麻豆传媒高清

鈥淏etween Bitterness and Hope鈥�

By Sophia Fountain

In The Verve’s Bitter Sweet Symphony, they bring listeners into a world where they begin to search for the acceptance that so many people desperately crave. “I need to find some sounds that recognize the pain in me.” Throughout the entire song, the lyrics call out to those who long to be understood. The urge for someone or something to finally understand them, is what the entire song consists of. Reaching out to the people who have become trapped in the normalcy of day-to-day life. People who have been shaped to fit into a mold that was never truly theirs to begin with. Specifically, now as students, with our lives being run and operated by schedules and tests. We are constantly trying to shape a mold for ourselves, one that doesn’t consist of all the indecision and inconsistency that makes up our lives now. Craving the feeling of being free, “I let the melody shine, let it cleanse my mind, I feel free now.

A chorus is a part of a song that recurs at intervals, usually following each verse. The repeated fragments of the song that the artist wants listeners to remember. The chorus is a chance for the artist to really home in on the desired message of the song so that listeners can pick out the meaning of certain songs. Ashcroft uses the chorus in Bitter Sweet Symphony as a chance to reiterate the simple yet complex meaning of his lyrics. Over and over, he repeats the same words, and while seemingly miniscule compared to the otherwise complex lyrics of each verse, these repeated lines are the most important. He starts off by stating the fact that he can change, whether it be where he’s going with the trajectory of his life or something as simple as his own bad habits. Something within him wants to change, but he’s stuck in the mold of the person that he used to be.  

Ashcroft wants to escape his old life in favor of a new one where he can be something else. A life where he doesn’t have to confine himself to fit into a certain image that others expect of him; one where others’ thoughts and opinions cannot influence him. But with this freedom of being your own person comes with the burden of having to figure out who that person is. Every day, as Ashcroft describes, he’s so many different people from one day to the next; how would it be possible to just choose one? With so many options, choosing the “right one” seems near impossible, and with this realization comes the narrative that Ashcroft can’t change and instead must stay in his mold. When self-doubt creeps in and forces us to second-guess ourselves, we resort to what we know. This message holds significance for not only people living in the late nineties during the song's release, but also for the people of today. The band's entire message or idea behind this song is to attack the idea of being trapped in a society that doesn't value life more than they value paychecks, and the consequential quest for freedom from this life. In every line of the song, the band goes on to detail this life that they’re living in some reality, where they're following the only road that they’ve ever been down. This message relates to millions of people who not only work jobs that they hate, but to those who also live lives that they hate. The song repeats the same six words over and over, “but I’m here in my mould”. In this person’s life, there are these imagined constraints on their life that forces them to live this cookie-cutter life instead of living one that they really enjoy.  

Throughout the entire song, Ashcroft delves into the idea that every single one of us will live and die with the same meaning of life, and that so many people value money over meaning. We live and die to go to work, and due to this, we never get to truly experience what it means to live. The song not only makes listeners think about life as a whole, but it forces them to consider the fact that maybe they’ve only been going through the motions. For our entire lives, people constantly tell us how we should and shouldn’t live and what’s considered right and wrong in the eyes of society. We are expected to live and die by their unspoken rules, and most people do because that’s easier. Having a predetermined destiny of knowing is much easier than having to figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life in one particular moment. Discovering who you are outside of your mold is such an important thing because it’s something that so many people haven’t been able to accomplish. 

While this song was written almost three decades ago, it still resonates with people of today. Especially in the world we live in, people are so used to just putting their head down and their needs aside in order to have some sort of “living”. Especially as young adults who are forced to figure out what they want to do with the rest of their lives. So many people are forced into places where they have to be someone else. In order to be accepted, they must contort and fit themselves into some sort of mold. Bitter Sweet Symphony forces listeners to stop and question whether or not their lives are becoming one. 

As I wrote, I began to see this work differently. What started as became a way to understand- both in the artist’s world and in my own. My understanding of Bitter Sweet Symphony has greatly deepened while doing my research and analysis of this song. What started off as a song that my mom and I bonded over when I was younger to now becoming something that I relate to on an emotional level. Understanding every lyric has allowed this song to become some sort of comfort during a period of change and new beginnings. From doing things that others deem fit for me, to being in places that feel so foreign, everything about this song speaks to me. Having something so timeless that is able to describe the way that I’m feeling so perfectly, and while my analysis is based largely on the lyrics, the music video takes this song and its meaning to another level. Ashcroft wanted this song to elicit some sort of emotion from listeners, and that’s exactly what it does. 

Throughout the entire video, Richard Ashcroft is seen walking He’s seemingly in his own world, unaware of all the other people that he runs and bumps into, almost like he is going through the motions of this video, or his life. It's a very straight forward video, with no CGI or special effects, just one concept being carried out throughout the entire video. I think the simplicity of the video, though, adds to it. The video is real life, a route that many probably take to work to go to their jobs that Ashcroft is criticizing so heavily. It's very bleak and bland, which is how he describes this life that he’s living. The passersby in the video also represent other people who are living this life that Ashcroft is describing. The people are getting progressively more irritable, illustrating what living an unfulfilling life can do to people in the long run. It’s a very visually simple video, yet I think it says a lot about society in the 90s, and even now almost thirty years later. The video adds another layer to the lyrics, that when we choose to live by someone else’s mold, it forces us to just go through the motions. Due to this assignment, it’s also made me listen to this song dozens of times, which has also furthered my understanding of the song. Ashcroft wanted this song to elicit some sort of emotion from listeners, and that’s exactly what it does. 

Bitter Sweet Symphony forces its listeners to confront the things in their lives that force them to be something that they’re not. Whether it be where they are or the people that surround them. It's a song that people can listen to and feel that they’re understood, even if it’s only for five minutes, giving them the opportunity to openly express what holds them back. Being where I am in my life right now, the feeling of being in a place that’s not meant for you all while going through the motions is more prevalent than ever. This song gives people a place to escape their troubles, somewhere that for five minutes and fifty-seven seconds they can forget about the things that trouble them in their everyday lives. Bitter Sweet Symphony is one of those songs that no matter how long ago it was released, people will always  be able to relate to it in some way, whether big or small. 

Works Cited 

Dictionary.com.

Richard Ashcroft. “Bitter Sweet Symphony.” Urban Hymns, Hut Recordings and Virgin Records, June 1997. Digital Recording