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The song debued in November 2018. It is the lead single of the Album "Wasteland, Baby!" which was published a few months later, in March 2019.
It was written by Andrew Hozier-Byrne, an irish singer-songwriter.

Hozier himself states that: "Rather than writing a dance song, it was easier to write a song about dancing.". Furthermore, he states that it started out with allowing himself to enjoy the idea of movement.

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Same bed but it feels just a little bit bigger now
Our song on the radio but it don't sound the same
When our friends talk about you
All it does is just tear me down
Cause my heart breaks a little
When I hear your name

It all just sounds like oh
Too young, too dumb to realize
That I should've bought you flowers
And held your hand
Should I gave you all my hours
When I had the chance
Take you to every party
'Cause all you wanted to do was dance

Now my baby's dancing
But she's dancing with another man

My pride, my ego, my needs, and my selfish ways
Caused the good strong woman like you
To walk out my life
Now I never, never get to clean up the mess I made
And it hunts me every time I close my eyes

It all just sounds like oh
Too young, too dumb to realize
That I should've bought you flowers
And held your hand
Should I gave you all my hours
When I had the chance
Take you to every party
'Cause all you wanted to do was dance

Now my baby's dancing
But she's dancing with another man

Although it hurts
I'll be the first to say that I was wrong
I know I'm probably much too late
To try and apologize for my mistakes
But I just want you to know

I hope he buys you flowers
I hope he holds your hand
Give you all his hours
When he has the chance
Take to every party
'Cause I remember how much you loved to dance
Do all the things I should have done
When i was your man
Do all the things I should have done
When i was your man

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Atlantic Records released the song as the third promotional single and as the second official single, taken from the album, to mainstream radio in the United States on January 15, 2013.

The reason on why he wrote this song was to explain his pain about losing his girl to another man just because he didn't treat her the right way.

Purpose: The purpose or reason on why Bruno wrote this song was to let out how bad he felt for what he did. It was written for the girl that he did hurt.

Audience: The song is written for the girl that he lost, to tell her how much he regrets. But it can also be directed for other guys, to let them know that they should appreciate what they have.

3 features:

Lyrical mood (first person perspective) : “My pride, my ego, my needs, and my selfish ways” “I hope he buys you flowers
I hope he holds your hand”

Multitude of emotions:

Remorse- “I know I'm probably much too late
To try and apologize for my mistakes”

Discontent- “I hope he buys you flowers
I hope he holds your hand
Give you all his hours
When he has the chance”

Miserableness- “My pride, my ego, my needs, and my selfish ways
Caused the good strong woman like you
To walk out my life
Now I never, never get to clean up the mess I made
And it hunts me every time I close my eyes”

Self- reflection “I’m wrong and I regret it”

These three features I find really compelling because they really highlight the emotions in the song and help the audience feel it. Lyrical mood gives an impression that the singer really feels what he sings about and that connects him more to his audience. By these three features the purpose is fulfilled, to arise emotions in the listener and to identify with the lyric.

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Bruno Mars - When I Was Your Man (Official Music Video)

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The Fray - How To Save A Life (Official Video)

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The song was first released 2005
The Fray is an American Indie-Rock band.
According to the lead singer of the band the influence and idea of the song came from working as a mentor in a camp for troubled youths.
Summary: The song describes two people talking to one another. One of them is suffering with mental health problems and maybe even drug addiction while the other person I trying to help him.
Overall Theme:
mental health problems, drug addiction, death/ suicide, remorse/ regret, dealing with loss and the emotions that come with loss

Purpose:
I think the overall purpose of the song is to show that sometimes people who suffer with mental health problems need support more than someone trying to ’fix’ them.

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https://www.songtexte.com/songtext/hozier/movement-g4b9a473a.html

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Africa my Africa, Africa of proud warriors in ancestral savannahs Africa of whom my grandmother sings On the banks of the distant river I have never known you But your blood flows in my veins Your beautiful black blood that irrigates the fields The blood of your sweat The sweat of your work The work of your slavery Africa, tell me Africa is this your back that is unbent This back that never breaks under the weight of humilation This back trembling with red scars And saying no to the whip under the midday sun But a grave voice answers meImpetuous child that tree, young and strong That tree over there Splendidly alone amidst white and faded flowers That is your Africa springing up anew springing up patiently, obstinately Whose fruit bit by bit acquiresThe bitter taste of liberty.

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Africa my Africa, Africa of proud warriors in ancestral savannahs Africa of whom my grandmother sings On the banks of the distant river I have never known you But your blood flows in my veins Your beautiful black blood that irrigates the fields The blood of your sweat The sweat of your work The work of your slavery Africa, tell me Africa is this your back that is unbent This back that never breaks under the weight of humilation This back trembling with red scars And saying no to the whip under the midday sun But a grave voice answers meImpetuous child that tree, young and strong That tree over there Splendidly alone amidst white and faded flowers That is your Africa springing up anew springing up patiently, obstinately Whose fruit bit by bit acquiresThe bitter taste of liberty.

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This is a Poem titled: Africa, by David Diop who lived between 1927 -1960 in Bordeux in France. He was an African poet.

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This is a Poem titled: Africa, by David Diop who lived between 1927 -1960 in Bordeux in France. He was an African poet.

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The poem is about decolonising Africa in the 1950s. David Diop talks about the struggles Africa goes through in the hands of the colonialists.

Textual features:

Mood:
He sets a triumph mood (the hope for victory "whose fruit bit by bit acquires the bitter taste of liberty") and sad mood ( the pain and suffering "your beautiful black blood that irrigates the fields")

Repetition: Africa is repeated several times. To emphasise his sense of belonging. David Diop was born of African parents in France  but he had no  physical connection with his country of origin

Personification: The continent Africa is given life, a body and to be precise a back. "is this your back that is unbent"

Symbolism:  The unbent back of Africa also symbolises the endurance and strength of Africa. That despite the humiliations it still stands up right and hopes to achieve freedom

This poem speaks to me as an Afropean, although I lived in Africa and have found a second home here in Austria.
David Diop's audience were:
1. Africans living in Africa and abroad who also have in one way or the other encountered racism, slavery directly or indirectly.
2. White colonisers who are out to exploit Africa. His intention was to tell them that Africa will soon set itself free from the sorrows and pains of colonialism.

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1. Mode Switching
The song switches between the  lyrical and the narrative mod. The chorus is telling us the story of two people having a serious conversation. The refrain is 1st person narration where the singer express his personal feelings.

Step one, you say we need to talk
He walks, you say sit down, it's just a talk
He smiles politely back at you
You stare politely right on through
Some sort of window to your right
As he goes left, and you stay right
Between the lines of fear and blame
You begin to wonder why you came

Where did I go wrong?
I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life

It is also important to notice the shift in tense. The first paragraph is written in the present tense whereas the second one is written in the past tense. This change could hint at the relevance of the events. In the second part the person is already dead and in the first part he is still having a conversation with another person.

2. Repetition of the refrain
Where did I go wrong?
I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life

Of course one of the reasons why this passage is repeated is for lyrical purposes because it provides unity within the song. Repeating this part also emphasizes its emotion beneath the words. The narrator is blaming himself for not being there for his dead friend and this feeling of guilt and regret is haunting him and he will always have to live with this burden.

3. Metaphor
One line is repeated twice within the song.

You begin to wonder why you came.

The person is doubting that the conversation will change anything because she is not certain that the boy/ men with mental health issues is going to listen. She is questioning if he even wants to change.

As he begins to raise his voice

You lower yours and grant him one last choice
Drive until you lose the road
or break with the ones you followed

He can either continue living the way he does now and eventually will lose every bit of control he has over his life or he can radically change his lifestyle. Especially interesting is the choice of words ’break’ instead of using ’change’. Break is more sudden in comparison to change which would suggest a more gradual transformation.

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Within the song, Hozier uses the lyrical mode (eg. "I still watch you when you're groovin'", "

I'm put to mind of all that I wanna be"). He expresses his feelings when watching a certain person move.

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The song, as its title suggests is about the movement of a person.
(it is suggested in interviews that is about dance moves specifically, yet I believe it can be applied to regular movements too)

The song is about the "bare" movement of a person.

For the singer, this alone, is awe-inspriring. He finds it hard to put into words how the movement of this person can define him/her in all these different ways. This is one possible reason for the repetition of the word movement (aside from it being the theme of the song): every motion describes a different aspect of this person.

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Some collected points:

"When you move I'm moved"
- when this person dances, the singer is moved emotionally

"When you move

I can recall somethin' that's gone from me

When you move

Honey, I'm put in awe of somethin' so flawed and free"
- This person is not perfect but this person is being themselve and therefore free (could also be in reference to the liberation via dance, how the dance is an expression of this person's flaws, etc.)
When this person moves, the singer is reminded of something that he himself has lost (maybe a certain freedom)

"There, all of you a verb in perfect view"
- Metaphor: The person is a verb

Verbs describe states, actions etc --> the person's movements are as perfect as if they were the verb themselves

"When you move

I could never define all that you are to me"
- Hyperbole: The movement of this person expresses so much, Hozier cannot put it into words

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3 textual features (more lyric breakdown)

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3 textual features (more lyric breakdown)

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1. Loaded language
"Shake like the bough of a willow tree"

Willow Trees carry a lot of symbolism: femininity, life, death, spirituality, recovery, adjusting to nature, etc.

Most importantly, they are sturdy trees but their twigs are still able to bend in the wind without snapping.

2. Metaphors

There are quite a few metaphors in this song but the most striking one is the following:

"You're less Polunin* leapin'

Or Fred Astaire in sequins

Honey, you, you're Atlas in his sleepin'"

Sergei Polunin and Fred Astaire are both dancers; what Hozier is saying is that this person is not a weightless dancer, leaping in fancy costumes but  rather a sleeping god carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders.

This metaphor, to me, is the most effective one. These lyrics work perfectly for the theme of movement. You have a dancer described as not like two light-footed,  very good dancers but like someone carrying a burden on their shoulders. It is this comparison to a static powerful being that adds emotional depth to this person's movement.

3. Similies

"Move like grey skies

Move like a bird of paradise

Move like an odd sight come out at night"

The person is described as a force of nature, a beautiful, colorful bird and a mysterious being at night. There's also acontradiction between a grey sky and a colorful bird, hinting to the many facettes of this person

(*Sergei Polunin is the ballet-dancer in the music video)

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Helene Morin

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The title of this piece of poetry is “Nation of Ignorance”, written by Muslim Belal, Castillo Nasheeds and Suli Breaks. However, I only included the part from Suli Breaks in this analysis. It was released on YouTube on the 20th May 2015.

Suli Breaks talks about how superficial and shallow this world can be, and how ignorant most people *choose* to be towards their own life and the inevitable death. A life lived in ignorance of death is a life without priorities and regrets later on in life. He also talks about how money and our modern worldly lifestyle are only temporary, they are not worthy of being left as a legacy in this world once we pass away. We should not trade our valuable life for money, to then regret it. Suli Breaks emphasises that leaving behind a legacy is important, that material possessions are not what make life liveable and worthy dying for. Hence, there is more to life. At the end, having so many regrets in life, stressing about it won’t solve the problem, rather patience is going to be more effective.

The purpose of this piece of poetry is to make people think and reflect upon their own life and their goals in their lives, to ponder on their purpose.

Lastly, the overall theme of this text is life, questions about life, our purpose in life, death, our life "in-between", our lifestyle and leaving behind legacies.

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[Verse 2: Suli Breaks]

And before I walk through the valley of the shadow of death

I pray someone or something would have been changed by the words I’ve uttered with this breath

Your only goal should be to leave this earth as your worst critic

Because on this journey called life, there is no return ticket

What more can we expect except to leave a legacy in a world full of blood spilling and gun killing

I just wanna leave one feeling, children of the Most High so why can't we be heavenly?

Shouldn't it be hereditary?

Shouldn't we become more than a dash between two dates on a gravestone in a cemetery

Great men were never meant to live forever

But may the ideas they embody never wither

Before you fear death, fear living with regrets

Fear trading life for a cheque, because after all that time you spent there is nothing left

I once saw a man trade his soul for a mountain of gold

I wonder if he now knows that he undersold

And as we get older we use our age as an excuse to change what our stance is

Putting so-called priorities over advances

But experience shows you should only get wiser with time

So, who are you to claim your age is a disadvantage?

If you don't water your family tree how do you expect it to bear fruit on its branches

We are responsible together the same way one hand washes the other

I don't believe in nationality I believe in humanity

We ain't machines in a factory appease for a salary

On my knees in a sanctuary praying we cease the reality

Words are powerful before you reach for your weapon seek for repentance

I used to believe that the signs of life, were Nike, Reebok or anything with three stripes

Damn, how ignorant am I? and I ain't stressing

I ain't stressing because a wise man told me that patience is a blessing!

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1. Metaphor

… before I walk through the valley of the shadow of death […] If you don't water your family tree how do you expect it to bear fruit on its branches […] We are responsible together the same way one hand washes the other

The use of metaphor is effective in conveying the intended message, because it vividly demonstrates the importance of the message itself. It is  more memorable when someone says that, "we are responsible together the same way one hand washes the other",  than only that, "we are responsible together".

2. Statements and questions

I just wanna leave one feeling, children of the Most High so why can't we be heavenly? // Shouldn't it be hereditary? // Shouldn't we become more than a dash between two dates on a gravestone in a cemetery”

The use of intriguing statements and questions is effective and in alignment with the purpose of this piece of poetry - namely, to make us think and reflect.

3. Semantic field of life and death

I walk through the valley of the shadow of death [...] Your only goal should be to leave this earth as your worst critic // Because on this journey called life, there is no return ticket // What more can we expect except to leave a legacy in a world full of blood spilling and gun killing // I just wanna leave one feeling […] Great men were never meant to live forever // But may the ideas they embody never wither // Before you fear death, fear living with regrets // Fear trading life for a cheque, because after all that time you spent there is nothing left // I once saw a man trade his soul for a mountain of gold // I wonder if he now knows that he undersold

The effectiveness of the semantic field of life and death is straightforward, because the purpose of this poetry is to make people think about their own lives, their purpose and the legacy they want to leave behind. Hence, why vocabularly related to the purpose of a writing is very persuasive.