POPULAR CULTURE & DIVERSITY
Song Lyric Analysis
Group 1
Live- The Beauty of Grey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU4wDMYbIps
This song is about examining your own racial prejudices.
Focus on these lyrics:
‘This is not a black and white world
To be alive
I say that the colours must swirl
And I believe
That maybe today
We will all get to appreciate
The beauty of grey’
Questions
1. What message do you think the artist is trying to communicate through their music?
2. What values and attitudes are being portrayed?
3. Do the lyrics relate to issues of cultural diversity in Australia? How?
4. Does the music add to the meaning of the lyrics? How?
5. What other forms of popular culture communicate messages about diversity?
Extension Task:
Can you think of other songs that relate to cultural diversity?
Group 2
Midnight Oil- Beds are Burning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejorQVy3m8E
This song is about the dispossession of Aboriginal people in Australia.
Focus on these lyrics:
‘The time has come
To say fair’s fair
To pay the rent
To pay our share
The time has come
A fact’s a fact
It belongs to them
Let’s give it back’
Questions
1. What message do you think the artist is trying to communicate through his/her music?
2. What values and attitudes are being portrayed?
3. Do the lyrics relate to issues of cultural diversity in Australia? How?
4. Does the music add to the meaning of the lyrics? How?
5. What other forms of popular culture communicate messages about diversity?
Extension Task:
Can you think of other songs that relate to cultural diversity?
Group 3
The Seekers- I Am Australian
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSoGJQkKDYk
This song is about appreciating diversity and unity in Australia.
Focus on these lyrics:
‘We are one
But we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream
And sing with one voice
I am, you are, we are Australian’
Questions
1. What message do you think the artist is trying to communicate through his/her music?
2. What values and attitudes are being portrayed?
3. Do the lyrics relate to issues of cultural diversity in Australia? How?
4. Does the music add to the meaning of the lyrics? How?
5. What other forms of popular culture communicate messages about diversity?
Extension Task:
Can you think of other songs that relate to cultural diversity?
Group 4
No Doubt- Different People
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOgNeea8wRU
This song is about the benefits of diversity.
Focus on these lyrics:
‘He and she, two different people
With two separate lives
Then you put the two together
And get a spectacular surprise
‘Cause one can teach the other one
What she doesn’t know
While still the other fills a place inside
He never knew had room to grow’
Questions
1. What message do you think the artist is trying to communicate through his/her music?
2. What values and attitudes are being portrayed?
3. Do the lyrics relate to issues of cultural diversity in Australia? How?
4. Does the music add to the meaning of the lyrics? How?
5. What other forms of popular culture communicate messages about diversity?
Extension Task:
Can you think of other songs that relate to cultural diversity?