Comparative Analysis

Andrew Morse 11/20/12 One of the most common themes for songs is love and loss. Many of our favorite songs were written because somebody has been hurt or someone has fallen in love. 311’s “Getting Through to Her” and All Time Low’s “Break Your Little Heart” are no different. Both songs are about a relationship that has taken a turn for the worst. However 311 utilizes more literary content in order to portray the speakers struggling relationship while All Time Low uses more repetition to show how the speaker is going to “watch you take the fall”. The two songs main similarities lie in their subject matters. Both of the songs are about relationships but more specifically a relationship that has begun to sour. In both songs the respective speaker talks about his relationship, how things aren't going great, and his troubles. There are not many devices shared between the two songs other than characterization. However the two speakers from the songs are characterized as completely opposites. The speaker from "Break Your Little Heart", as you may have guessed, is made out to be mean and inconsiderate. In "Getting Through to Her" the point of view changes but the speaker still appears as one who is trying to make it work and cares about the other person. Another similarity is the motif of the "girl" in both of the songs and her feelings. The speaker in "Break Your Little Heart" repeatedly mentions the girl’s feelings and how he is going to destroy them. He claims he will “break your little heart / Watch you take the fall / Laughing all the way to the hospital” showing his lack of concern for her feelings and how he will actually enjoy hurting her because he will be laughing while she is hurting. In the latter of the songs the speaker in “Getting Through to Her” is much more considerate and is trying his best to be sensitive to the girl’s feelings but he is struggling, “I want to tell her that it’s ok now / But I’m not too sure just what to say”; he wants to help her but he just can’t find the words to do so. There are a considerable amount of differences between the two songs. The first and most obvious is what the song is about; yes the subject matters are similar but "Break Your Little Heart" is about ending a relationship while "Getting Through to Her" is about preserving a relationship. As a whole "Getting Through to Her" is far more lyrical than "Break Your Little Heart". 311's song contains more powerful devices such motif and symbolism along with subtle devices like wordplay and allusion. There is the motif of earthquakes and fault lines in the song, "Foundation is crumbling away/Fault lines in her words." and "She tells me things that were not her fault/And her surface starts to break/Breakdown a hurting sound" The references work toward symbolizing the state their relationship is in, for they are trying to make it work but they are on shaky footing. The lines while contributing to the motif are also wordplay "She tells me things that were not her fault/and her surface starts to break/Breakdown a hurting sound". When he says “not her fault” it references the idea of the earthquakes. That along with “surface starts to break/Breakdown” is wordplay because she is having an emotional breakdown which is a figurative breaking, while an earthquake would cause real things breaking like the surface of the ground. "Getting Through to Her" also contains historical allusion. The song alludes to Native American history, "She’s on Wounded Knee/and well crazy horse that's me". There is a famous battle in Native American history called the battle of Wounded Knee and Crazy Horse was a Native American chief. This allusion helps to reinforce the precarious state of the relationship that could potentially end in violence. The most notable device in "Break Your Little Heart" is characterization. This is offered in the 311 song but is more prominent in All Time Low's song. The speaker is characterized as selfish and pompous and believes he is better than this girl and that is why he has the right to lead her on and then “break her little heart”. All Time Low and 311 both have great songs with lyrical content hidden throughout each one. It is interesting how they are both able to produce a song that conveys a certain message or subject matter to the listener, but they do it two different ways. "Getting Through to Her" is more lyrical but requires some background knowledge and thinking to discover the true intentions of the authors of the song. "Break Your Little Heart" has less lyrical content but is more relate-able to the listener and can be more easily understood.