SSRS Throwdown: American Pie by Don McLean

[Intro]
A long, long time ago
I can still remember how that music used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And maybe they'd be happy for a while

But February made me shiver
With every paper I'd deliver
Bad news on the doorstep
I couldn't take one more step

I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died

[Chorus]
So bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin' "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"

[Verse 1]
Did you write the book of love
And do you have faith in God above
If the Bible tells you so?
Now do you believe in rock and roll
Can music save your mortal soul
And can you teach me how to dance real slow?

Well, I know that you're in love with him
'Cause I saw you dancin' in the gym
You both kicked off your shoes
Man, I dig those rhythm and blues

I was a lonely teenage broncin' buck
With a pink carnation and a pickup truck
But I knew I was out of luck
The day the music died

[Chorus]
I started singin' bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin' "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"

[Verse 2]
Now for ten years we've been on our own
And moss grows fat on a rollin' stone
But that's not how it used to be
When the jester sang for the king and queen
In a coat he borrowed from James Dean
And a voice that came from you and me

Oh, and while the king was looking down
The jester stole his thorny crown
The courtroom was adjourned
No verdict was returned

And while Lenin read a book on Marx
A quartet practiced in the park
And we sang dirges in the dark
The day the music died

[Chorus]
We were singin' bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry 
Them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin' "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"

[Verse 3]
Helter skelter in a summer swelter
The birds flew off with a fallout shelter
Eight miles high and falling fast
It landed foul on the grass
The players tried for a forward pass
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast

Now the halftime air was sweet perfume
While the sergeants played a marching tune
We all got up to dance
Oh, but we never got the chance

'Cause the players tried to take the field
The marching band refused to yield
Do you recall what was revealed
The day the music died?

[Chorus]
We started singin' bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
And singin' "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"

[Verse 4]
Oh, and there we were all in one place
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again
So come on, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick
Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
'Cause fire is the devil's only friend

Oh, and as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage
No angel born in Hell
Could break that Satan's spell

And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite
I saw Satan laughing with delight
The day the music died

He was singin' bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
And singin' "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"

[Outro]
I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away
I went down to the sacred store
Where I'd heard the music years before
But the man there said the music wouldn't play

And in the streets, the children screamed
The lovers cried and the poets dreamed
But not a word was spoken
The church bells all were broken

And the three men I admire most
The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died

And they were singin' bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin' "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"

[Chorus]
They were singin' bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
And singin' "This'll be the day that I die"

Tone in Laurena Segura's "Permafrost"

Providing a tone of lonely regret, Laurena Segura, in her song "Permafrost" uses constant simile, arboreal imagery, and internal monologue to express her feelings of heartbreak. Feeling ignored, the speaker feels she is frozen and unnoticed. The song's emotion shifts as it goes on. In the beginning, the speaker feels desperate, but the desperation shifts to sadness, then to anger. The song expresses the speaker's thoughts in which she points out different events to shift her mood. Beginning with fiction, the speaker finds herself in the arctic, focusing only on her emotions, ignoring the events that occurred. Next, she begins recalling her experiences. She finds herself feeling lonely due to them. Finally, the speaker gathers herself and points blame. She begins to feel angry at her love interest for her loneliness and regrets her previous feelings.

When the song begins, the listener is immediately confronted with a simile that will extend throughout the song. The first line states "Sometimes I feel like I'm permafrost." as the song goes on, the speaker describes her feelings past that, mostly with the same simile. She continues with "alone in tundra and really lost" Later in the song, she describes her bus ride as "through the boreal forest and the winter frost.", after using normal terms leading up to that. the simile switches in and out a few times during the song, expressing her shift in mood. 

One of the biggest themes in this song is forests. The imagery is centered mainly around that specific area. The speaker uses permafrost as a symbol of herself, describing the tundra and cold forests as the song goes on. She states that "in the taiga everybody knows that you shouldn't wander where the hemlock grows" she puts a person's actions into a plant. The setting comes back when she says "you left my heart on the forest floor. The arboreal imagery is  a prominent theme in this piece. 

The story of this experience is told through a series of the speaker's thoughts. Her first person point of view is used throughout the entire song in order to express her experience to the listener. Recollections such as that in the verse beginning with "I remember when we rode the bus" are plentiful throughout the song. Through these thoughts, the listener is able to gather that the speaker is suffering from heartbreak. Point of view is necessary in order to hold this song together.

In this song, Laurena Segura tells a story of heartbreak and a feeling of loneliness. She expresses herself with a first person point of view,  shifting her tone from sad and heartbroken to angry and heartbroken. The speaker, by the end, is telling her person of interest that they are "such a waste of time" During this shift, the speaker uses devices such as simile, imagery, and point of view to reinforce her feelings. Meanwhile, a tone of lonely regret comes forth.