Outline

According to yourdictionary.com, a song is defined as “a relatively short metrical composition for singing as a ballad or simple lyrics.” My definition of a song is lyrics set to music that have some sort of story or meaning behind it, be it from the singer, song writer, or some random person. A song is a text because through its style and tone, the meaning behind it, and the reason it’s written any one person can get an idea from it and interpret it anyway they want. In Carrie Underwood’s, “Jesus, Take The Wheel, the slow tempo and meaning of the song leads listeners to have many different ideas.
· Songs come in many different styles and tones, which can influence they way a person listens to it.
o Uptempo
§ People dance or maybe exercise
o Slow/ Romantic
§ Gets couples in the mood or makes people sad
o Soothing/Relaxing (just a particular sound)
§ helps people sleep or exercise on a different level, like yoga
· Songs have some story or meaning behind them. They’re composed for a reason.
o Romance
§ Bad relationship, crush, fell in love
o Depression
§ hate someone, hate life, suicidal, personal problems
o Trauma/ Life event
§ One of the writers of Jesus, Take the Wheel says,
“‘They came over and we just started throwing out ideas,’ she described. ‘Gordie said he had a title that he had been living with a little bit and it was 'When Jesus Takes the Wheel.' He told us about a friend of his who was in a car wreck and had been thinking that when the wreck happened. We started talking about it and the song just came out.’“(Newsome)
· Content/ Historical Context
o Lyrics
§ “Jesus, Take The Wheel” is about a single mom and her baby traveling to her parents house for the winter holidays. While driving recklessly, she was thinking about everything that had happened over the year. She starts to swerve and stops along the shoulder. She then calls on Jesus to help her with her problems.” (Gracenote)
o Religion
§ The use of Jesus is essential for this song because He is known to be called on when someone has a problem. He is the One that will always be there no matter what.
After examining how songs can be seen as text, the definition I have come up with is anything visible that has the ability to make any one person think about its content or get an idea from it. A composition is the factors that come together and link everything into a text, or link multiple texts into a bigger text.