Comparative Analysis

Sadness envelops people every day. When we feel depressed, we often feel like we have nobody to turn to when really, we are never alone. There will always be somebody out there willing to help you; you just need to find them. “Dream Run,” by Parkway Drive and “Not Alone” by Before Their Eyes polarize the darkness of life with the fact that you’ve gotta go and face it today, because you are never alone.

Each song has narrative influences where they tell stories of hardships and struggles. Parkway Drive sings “Dear girl, there is a world that stands between us and them/See this was never about giving up, just giving in.” The subject of the song has to fight against the whole (metaphorical) world to get to where she needs to be. When they speak of giving in, they are talking about how some people just succumb to the pressures around them for they do not have the strength to fight back. Similarly, Before Their Eyes says “Reality stung, the whiskey bottle was dry/ Daddy would scream,/ Cause he is diseased and haunted all the time,/ Big girls don't cry” The girl who is the subject here has a father who we presume is an alcoholic. She does not cry though and takes it. When they say that reality stung, this is personifying the idea of reality to be something that can hurt you, as opposed to an imagined happy time. The darker side of both songs is how people who face sadness often do not know where to go, and as said in “Dream Run”, “you only live once/ But you spend your whole life dying.” They are comparing how some do not take control of their lives and just waste them on sadness.

 Another, opposite idea, featured in these songs is that people must make that move to better their own lives, no matter how bad things appear. The tones of both songs imply that you need to live your life and face the hardships, and to not give in. In “Not Alone,” the singer says that “You’ve gotta stop running away…you’ve gotta break through, /make it on your own.” This uplifting and supportive tone and words let the subject know that they need to keep pushing forward and making the best of your life. In “Dream Run” it says “You're not alone/ You only live once/ So when it comes crashing, know you're not alone” Parkway Drive also uses this idea that you are not alone when bad things happen, but you need to take charge of them because you only have one life. Dream Run and Not Alone both talk about how you need to get over your struggles and fears and live your life, and how if you do that, there will always be somebody willing to help.

                The two songs both show how you are never alone in your struggles unless you choose to be.  They have parts that are in a narrative-like form to tell of problems that people face, and say that you need to fight back instead of giving in. Dream Run takes a slightly darker and less optimistic approach, however, where Not Alone is more positive. For each parallel in the songs there is also a difference, for they are not the same song. Not Alone has a much softer approach than Dream Run, yet they still manage to portray the same general idea.

Desolation Row

   

        I figured I would analyze a Bob Dylan song. Problem was, my theme-genre of Defying Authority in Pop Punk and Post Hardcore doesn't really include his style. Luckily, I remembered the Bob Dylan Tribute Album: Chimes of Freedom. It just so happened that one of the seventy-something covers fit my themed genre. So, although this cover is a shortened version of the song, it's an interesting one to analyze, and could be looked at from many perspectives. 
Lyrics: Desolation Row (My Chemical Romance) Originally by Bob Dylan

They're selling postcards of the hanging
Where they're painting the passports brown
Yeah, the beauty parlor's filled with sailors
The circus is in town

Oh now but here comes the blind commissioner
Well, they got him in a trance
One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker
The other's in his pants

And the riot squad, they're restless
They need somewhere to go
As Lady and I look out tonight
From Desolation Row

Cinderella, she seems so easy
"Well, it takes one to know one," she smiles
And she puts her hands in her back pockets
Bette Davis style

Now but in comes Romeo moaning
"You belong to me I believe"
And someone says, "You're in the wrong place, my friend
You better leave"

And then only sound that's left
After the ambulances go
Is Cinderella sweeping up
On Desolation Row

Now at midnight all the agents
And super-human crew
Go out and round up everyone
That knows more than they do

They gonna bring 'em to the factory
Where the heart-attack machine
Is strapped across their shoulders
And then the kerosene!

Is brought down from the castles
By insurance men who go
Check to see that no one is escaping
To Desolation Row

'Cause right now I can't read too good
Don't send me no letters, no
Not unless you gotta mail them
From Desolation Row
         Adopting a very different style for the delivery of Desolation Row, and shifting from first to second person viewpoints, My Chemical Romance utilizes a constant narrative, pessimistic tone, and meaningful allusion to display how they fought the law, but the law won. 
       The song is in a narrative form, like a story, so one gets the idea of what is happening chronologically. It is in the first person point of view, and they are describing the characters in the song's fight against those opposing them. "Go out and round up everyone/that knows more than they do/They gonna bring em to the factory,"  sings Gerard in the covered version. They are telling a story, and the story they tell shows the listener the struggle that the subjects of the song are facing.  This format is constant throughout, until the end where he switches to second person and says "don't send me no letters," so it becomes his story rather than simply one he was telling about anyone. This aids in conveying that universal idea of trying to fight the law. 
       The tone is pessimistic, for the speaker seems to have lost all hope. He sings, "and then only sound that's left/After the ambulances go/is Cinderella sweeping up/on Desolation Row," nothing else was left. He is saying so much wrongdoing occurs there that by the time everything is cleared up there is nobody there anymore. "And the riot squad, they're restless/they need somewhere to go," his tone is not cheerful, but wary and unoptimistic. He sees no way out from what is happening. Thus, the tone helps in displaying that idea of defying their authorities and failing, because they do not have that optimism any longer.
       Allusion plays a key role in this song as well. The singer speaks of Romeo, Cinderella, and a Blind Commissioner. Romeo was someone who went against his parents wishes and secretly married his lover. His spiteful act of defiance cost him his life, so this allusion might be hinting at how it is not always worth it to "stick it to the man". However, Cinderella, also alluded to in the song, went against her stepmother and ended up living a happy life. She did pay the price of losing her shoe though, and risked never meeting her true love again. The Blind Commissioner mentioned could be someone turning a blind eye to wrong deeds, and has an evil nature. This person would be abusing his power as well as the system, and with this opposition that is rigged, the subjects of the song are bound to lose. 
       Desolation Row is a great song with many different meanings and interpretations. There are multiple devices heavily present throughout the song, yet allusion, tone, and narrative most clearly displayed the universal idea of defiance to opposition, and then failure. The idea behind the song could also be something more surreal, and how evil reigns over all that humans do, with our nature to disobey and fight.