the message.

2. that they can be misled by title and tone - the music, by itself, seems (to me, anyway) to convey a very different response than the lyrics do.

"In order to understand the song's intent, you needed to invest a certain amount of time and effort to absorb both the music and the words."

I think it's worthwhile getting students to realize that really listening needs to be active rather than passive.

And I know that quite a few students have been very surprised when they learned how wrong they'd been.
Regards,
John

P.S. I never thought it was a "patriotic song," but then, I listened to the lyrics.

[Zero]