2. Interpreting Pop Lyrics

Choose – Listen -Read!

Quite often, fine poetry is set to music and becomes a hit pop song. And it certainly doesn‘t hurt if
the tune is catchy, too!

Choose one of the following pop songs. They represent very different types of songs, but all have a
strong story line.

  • Fernando by ABBA
  • She‘s Leaving Home by The Beatles
  • Living Next Door to Alice by Smokie
  • Cat‘s in the Cradle by Harry Chapin
  • Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen

You will find the texts of the songs in the attatchment.
Find the song, for example on YouTube, and listen well to it a time or two, while reading the lyrics.

Preliminary Tasks

  1. Whose point of view is represented in the song text?
  2. What can you figure out about the person whose voice we hear?
  3. What do you think is the background of the song text? What has happened before that which
    is described there?
  4. What do you think happens as a result of what is described in the song text?
  5. What phrases in the song text that you chose do you find particularly gripping?
  6. What pictures do they call up in your mind?

Main Task

  • Retell the story in the present tense EITHER in the third person as a short story OR
    in the first person as if you yourself were the singer
  • Please send the answers to these questions to yor teacher.

Interpreting Pop Lyrics Evaluation Rubric