Friday, October 3, 2014
Alien Song Lyrics And Xenophobia?
Do the songs and song lyrics connect with the concept of xenophobia? If so, how? Also, feel free to comment regarding other connections with science fiction. Please include some references to songs and song lyrics in your response. Please finish this blog response during class today.
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Each of these songs have a similar theme related to xenophobia. David Bowie expresses xenophobia toward a "Spaceman", "Don't tell your poppa or he'll get us locked up in fright". Bowie shows that not everyone would embrace a spaceman, "Poppa" would turn in his son out of fright. Each of these songs addresses extraterrestrial life, and not everyone believes they"re coming. Don Henley and Stan Lynch have no expectations for a spaceman in "They're not here, They're not coming".
ReplyDeletei believe they connect with xenophobia in a strong sense but they are also some pretty sweet songs by themselves. if you think more abroad you can connect the songs to the concept of xenophobia but you really have to listen to the lyrics.
ReplyDeleteThe song lyrics connect to the idea of xenophobia because they all are singing about some type of space alien that comes down to earth. The song that was closely related to xenophobia was “They’re Not Here, They’re Not Coming”. In the lyrics, they say, “ Turn your weary eyes back homeward. Stop your trembling, dry your tears.” This part of the song resembles xenophobia because it shows that there are people that are scared of something that isn’t even on earth with them. They just assume the worst and are scared of something that doesn’t even exist.
ReplyDeleteIn almost all the songs there's the isolated variable of a "spaceman" or a being similar. The fact that he's called out at all demonstrates xenophobia by way of people addressing what they find strange and unknown. All the songs depict something that is less than human. The lyrics "Little man with a great big head Splattered down from heaven,(Henley and Lynch)" and "Must be those strangers that come every night Whose saucers shaped light put people up tight, (The Byrds)" have the tone of something we need to be afraid of because we don't know exactly what they are or what they want.
ReplyDeleteSome of the lyrics have good examples of xenophobia, referencing aliens as strangers and foreigners and humans fearful of their presence. Many of the songs also stated that the aliens were of higher intelligence, like from Starman, "There's a starman waiting in the sky, He'd like to come and meet us, But he thinks he'd blow our minds" Overall, the songs showed good examples of xenophobia, with varying angles on the topic of aliens.
ReplyDeleteI noticed many of the songs had to do with the concept of Xenophobia. Most of them were talking about "Mr. Spaceman" and being taken/abducted in the middle of the night. A lot of people hearing the songs would be a little freaked out by the lyrics because people are scared of thinking about extra-terrestrial beings coming to visit Earth. "Hey Mr. Spaceman, won't you please take me along
ReplyDeleteI won't do anything wrong
Hey Mr. Spaceman, won't you please take me along
For a ride" is a great example of Xenophobia, and many people would not be comfortable thinking about these lyrics.
I think the song by the killers from what we heard was not really showing the concept of xenophobia because it was more about him being okay with the unknown and wanting to try something new. I also think Zombies Ate My Neighbors probably best showed the concept of xenophobia.
ReplyDeleteAfter listening To the songs today, it seems a lot of different songs have the same expectation of aliens and outer space. They Seem to believe that they would abduct us in our sleep cut us open and put us back. In a way this is xenophobia, to be afraid of something they would otherwise be unfamiliar with. The lines "Anxious eyes turned upward
ReplyDeleteClutching souvenirs
Carrying our highest hopes and our darkest fears" from the song "they're not here, they're not coming" Gives an excellent example of how the expectation is that humans would be afraid. Other songs blame government conspiracies or cover ups. The other hidden xenophobic aspect of this and the world is that people are afraid of the government. The expectation that no one knows what truly is going on. Just an interesting view on things
The song "Starman" by David Bowie connects with the concept of xenophobia because in his song he says, "He'd like to come and meet us but he think he'd blow our minds" as people would be so shocked to see him because they would be so afraid of the unknown that they would go crazy. Also "Mr. Spaceman" by The Byrds shows the same relation to xenophobia in his song and how people are so afraid of aliens. In all the song lyrics they show connections to aliens and xenophobia in different or unique ways.
ReplyDeleteMost of the songs do relate to Xenophobia. Most of the tittles have something to do with space, and some life form taking them away or going to a new planet. Some of the other songs though have to deal with new life forms coming onto Earth. One that was a bit different from the rest was "Zombies Ate my Neighbors Kids" by Single File. Their song had more to deal with un-dead coming back to life. Overall, all of these songs have to do with Xenophobia, the fear of change. They also have to deal with Extrapolation.
ReplyDeleteThe songs and especially the lyrics do connect with the concept of xenophobia, they do because all of them relate to aliens except for one where it is about zombies. Some of them relating to different parts of aliens, The Killers, David Bowie, and the Byrds are all relating to a spaceman and a starman. The title of the songs gives that away. For the most part they either see a spaceman or get captured by one, "Hey Mr. Spaceman won't you take me along for a ride" in The Byrds song talking about how they want to be taken by the spaceman. Don Henley and Stan Lynch's song relates to how they believe that aliens don't exist and that they won't be coming, again their song title gives that away, "They're not here, they're not coming, not in a million years". Then there is Single File who has the xenophobia concept of zombies and how they are taking over or something. So all of the stories relate to xenophobia because of the concepts of aliens and zombies
ReplyDeleteI think that the songs and lyrics of the songs do have xenophobia to it but you just have to listen to them yourself to actually get it. For example the artist David Bowle expresses it towards a Spaceman. You just have to listen to the lyrics yourself cause everyone has there diffrent view on it.
ReplyDeleteYes, all these songs connect with the concept of xenophobia. Some of the songs had the words "low light" which I think is indirectly describing an alien spaceship. "Next thing I knew they ripped me from my bed" is a quote in the song Spaceman. It talks about aliens attacking him. They're Not Here, They're Not Coming was my favorite song because it is saying that aliens won't come and attack us. He is telling people not to fear because it is impossible, and will never happen. I don't believe in aliens, and this song supports my opinion. Zombie's Ate My Neighbors was also one of my favorites because the title itself is making fun of the whole idea. I thought it was funny how the children were called the zombies, not any alien creatures.
ReplyDeleteThese song do connect with the topic of xenophobia because they all are about somehting strange or unusual, like aliens or zombies, that people fear. These songs also connect with extraploation, like a flying saucer. For instance, in the song "Mr. Spaceman", by the Byrds, one line says: "Whose saucers shaped light put people up tight".
ReplyDeleteYes, the lyrics do connect to xenophobia. In the first song, one of the lines mentions Man not being able to handle the arrival of alien life. This connects to "Puppet Show" and "The Monsters are due on Maple Street".
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ReplyDeleteThe song lyrics connect with xenophobia because they speak about being scared about the alien or foreign people coming down to the Earth. There are man references to the events being dangerous or frightening experience. The song Zombie Ate My Neighbors explain how the town would need all the help they could get, even from the children. Each of the songs presented have included extraterrestrial life with different reactions.
ReplyDeleteI thought that the first two songs were related xenophobia because they talked about how aliens were coming or had come and in the song by the killers "Spaceman" the author talked about how he wanted to leave the planet but then when he got cut open and abducted he changed his mind. in the last part of david bowies song he says "Don't tell poppa or he'll get up locked up in fright which relates to xenophobia because the dad would be afraid of the alien concept of aliens. the song "Zombies ate my neighbors" I could not find much of a connection to xenophobia because the concept of zombies is not foreign and anyone would be scared of that so ya. "Theyre not here Theyre not coming only talked about how aliens don't exist so I do not see the connection to xenophobia there ether.
ReplyDeleteYes, the songs and and lyrics connect with xenophobia. I think this because all of the songs related to space with alien or something else related to science fiction. All of these songs are related science fiction because the all the song but the last all talked about aliens or something related to aliens. Such as in Spaceman by The Killers, "It started with a low light, Next thing I knew they ripped me from my bed And then they took my blood type..." That first verse related to the stereotypical alien encounter. So all of these songs related to science fiction and xenophobia.
ReplyDeleteTwo of the of the four songs connect with the concept of xenophobia. One of the songs was "Starman" because the singer mentioned that, "There's a starman waiting in the sky, He'd like to come and meet us, But he thinks he'd blow our minds." Which the artist is saying that if an alien comes to Earth, than people would not feel comfortable with outsiders living on Earth. Another song where they show xenophobia was in "They're not here, they're not coming" because this song also demonstrated how people would be afraid if outsiders lived on their planet. This is shown in the lyric, "Anxious eyes turned upward, Clutching souvenirs, Carrying our highest hopes and our darkest fears."
ReplyDeleteMost of the songs welcomed the space people. Although in "Zombies Ate My Neighbors" the creatures were feared. The song mentions hiding from them and actually being at war with the other beings. However, in the other songs they were excited for aliens and even wanted to interact with them. But some songs did state that some people feared the space people. Xenophia is most definitely showed in "Zombies Ate My Neighbors", it was clearly stated that the creatures should be avoided.
ReplyDeleteThe songs we listened to today do have connections to xenophobia. The first one, "Starman" by David Bowie talked about how the aliens would blow our minds if we made contact with them. "He'd like to come and meet us, But he thinks he'd blow our minds." The song Spaceman by The Killers states "You know it’s gonna haunt me, so hesitation to this life I give." The writer is talking about the fears that he saw up in the spaceship. The fear of the unknown. The last song I wanted to talk about was "They're Not Here, They're Not Coming." In the middle of the song, he pretends to be the government and says "They're not here, they're not coming, not in a million years." While the government is trying to avoid a panic from the people, they do instill fear in the people that the government might not be telling the truth. Overall, the fear of the unknown, or xenophobia is very prevalent throughout these songs.
ReplyDeleteThe song lyrics express xenophobia because they show people possibly from other worlds making contact with people from Earth. This also relates to science fiction because it shows very futuristic things happening in these songs. In the song They're not here, They're not coming it says"They swear there was an accident back in '47
ReplyDeleteLittle man with a great big head
Splattered down from heaven
Government conspiracy; cover-ups and lies
Hidden in the desert under endless skies" I think this shows how xenophobia and science fiction are being expressed in these songs.
I'd say generally every song had a concept of xenophobia. Spaceman, Mr. Spaceman, and Starman all had ideas that someone/something from space came down and visited them. While They're Not Here, They're Not Coming also had the same idea, the only difference was Don Henley thought they weren't coming at all. And even in Zombies Ate My Neighbors their is a negative light shinning on the zombies and how we have xenophobia against them because of what we have always thought of them. It also says "So grab, something sharp, Find some cover, kill the lights and nail the back door shut, This isn't funny any more,
ReplyDeleteoh no,THIS MEANS WAR" which is how some of us have become, not being worried of this kind of stuff but instead having a fighting attitude.
The songs connect to the concept of xenophobia because they all talk about a forieng person coming down and causing problems. Most of the songs use the word "spaceman" to describe these persons. In the songs they show how "lights come down from the sky". All of the creatures in the songs are also foreign. They are strange creatures according to the songwriters
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ReplyDeleteMaybe a little bit, but not a lot because the song are talking about things changing, but not being afraid about it in a sense. Most of the songs, Starman, Mr. Spacemen, Spaceman, They’re not here, They’re not Coming, are about aliens which is on topic for what we are doing in class now.
After reviewing the songs, xenophobia is rooted in all of them. "Being afraid and running away," this is the main matter that all these songs are based off of. We take ideas that aren't 'human/regular' and we turn them into unwanted-scary beings. "Lights come down from the sky," is a stereotypical songs about aliens and before abduction you always see these lights. Xenophobia turn s people from scared to curious. It's a cycle.
ReplyDeleteAfter listening the songs, xenophobia was greatly exploited. The fear of zombies, invasions or even simple changes brought fear to the people in the song. If you listen carefully, you can feel the and hear the change in the song.
ReplyDeleteThe songs connect to the concept of xenophobia because they all convey feelings of fear due to foreign or new things. All of the songs seemed to talk about being xenophobic towards literal aliens, but they don't necessarily address the xenophobia people may feel towards each other.
ReplyDeleteThe songs connect to xenophobia because they are all talking about things in outer space, that doesn't belong on earth. Like the song Mr spaceman by the Byrd's. It's talking about how things not from earth are coming down. And all of the rest of the songs talk about how people are scared of these things.
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