Analysis Of Lyrics

The Streets - Dry Your Eyes

We have selected this track which is from an album called 'A Grand Don't Come For Free'. This whole album involves a narrative; it tells a story about a relationship slowly breaking down. The first track shows him having a very bad day where nothing is going to plan. He then comes home and finds one thousand pounds which he had saved up has gone missing. The next few songs begin the story where he starts seeing a girl and is about to go meet up with her and one of his friends. The fourth track is called, 'blinded by the lights', where he was suppose to meet his girlfriend and his mate but has been stood up. As he sat there drinking by himself taking cocaine and ecstacy he catches her cheating on him with his friend. However, he just thought he was seeing things because of the drugs. The next few songs portrays him still with her, but slowly they fall into an argument and she breaks up with him. He then decides to go on a holiday filled with heavy night drinking and trying to impress other girls, but comes back regreting what he just did as he realises he still wants to be with simone. There is then a track called; 'What Is He Thinking?', where he realises it was that friend who had been stealing his money.

Then came along, 'Dry Your Eyes'.
This track involves the guy trying to cope with the break up. He is depressed and can't stop thinking about her.
In one single moment your whole life can turn 'round
I stand there for a minute starin’ straight into the ground
Lookin’ to the left slightly, then lookin’ back down
World feels like it’s caved in – proper sorry frown
Please let me show you where we could only just be, for us
I can change and I can grow or we could adjust
The wicked thing about us is we always have trust
We can even have an open relationship, if you must
I look at her she stares almost straight back at me
But her eyes glaze over like she’s lookin’ straight through me
Then her eyes must have closed for what seems an eternity
When they open up she’s lookin’ down at her feet
In the first verse it is almost as if he is trying to get her back still. At the same time it is describing how he is feeling without his girlfriends presence.
Dry your eyes mate
I know it’s hard to take but her mind has been made up
There’s plenty more fish in the sea
Dry your eyes mate
I know you want to make her see how much this pain hurts
But you’ve got to walk away now
It’s over

In the chorus, he is telling himself that she has made up her mind and doesn't want to get back together. So now he has to move on and should try to find someone else.  

So then I move my hand up from down by my side
It's shakin’, my life is crashin’ before my eyes
Turn the palm of my hand up to face the skies
Touch the bottom of her chin and let out a sigh
‘Cause I can’t imagine my life without you and me
There’s things I can’t imagine doin’, things I can’t imagine seein’
It weren't supposed to be easy, surely
Please, please, I beg you please
She brings her hands up towards where my hands rested
She wraps her fingers round mine with the softness she’s blessed with
She peels away my fingers, looks at me and then gestures
By pushin’ my hand away to my chest, from hers
Again, he is trying to get her back but she continues to push away.This verse shows the desperation as he cannot cope not being able to see a life or future without her.

Dry your eyes mate
I know it’s hard to take but her mind has been made up
There’s plenty more fish in the sea
Dry your eyes mate
I know you want to make her see how much this pain hurts
But you’ve got to walk away now
It’s over

And I’m just standin’ there, I can’t say a word
‘Cause everythin’s just gone
I’ve got nothin’
Absolutely nothin’

These four lines show how he believes that because he has lost her, he has now lost everything!

Tryin’ to pull her close out of bare desperation
Put my arms around her tryin’ to change what she’s sayin’
Pull my head level with hers so she might engage in
Look into her eyes to make her listen again
I’m not gonna fuckin’, just fuckin’ leave it all now
‘Cause you said it'd be forever and that was your vow
And you’re gonna let our things simply crash and fall down
You’re well out of order now, this is well out of town
She pulls away, my arms are tightly clamped round her waist
Gently pushes me back and she looks at me straight
Turns around so she’s now got her back to my face
Takes one step forward, looks back, and then walks away
This one was very heartbreaking verse. He brings her close once again yet she still pushes him away from her. This time as she walks away, she turns and looks back at him for one last time and then just 'walks away' as it mentions in the lyrics. This verse is the one to assure him it is definetely over.

Dry your eyes mate
I know it’s hard to take but her mind has been made up
There’s plenty more fish in the sea
Dry your eyes mate
I know you want to make her see how much this pain hurts
But you’ve got to walk away now
It’s over

I know in the past I’ve found it hard to say
Tellin’ you things, but not tellin’ straight
But the more I pull on your hand and say
The more you pull away

Dry your eyes mate
I know it’s hard to take but her mind has been made up
There’s plenty more fish in the sea
Dry your eyes mate
I know you want to make her see how much this pain hurts
But you’ve got to walk away now.

The final track is called, 'Empty Cans' where it actually shows that they are beginning to try and sort things out.

Editing

There are so many programs available for editing videos such as; Windows Movie Maker, Magix or even final cut pro.
The program we have selected to use for our video is 'final cut pro'. It is fairly simple once you get use to the process of working with it. There are so many different functions you can fiddle around with, producing alot of effective features on your video.

Editing our music video will include cutting and pasting the shots into the correct order for the narrative to make sense. 
I think the most difficult part whilst editing will be the flashbacks, as these scenes will be  different from the rest of the scenes in the video. For example; making it look like a black and white vision - this makes it stand out as it is in the past therefore must be clearly differentiated from the present scenes. This makes the narrative and message of our music video more clear. 

Costumes

In music videos for the grime/garage genre the artists would normally be wearing casual outfits. Whether it is the hip-hop style; like outfits coming from the urban background or even the indies style, it is very rarely too glamorous or formal. For example; the track our group has selected is by an artist called, 'The Streets'. Here are a few examples of the style of outfits he wears;

Moodboard

Album Covers

Album covers normally reflect upon the style and genre of the artist or band.

Alecia Beth Moore is an American musician/song-writer who is well-known as 'PINK'. She falls into the genre of pop, rock & dance, but her main genre is rock. On this specific cover for the album 'Funhouse' we can see that her appearance has a touch of the pop rock flavour. Her hairstyle is short and funky; this is a typical style within this genre, aswell as her tatoo's. Also the fact that her mouth is wide open as if she ready to scream and shout, shows how rock music is very loud. Aswell as appearance reflecting on genre, the way she is positioned reflects on the title of the album - 'Funhouse'. It shows a female adult sat on her toy horse with one arm and one leg up in the air. This clearly shows she's having fun and is enjoying herself, not caring how she looks towards the public. This gives a rather rebellious vibe coming from the artist, which again shoots out the rock style.

Jennifer Lopez on the other hand is more within the R&B genre aswell as pop. R&B has a rather Urban flavour to it's style. On her album cover for 'J-Lo' we are given a more calm but serious attitude looking at her facial exspression. This gives the vibe that it is 'all eyes on her' no attention should go elsewhere. Also the jewellery she is wearing is more glamorous rahter than funky. Finally her collar being up gives a touch of the hip-hop flavour as this genre normally falls into the R&B category.

Auteur Theory

                                                    Music director: Dave Meyers

Dave meyers is an American music director, born and raised in Berkely, California, who has directed over 200 music videos. A few well-known examples of these would be;

• Britney Spears - Lucky
• Pink - Stupid girls
           - So what
           - Get the party started
• Missy Elliot - Work it
• Brandy - Talk about love
• Jay-z - Dirt off your shoulder
  
  (etc.)
  
  Here is one example of how he has worked on a music video;

This video has more of a performance and a slight touch of narrative. It has also been choreographed with some dancing. Through most of it there is a natural setting and only parts of it are done in a studio setting. It is outdoors,bright and full of life which sort of reflects on the lyrics of the track. The song is talking about someone who has gone past their painful experience, has had enough and is now at ease. e.g. a line from the track says, 'Cause I live my life to the limit and I love it, Now I could breathe again, baby, now I could breath again'. Another main point would be that the style of dressing and dancing blends in with the genre. 
As there are many other 'extras' in this video, there were a few close-up shots of the main artists,which obviously made them stand out. A slight bit of slow motion was used to flow with the rythm of the track.

Dave Meyers created history with Missy Elliot by creating the first ever 3Dmusic video; for the track 'Ching-a-Ling'.

A few examples of the types of awards he has won for his videos;

• Pink - Get the party started, won best female and best dance at MTV video music awards 2002.
• Missy Elliot - Work it, won 2003 MTV video music award for best video of the year.
• Pink - Stupid girls, won best pop in 2006.
  
  & so many more..