Week 11: Music as Historical Artifact

Week 11: History and Popular Music

Our reading from this week emphasized that music can be interpreted as historical artifacts. In teaching The Things They Carried, I have become very interested in the musical preferences of America and what those preferences can “say” about America at the time. Last week I couldn’t help but defend 1969’s #1 song “Sugar Sugar” by arguing that it represented a tendency for the masses to escape into familiar and safe patterns in times of tragedy and stress.

The year just before “Sugar Sugar” topped the Billboard Hot 100, the leader on almost every popular music chart was “Hey Jude” by the Beatles. Here it is.

“Hey Jude” The Beatles #1 on Billboard Hot 100 1968

Hey Jude

Don’t make it bad.
Take a sad song and make it better.
Remember to let her into your heart,
Then you can start to make it better.

Hey Jude, don’t be afraid.
You were made to go out and get her.
The minute you let her under your skin,
Then you begin to make it better.

And anytime you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain,
Don’t carry the world upon your shoulders.
For well you know that it’s a fool who plays it cool
By making his world a little colder.

Hey Jude, don’t let me down.
You have found her, now go and get her.
Remember to let her into your heart,
Then you can start to make it better.

So let it out and let it in, hey Jude, begin,
You’re waiting for someone to perform with.
And don’t you know that its just you, hey Jude, you’ll do,
The movement you need is on your shoulder.

Hey Jude, don’t make it bad.
Take a sad song and make it better.
Remember to let her under your skin,
Then you’ll begin to make it
Better better better better better better, oh.

Na na na na na ,na na na, hey Jude...

Biographical context: Many music enthusiasts point out that Paul McCartney wrote this for John Lennon's son Julian to comfort him while his father (John Lennon) and his mom (Cynthia) were divorcing after an eight year marriage. The song was originally titled “Hey Jules” for John Lennon’s son Julian and many believe that the vague pronoun “she” used in the song refers to Yoko Ono.

Historical Context: 1968 was the year that took the most American casualties in the Vietnam War. This was also the year that LBJ and military leader Westmoreland claimed that “peace was on the horizon” in Vietnam – that America and its allies would soon put down the communist “insurgents” in Southeast Asia. They were both made out to seem foolish, however, when the VietCong and VietMinh launched a huge surprise offensive (known as the Tet Offensive) on a national holiday.

So Americans are faced with more tragedy, frustration, and anxiety in 1968 than in any other year of the era (I would argue) – distrust in government, loss of young draftees, failures of anti-war initiatives. I think that all this emotional trauma was what led “Hey Jude” to the top of the charts. Just like a breaking family is traumatic for a child, so the war was traumatic for America – and both needed comforting, which “Hey Jude”offered.

“Hey Jude” has a mournful tone with some vague language on which an audience can project their own pain. Lines like “Don’t be afraid,” “Take a sad song and make it better,” and “Remember to let her into your heart Then you can start to make it better” are all lines that are powerful enough to identify with but non-specific enough to apply to any trying situation.

The mournful beginning builds into a hopeful, strong ballad, finally crescendo-ing into a repeated shout of hope and the ability to rise above trauma with hope and love. “let it out and let it in/ Hey Jude begin” then “You’re waiting for someone to perform with/ and don’t you know that it’s just you Hey Jude you’ll do/ The movement you need is on your shoulder;” these lines suggest that the individual and his/her conscience are enough to move on. And finally, the song ends with a fanfare of “better better better,” etc, giving strength to both the anger of the trauma and the force of hope possible.

The song lasts nearly seven minutes in a time when song lengths are typically 2-3 minutes, showing further that there is something about the content and emotion of this song that makes it special.

When I pair this analysis with my defense of “Sugar Sugar” from last week, I am able to show a cyclical pattern of healing and not healing from the trauma of the war. The stages of grief set up by psychologists follow this pattern:
1. SHOCK & DENIAL-
2. PAIN & GUILT-
3. ANGER & BARGAINING-
4. "DEPRESSION", REFLECTION, LONELINESS-
5. THE UPWARD TURN-
6. RECONSTRUCTION & WORKING THROUGH-
7. ACCEPTANCE & HOPE-

To contrast this conventional pattern of healing, we see that America in 1968 shows stages 2 and 7 in “Hey Jude” a song that demonstrates both anger and hope, then in 1969 retreats back to escapism and denial (stage 1) with “Sugar Sugar” in 1969.

I love to write papers, don’t you? I am having so much fun!