Poetic Analysis of Song Lyrics I chose “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” by lyricist and lead singer of the Smashing Pumpkins Billy Gorgon as my song for the poetic analysis essay. I seemed to Identify with the song the first time I heard It on the radio. The lyrics describe how many teens felt growing up in the ass’s, myself included, hating everything around us and facing adulthood with hopes that some contentment in life will come. “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” is one of those songs that make you shake your head when you really listen to the lyrics.
The mood of the song is dark and filled with rage. Billy Gorgon as a lyricist draws you into his world of thumping darkness, into a dark dungeon with a possible exit in the ceiling, the skies above, though gray, may offer up a chance to get out. In his lyric “the world is a vampire, sent to drain,” he is telling us we are drained, every day. That external forces are draining us of everything, even though we are struggling to succeed and define our lives. He even, through his lyrics, Implies that we don’t want to escape the darkness, that we may have created It ourselves.
The tone of the song or overall feeling Is horrific and macabre with the ending chorus of “and still I cannot be saved” almost desperate and pleading. Throughout the song, Gorgon has pronounced his frustration with the fact the he is destined to be damned. The progression of the song takes us from being very frustrated with our position in life and “the hand we’ve been dealt” so to speak, but by the end of the song in the lyric “tell me I’m the chosen one” there is a sense of acceptance and that acceptance slowly turns into something to own and be proud of, a very valuable life lesson. Rock. Repairing. Com). In this essay I will endeavor to show owe Mr.. Carbon uses simile, metaphor, and symbolism In his song “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” as poetic devices to convey his message of his own personal struggle within the music Industry and also relate to his listeners with a broader meaning of their own personal life struggles. The first line of the song, “The world Is a vampire, sent to drain” symbolizes the world as a monster, a vampire that’s sole purpose is here to take everything away that we have dreamed of or worked towards.
Gorgon is driving home the point that no matter how hard you may try, it will never be enough, s the world (vampire) is going to take it away or drain it all from you. (rock. Repairing. Com). For Gorgon personally, I believe he is explaining the trade-off between his art and commerce, in line two “Secret Destroyers” symbolize for him the critics, executives and the like using him and making him betray his art, Just for the alternative movement and fame. Contacts. Com) as described in line 4 “Betrayed desires, and a piece of the game”. Line 18 “Despite all my rage, I’m still Just a rat In a cage” Is a metaphor, stating that no matter how mad one might be about their life tuition, they are still Just trapped In the world they live In, trying feverishly to find an escape, but caught In a cage.
Gorgon uses this metaphor to show his frustration with the limitations that are put on him within the music industry itself as well as As stated in the web site Angelfish, ” Billy Gorgon Biography’, it is also possible that Gorgon is referring to his own life and the “rage” that he felt when other children treated and looked at him differently because of the large birthmark he had on his arm and hand and his feelings of being on display “in a cage”. “All my cool and cold, eke old Job”, line 17, uses simile to compare Gorgon himself to the biblical character Job, a man who had everything but then lost it all.
Gorgon is saying in this line that no matter how cool and calm he is, everything still falls apart, the struggle never ends. (Rock, Repairing. Com) This is perhaps, the authors attempt to continue some rhyming, another poetic device throughout the song. It does tend to lend a little more to the overall song meaning of humans being stuck in a dysfunctional broken world, apparently incapable of salvation from our own minds and may perhaps make omen listeners think a bit more deeply about the meaning. (Contacts. Mom) Billy Carbon used many poetic devices in his lyrics of “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” including simile, metaphor and symbolism. All of these devices help us to understand in our own way what the song is trying to tell us. The title itself is a metaphor comparing a bullet with a real animate object, a butterfly wings. Is he trying to tell us that we must live our lives like a bullet on the fast track to get somewhere, but alas we have butterfly wings that can easily be crushed or broken by a world that can be cruel and against our own human nature?
