Lyrics Analysis: Everlong

 On this post  I will be analyzing the lyrics from Everlong (Foo Fighters, 1997).

The lyrics:

Hello
I've waited here for you
Everlong
Tonight
I throw myself into
And out of the red, out of her head, she sang

Come down
And waste away with me
Down with me
Slow how
You wanted it to be

I'm over my head, out of her head she sang
And I wonder, when I sing along with you
If everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again
The only thing I'll ever ask of you
You gotta promise not to stop when I say when
She sang

Breathe out
So I can breathe you in
Hold you in
And now
I know you've always been there

Out of your head, out of my head I sang

And I wonder when I sing along with you
If everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again
The only thing I'll ever ask of you
You gotta promise not to stop when I say when
She sang

And I wonder
If everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again
The only thing I'll ever ask of you
You gotta promise not to stop when I say when

Songwriter: Dave Grohl

The Structure of the lyric follow a common pattern of pop/rock songs. It contains three verses and three chorus. On the first verse an emotional journey is introduced and developed in its lyrics. A strong desire for a close relationship is evident in the welcome, which is full of hope (Harris,2023). On the following verse Dave Grohl metaphorically talk about escapism, trusting someone and finding comfort and stability in a moment of pressure and tension. When it comes to the chorus the lyrics are about the desire of maintain a long and true relationship with somebody. "Grohl wonders if the intense emotions he experiences when singing with his loved one can last forever. He questions whether anything else can ever be as good as this moment. The lyrics convey a yearning for a love that transcends time and remains eternally real" (Harris,2023). On the third verse, mis conveyed the message of closeness and intensity between two people . It is a powerful realization that the other person has always been a part of one's life and that they are present in each other's lives. According to Dave Grohl in an interview to kerrang in 2014, the song was about a marriage that was over and a new beginning: "That song is about a girl that I had fallen in love with and basically it is about being so connected with someone, that you not only love them physically and spiritually, but when you sing together with that person, you harmonize perfectly"( Dave Grohl, 2014).

References:

Camila. “Everlong” Lyrics & Meaning (Foo Fighters).” Musicaroo.com, 8 Sept. 2022, musicaroo.com/everlong-lyrics-meaning/. Accessed 28 Feb. 2024.  

Harris , Alex . “Everlong Lyrics: Unravelling the Deep Meaning behind Foo Fighters’ Iconic Song - Neon Music - Digital Music Discovery & Showcase Platform.” Neonmusic.co.uk, 13 Sept. 2023, neonmusic.co.uk/everlong-lyrics-unravelling-the-deep-meaning-behind-foo-fighters-iconic-song/. Accessed 28 Feb. 20

Grohl, Dave. The Storyteller. New York, Simon and Schuster, 5 Oct. 2021.

Website updates

 On this post I would like to share some of  my updates on the website.

Firstly, I changed the overall look of it and changed the generic pictures I had for pictures that are meaningful and express my personality as an artist. Evaluation: The website changes were a big improvement, the design is simpler and more minimalist and it is a better representation of who I am, the pictures I added share a story and give an accurate representation of me as a musician and person. The portfolios pages show my versatility as a musician and artist as well as my personal view and interpretation about the world. I intend to link my website in future resumes using a QR code.

Secondly, I created new link and my photography, band and solo project portfolio. I created buttons and linked them to the web pages.  On the portfolio pages I also added gallery with the the digital arts I made,  new website links as well as Spotify and Soundcloud links to my songs.

    Lastly, I made minor changes in the about page, editing the about me paragraph and adding pictures that represent not only my determination and evolution as musician but also as person

.

    Link to the updated website: Home | My Site 3 (pedrotolloto.wixsite.com)

Photography project: reflection final work

 On this post I will share my final shots for my photography project. To carry out this work I chose to shot in the studio using artificial lights and black background. I also used a Cannon 700 D.  I opted to use a low key, once I would like the final result to be dark and convey a message of sadness and self doubting. The mirror represents not only  a physical reflection of the model, but  also a reflection of his existence and his role in the society and how he confront other people expectation without knowing in fact who he is. I will be sharing the contact sheet for this project  and final pictures which I will be analyzing more in depth, explaining composition choices and technical aspects  such as the camera settings. 

F 3.5 1/100 sec ISO 200 EXP 0

For this picture I tried to make the reflection looks dark to convey the message that its reflecting the darkness inside the individual. It is a low key, over the shoulder and eye level shot. I tried to explore the concept of rule of thirds in this composition making the left side more predominant than the right which is just shadows. The low key enhanced the message of darkness that I tried to convey in this shot. The models face reflection can be barely be seen on the reflection which not only means he is dark but also struggle to find his identity. 

F3.5 1/50 sec ISO 200 EXP 0

For this picture I tried to explore the concept of identity and self reflection as the previous one. However, instead of making the reflection dark I made it blur to convey the message that he does not know properly who he is, there is not clarity in his identity. It is still low key but not as dark as the previous one. It is a medium shot and slightly low angle.  The model holding the mirror represent philosophy and Occidental religious (such as Buddhism and Taoism), which are important tools to  help finding a path in life and understanding who we are. I chose to make this picture lighter than the previous ones due to the fact that philosophy and religion is trying to help the main model to find his self and give clarity to his thoughts. 

F 5 1/50 sec ISO 200 EXP 0

For this shot I tried to explore more in the depth the concept of triangles  by changing the angle of the mirror. The first shot is relegated to self doubting and personal reflection, the second is self reflection using a external tool (philosophy and religious) and this one represent society, the expectation over one individual and the superficiality of social medias a place where everyone pretend to be happy, disguising all doubts, identity and sadness to be accepted.  The model on the left is applying a makeup in the main model which represents the modern capitalism  society values of happiness, and the oppression of  personal identity and critical thinking. The model in green holding the mirror smiling at him enhance the message of acceptance, once she is happy that his identity and critical thinking is being disguised. 

Contact sheets:

   

Photography Project Initial Ideas

     In this post I will brainstorm a couple of ideas for my final photography project. My initial idea is to work with mirror and reflection. One of my main references for this project is artists such as Matthew Morrocco and  Loriental (Pierre-Emmanuel). Recently, I have been fascinated with mirror and its philosophical implications: it is a reflection of a person or object identity and a literal reflection of what we see and our point of view about the moment. I first have this idea reading a Portuguese writer, who says: “Life is whatever we make it. The traveller is the journey. What we see is not what we see but who we are" ( Pessoa, 1982, The book of Disquiet, p 76). Those words resonated in my mind and leaded me to a critical reflection about the way I  see the world, and how much of it is absolute or just a personal and sometimes distorted point of view.  Furthermore, for my final work I would like to create a metaphor based on recent readings. Lately, I have been interesting in Occidental philosophies/religions  such as Buddhism and Taoism. Those philosophical currents have been helping me to  deconstruct misconceptions, discovery more about myself, clarifying problems and bringing me self awareness and accepting who I am. So that I intend to express the outcomes of my personal learning experience in a metaphorical and artistic way.

     The mirror in fact  seemed to be the perfect object to carry these project out. Consequently, I looked for photographers and I found Matthew Morrocco. So on this post I will also be analyzing and evaluating one of his portraits from the series Mirror Portraits ( Marrocco, 2020).

Kimberly Drew - Series of portrait

    According to Marrocco (2020)  the project main focus is create a culture as a whole, rather than just one individual's identity. His work confirm my thoughts about the powerful relation between mirrors and  identity( personal or collective). When it comes to composition I have different ideas in mind. The high key and saturated colors and the amount of mirrors will contrast with my final composition which I visualize as dark and dead. On my final work I do not intend to use a round and harmonious mirror, instead I would like to use something sharp and explore edges to create triangles in the composition and also convey the feeling of order and confrontation. Another aspect that cast my attention about   that portrait is the position of the model almost frontal.  On my work I intend to photography the model backwards, with his back pointed to the camera looking the mirror.

References:

ABEL-HIRSCH, H. (2020). Matthew Morrocco’s multi-layered Mirror Portraits - 1854 Photography. [online] www.1854.photography. Available at: https://www.1854.photography/2020/07/matthew-morroccos-multi-layered-mirror-portraits/ [Accessed 13 Feb. 2024].

Pessoa, F., Jerónimo Pizarro and Margaret Jull Costa (2018). The book of disquiet. London: Serpent’s Tail.

Book Cover Creation: Photoshop

     I am going to create my book cover using photoshop and I will both describe the process and the design decisions.

The first step was creating a  white canvas, it was A4 size, portrait orientation and resolution 300 ppir . I did this going to the top menu and clicking on file and then clicking on new.

    For the front cover I will use a draw I made . I  clicked on file and open. Then I selected the picture I wanted. I also selected all clicking on select on the top menu and then I clicked on edit (also on top menu) copied and pasted it on my original Canvas. Finally I used the move tool  and resized the image to fill the canvas. 

After that I added the tittle of the book and my name. To accomplish this text I clicked on the text on the left bar and chose the font "OpenDyslexic3" and the chose the size of 48 pts.

Finally, I saved the image in PSD and JPEG. To do so I clicked on file on the top menu and then "save as" to save PSD and "save copy" to save as JPEG.

Creative Media production: Timed writing number 2

 

The pain transcended my flesh

and drowned my soul in despair  

why  is it nature so unfair?

|All those values are nothing more than trash 

As a  loud unpleasant noise

those words resonated in my ears:

"He's gone"

My brain couldn't comprehended as it didn't sound clear

denying, denying, denying

The nightmare came alive and moved me to  tears 

chapbook: Planning

 What is your final idea? Please explain in two sentences the theme and

the form your writing will take.

My project idea is a lyrics chapbook with images such as photography and drawings I made my self. The book will contain around 35 pages and the main theme will be grief and acceptance 

● Considering the form, how do you intend to layout your book pages?

Lyrics in free form 

● How many pages do you expect there will be?

Around 30-40 pages

● Are you going to use images? Are these your own images

(illustrations/photographs) or copyright free images that you will

source? 

I will be using drawings and photographies I tooks

● What is the plan of your time and how much you will need to spend on

this?

12-18 hours

Remember writing is something that you will need time and concentration without

disturbance - you must make sure that you plan time to do this.

● What do you imagine the final book will look like?

I intend to use a trade book format from blurb and this is about 5 x 7 inc - On the cover it will have both my name and the title of the book 

● Have you considered the cover page/contents page/back cover with

blurb?

Yes

● Drafting and redrafting will need to be done? Who would you get to

proofread your work?

 I imagine draft and redrafting will be needed, I will ask my classmates to proofread my work

Write down any other thoughts or comments related to your plan on

your blog post.

The main theme of my work will  be grief, understand and accepting that we as humans are very fragile. My main inspirations are movies such as tree of life and philosophies such as Taoism. About form and chapter I am not sure yet  

creating a chapbook: Initial Ideas

 Introduction to the project

Include some research on chapbooks (format)

On this post I will talk about the initial ideas for my chapbook. I intend to write a lyrics book and poem in free form. Also I intend to add a link/ QR code with the lyrics of the song. Furthermore, I would like to make drawings that relate with the main subject of the book. The theme of the chapbook will be my personal cathartic experience since I moved to UK and Overcoming grief and understand that carrying about things that are out of our control lead to unhappiness. My main inspiration for this project are the movie Tree of life  (Terrence Malick, 2011) as well as albums such as But Here We Are ( Foo Fighters, 2023) and Echoes, Patience, Silence and Grace ( Foo Fighters, 2007). All those pieces of art have something in common they all explore the feeling of grief and lead the readers to a cathartic experience. 

Form and Theme 

form Lyrics 

Inspirations: 

Tree of life - Terrence Malick 

But Here We Are - Foo Fighters 

Echoes, Patience, Silence and Grace - Foo Fighters 

Eric Clapton MTV Unplugged 

Creative Writing: writing exercise one

Emotion: Regret 

The sun rises again

Another day tortured by guilty

Where can I find relief to my soul?

Where can I find peace of mind?

Everything happened so fast

I wish I could see you one more time

But no amount of regret can really change the past

Where did you go friend of mine?

It is unkind to understand

Never thought I would be too late

All the morals you stand

All the severely imposed fate

They are all gone, Clearly

No last goodbye to a friend

In nutshell life is just a memory

As the sun always set in the end