Hindu Aims 2 and 4

Liberation

1. Tracy Chapman "Fast Car", folk, 1988

2. Old Crow Medicine Show "Wagon Wheel", bluegrass, 2004

3. The National, "Baby We'll Be Fine", post-punk, 2005

4. Bob Dylan, "Beyond Here Lies Nothing" , folk, 2009

5. Queen, "I Want to Break Free", rock, 1984

Tracy Chapman starts the list because she talks about liberation from the life she was born into.  She clearly discusses the hardships she goes through on a daily basis and in the end, allows the fast car of her unlikeable boyfriend to take him away and let her live her life.  "Wagon Wheel" is a fun song about heading down the east coast and doing what he wants as he is put in various situations.  The National's song is about a couple finding happiness in life and just freeing themselves from the worries of the world around them.  Bob Dylan's song is also about him finding happiness with a woman and finding peace and liberation.  Queen's song is obvious about becoming free of a person and their lies; liberation from a relationship!

Success

1. The Clash "Death or Glory", punk, 1979

2. Animal Collective, "My Girls", experimental rock, 2009

3. The National, "All the Wine", post-punk, 2004

4. Dirty Projectors, "Stillness is the Move", experimental rock, 2009

5. Notorious B.I.G., "Big Poppa", hip-hop, 1995

Animal Collective "My Girls"

The Clash sings about glory in a revolution.  Animal Collective discusses success in life and it's represented by living in a plain house with wives and children.  The National sings about making it big and having "all the wine" and being amazing.  The Dirty Projectors also sing about success in life and everything working out in the end.  Notorious B.I.G. lists the fancy thing and notes living "In mansion and Benz's givin' ends to my friends and feeling stupendous".

Discussion

Attempting to think of songs pertaining to liberation and success seemed to be equally as difficult for me.  I honestly think that certain genres tend focus on a particular type of theme and it was difficult trying to find songs in a variety of genres.  For example, I think a lot of hip-hop and rap artists like to discuss success because for a lot of them, it is the opportunity to talk about changes in live and how they were able to overcome certain obstacles. Songs of liberation are composed by many folk artists because a lot of them have either had hardships or been a witness to struggle in areas around them.  The songs of liberation could refer to personally freeing oneself from a difficult situation or the actual liberation of a group of people from a country or overbearing power.  Either way, I think general concepts of liberation and success all depend on the person discussing them.  Particular events in life will ultimately lead a person to sing about certain themes.

If you were to take a look at Animal Collective’s “My Girls”, I think it really does coincide with the Hindu idea of success (well, one of the ideas).  Success of supporting a household and completing civic duties is clearly described in the song and is one of the Hindu prongs.  The Hindu concepts also explain that individual success is only temporary and should not be the focus of life.  I think that Biggie’s “Big Poppa” is the type of song that describes wealth, fame, and power and is not generally accepted into Hindu life.  Liberation in Hindu terms discusses “infinite being, infinite awareness, and infinite joy” which is the goal of all humans.  The American idea of liberation is somewhat similar to this Hindu concept, but isn’t as simply stated most of the time.  The liberation of a particular thing or event is what is discussed in song (example: “Fast Car”).

Overall, success is more prevalent in our American culture.  Everyone strives to be successful, primarily for money reasons.  People want to get what they want which is typically material type objects.  Most people will try to be successful by any means possible which could be damaging to others as a result.  Restating what I said in my previous post, Americans are selfish.  Liberation from hardships is a good thing, but focusing on happiness and success in the end dominates most American lives.