Song Comparisons Essay, Research Paper

People find their inspiration from their elders. I find this to be true in many cases. When celebrities accept an award, they thank their mom, dad or mentors. What is it about our parents that inspire us to dedicate songs, books, or poetry to them? Is it because of the way that they raise us? Is it the morals that they have instilled in to our minds? Or is it the simple “mother- daughter” or “father-son” discussion that we remember that make us better people when we become older? They are all aspects in considering the impact our parents have in our lives.

The song “I Turn to You”, written by Diane Warren and sung by Christina Aguilera, is a powerful song expressing trust and faith in a person. The first few times I heard this song, I thought that it was about a man. Almost every song is about like for the opposite sex and how one is falling for the other. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago I heard a disk jockey say that this song is about a mother. When I saw the video on Mtv, I saw that it was true. Once we analyze the song and they tone in which she sings it in, we may see the exact message and feelings Christina Aguilera is trying to portray.

The first verse is as follows – “When I’m lost in the rain, in your eyes I know, I’ll find the light to light my may, and when I’m scared, losing ground, when my world is going crazy, you can turn it all around and when I’m down you’re there, pushing me to the top, you’ll always be there, giving me all you’ve got.” These are such powerful words which I find to be extremely inspiring. If you see it in the view of a “mother-daughter”relationship, you may see that the daughter has complete faith in her mother. She knows that when something wrong is going on in her life, her mother will be there surely enough to help her through the hard times.

The chorus is just as powerful in words. “For a shield, from the storm, for a friend, for a love to keep me safe and warm, I turn to you. For the strength, to be strong. For the will to carry on. For everything you do, for everything that’s true, I turn to you.” Christina Aguilera is saying that for all the pure things that there are in life, like friendship, love, strength and will, she turns to her mother because he mother has all these qualities. I love the chorus of this song because it relates me to my mother. There are so many corrupt things in the world, such as lying, murder, cheaters, that there must be something (or someone), that you know that you can turn to anytime and they will be your “lifeguard.” They are there when you just need them and they are always there, all of the time.

The next verse is as follows – “When I lose the will to win, I just reach for you. And I can reach the sky again. I can do anything ’cause you love is so amazing, ’cause you love inspires me. And when I need a friend, you’re always on my side, giving me faith, taking me through the night.” This, once again is a perfect description of a mother. She is perfect in every way. She is there fir you in anyway at anytime. When Christina Aguilera sings this part, you can tell that she put everything in to this part. You can hear that it is coming from the heart, that it is real and that she is really feeling it (the love). In this verse, Christina Aguilera says that she appreciates her mother. Her mother’s “love is so amazing.”

The chorus is sung again and then there is another verse, “For the arms to be my shelter, through all the rain, for the truth that will never change, for someone to lean on, for a heart that I can rely on through anything, for the one who I can run to….” This verse is so short, but it summarizes the whole meaning of the song. This part is sung the loudest, implying the most feeling. For whatever is going on in her life, she has that person (her mother) to turn to.

The poem that I chose is entitled, “My Mother on an Evening in Late Summer.” This poem is very deep and has many shaded meanings. The poem is broken up in to three parts. The first part is as follows. “When the moon appears and a few wind-stricken barns stand out in the low-domed hills and shine with a light that is veiled and dust-filled and that floats upon the fields, my mother, with her hair in a bun, her face in shadow, and the smoke from their cigarette coiling close to the faint yellow sheen of her dress, stands hear the house and watches the seepage of late light down through the sedges the last gray islands of cloud taken from view, and the wind ruffling the moon’s ash-colored coat on the black bay.” This is one sentence and the poet, Mark Strand creates the setting. he thinks highly of his mother so he makes everything seem to be dark and distant compared to his mother who is a beautiful person. The mother sees all the things changing around her, like the way her children would grow as she would relatively stay the same.

The next verse says, “Soon the house, with its shades drawn closed, will send small carpets of lamp glow into the haze and the bay will begin its loud heaving and the pines, frayed finials climbing the hill, will seem to graze the dim cinders of heaven. And my mother will stare into the star lanes,the endless tunnels of nothing, and as she gazes, under the hour’s spell,she will think how we yield each night to the soundless storms of decay that tear at the folding flesh, and she will not know why she is here or what she is prisoner of if not the conditions of love that brought her to this.” Here, the narrator say that he knows that his mother has endured a lot of hardship being a mother. There were many sacrifices that she had to go through. I think this one quote make the whole poem make sense, “she will think how we yield each night to the soundless storms of decay that tear at the folding flesh, and she will not know why she is here or what she is prisoner of if not the conditions of love that brought her to this.” Here this shows that the mother is thinking about what she went through and that the hardships that she had to endeavor were well worth it once and individual considers love.

The last verse is as follows, “My mother will go indoors and the fields, the bare stones will drift in peace, small creatures — the mouse and the swift — will sleep at opposite ends of the house. Only the cricket will be up, repeating its one shrill note to the rotten boards of the porch, to the rusted screens, to the air, to the rimless dark, to the sea that keeps to itself. Why should my mother awake? The earth is not yet a garden about to be turned. The stars are not yet bells that ring at night for the lost. It is much too late.” Here the narrator is saying that everything goes on the same when his mother is around. He then says, “Why should my mother awake?”, meaning why should things be any different?. When he talks about the earth’s garden being turned, he means that when the earth does need to be turned, then things will be different.

The recurring theme found in both pieces of literature is, in a world of variables, their mother’s were always the constants. The mothers were there for them when things changed for the better or worse. The mothers knew the important role that they play in their children’s lives and this is very important. It’s important because children don’t tell their parents enough that they love them or that they play an important role in their life.

When finalized that “I Turn to You” was going to be used for this final project, I know that there were many routes that I could have gone down. The song can be related to a close friendship, bond or relationship between any two people. I chose the “mother-daughter” relationship because of the video and because I can relate to this with my mother. Then I selected “My Mother on an Evening in Late Summer.” I found myself relating to this with my mother because she never changed. She is the same way that I remember her for as long as I could. Mothers are just those special people you can’t trade in for anything. They are great and that is why they get so many pieces of literature dedicated to them.