Contemporary Muses – Henry T. Edmondson III

Nicely, we busted out of classhad to get away from these foolsWe realized extra from a three-minute report, babythan we ever realized in class.

“No Give up,” Bruce Springsteen

Just a few years in the past, Harvard’s Division of English started providing the course “Taylor Swift and Her World.” Some will little doubt view this as yet one more occasion of the degradation of upper training. Admittedly, it could attempt to extract an excessive amount of from the “Princess of Pop”; however, for higher or worse, fashionable tradition has discovered a safe house within the universities, with programs on music, graphic novels—even video video games. The Harvard course at the least does one factor proper: The textual content of the course isn’t solely the music itself. Slightly, the music is tied to extra traditional texts, together with works by Willa Cather and William Wordsworth. 

In actual fact, there’s something to be mentioned for plumbing the philosophical depths of fashionable music. The erudite will naturally be skeptical, typically with cause, however this a lot at the least may be mentioned of pop songs: individuals take heed to them. Little doubt our youngsters could be higher off devoting the steadiness of their leisure to Plato and Augustine, however are they possible to do this? Common music is usually shallow, nonsensical, or simply foul, however it has an affect. Certainly, the entire world is aware of American pop artists. They’re a pillar of our international legacy, for higher or worse. They usually can, at occasions, supply a significant window into the American, or Western, soul. 

It’s comparatively straightforward to mix up to date music and politics. The Sixties and past yield a humiliation of riches, from the protest music of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ within the Wind,” famously lined by Peter, Paul, and Mary, to the uglier, much less impressed protest music of Inexperienced Day’s “American Fool,” to patriotic songs like Lee Greenwood’s highly regarded “God Bless the usA.” or Blake Shelton’s notable “God’s Nation.” Many artists now lend their compositions to political campaigns, although not at all times efficiently. John Kerry should be questioning why Bruce Springsteen didn’t ship the presidency to him in 2004. One factor you’ll be able to say concerning the gifted Springsteen’s political endorsements: he is aware of find out how to choose a loser. 

It could be disappointing, although, if America’s most seen cultural commentators have been unable to see previous the poll field. Fortunately, some can. Some pop songs discover deep themes of ethical philosophy. Others meditate thoughtfully on the human situation. It’s stunning how a lot philosophical training one can get by listening to the radio. 

Coming Out of the Cave

Ethical philosophy examines the great, and particularly what is nice for human beings. A stunning variety of up to date songs transfer into the house by expressing human longing, a disposition from which all ethics ought to proceed. Take into account, then, “Working Down a Dream” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The guitar solo by underrated lead guitarist Mike Campbell is without doubt one of the finest in rock historical past. 

Working down a dreamNever would come to meWorking on a mysteryGoing wherever it leads.

Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” from the Republic will be the most significant remedy of the related idea. The inhabitants of the cave are restrained, content material with shadows of actual life somewhat than life itself.

This feels particularly related after we take into account what number of college students and younger individuals at present are affected by digital addictions. Comparable themes are explored by the folk-rock band Mumford & Sons, with their inventive composition “The Cave.” It could be troublesome to discover a higher expression of the need to undertake self-examination. The music is wealthy with that means; for instance, the allusion to Homer’s Odyssey shouldn’t be missed. The group enthusiasm is outstanding, on condition that the music incorporates Socratic thought in such a significant means. 

And I’ll discover energy in painAnd I’ll change my waysI’ll know my title because it’s referred to as once more

……………………………………….

So come out of your cave strolling in your handsAnd see the world hanging upside downYou can perceive dependenceWhen you already know the maker’s land

Main us additional into The Republic’s metaphorical inquiry into the character and elements of the human soul, we see on the finish of the Gorgias that Socrates has satisfied his interlocutors that a lifetime of advantage is the one cheap life, as a result of upon demise, the soul of every particular person will likely be uncovered, permitting all to see whether it is marred by vice or dignified by advantage. Step one of the examined life, then, is to “awaken the soul.” As soon as once more, the London-based group fronted by Marcus Mumford is instructive with their music “Awake My Soul.” 

How fickle my coronary heart and the way woozy my eyesI wrestle to search out any reality in your liesAnd now my coronary heart stumbles on issues I don’t knowMy weak point I really feel I need to lastly present

The second verse expands the that means of the primary.

Lend me your hand and we’ll conquer them allBut lend me your coronary heart and I’ll simply allow you to fallLend me your eyes I can change what you seeBut your soul you could preserve, completely free

The refrain is an easy but profound response to the issues of the verses: 

Awake my soulAwake my soul

This may increasingly not absolutely seize the expertise of studying Plato’s Republic, however anybody who appreciates these songs is prone to replicate, at the least for a second, on the unexamined life and whether or not it’s value dwelling. 

Advantage, Vice, and the Nicely-Lived Life

 Upon preliminary consideration, it might sound that up to date music has little to contribute to a dialogue of the virtues. The style is plagued by an excessive amount of tasteless protest music and infused with narcissism, defiance, and intercourse. In actual fact, although, rock and pop music unfold a dialogue of the cardinal virtues: Fortitude, Temperance, Justice, and Prudence. 

Fortitude

What higher place for instance fortitude than Bruce Springsteen’s manifesto “No Give up”? Although his politics have been obnoxious, and his current quisling antics overseas are offensive, his music stands on his personal deserves. In any case, Caravaggio was a assassin and a philanderer, however his artwork is sensational. 

We made a promise we mentioned we’d at all times keep in mind No retreat, child, no surrenderLike troopers on a winter’s evening with a vow to defendNo retreat, child, no give up.

Comparable themes form Springsteen’s “The Promised Land.” On this case, fortitude should push by means of a deep emotional ache that appears virtually insurmountable. 

I’ve finished my finest to dwell the suitable wayI stand up each morning and go to work every dayBut your eyes go blind and your blood runs coldSometimes I really feel so weak, I simply wanna explodeExplode and tear this entire city apartTake a knife and minimize this ache from my coronary heart

Nothing lower than agency willpower will suffice, as the problem is akin to a violent desert storm that may sweep away illusions. It won’t be straightforward; if it have been, fortitude could be pointless. 

Nicely, there’s a darkish cloud rising from the desert floorI packed my baggage and I’m heading straight into the stormGonna be a tornado to blow the whole lot downThat ain’t bought the religion to face its groundBlow away the goals that tear you apartBlow away the goals that break your heartBlow away the lies that go away you behindBut misplaced and brokenhearted.

If no one else understands his degree of desolation, at the least the “canines on Important Road” get it: 

The canines on Important Road howl ‘trigger they understandIf I may take one second into my arms

Mister I ain’t a boy, no, I’m a manAnd I imagine in a promised land.

Temperance

In up to date music, Temperance is usually explored by means of damaging instance. Contemplating the excesses of rock music, ought to that be a shock? In what could also be her darkest music, Taylor Swift illustrates intemperance in “Don’t Blame Me” 

Don’t Blame me, your love made me loopy, if it doesn’t you ain’t doin’ it rightLord Save me, my drug is my Child, I’ll be utilizing for the remainder of my life.

The unequalled progressive band “Pink Floyd” offers with the identical vice, though with a extra lively conscience than is obvious with Swift. The music seems on the band’s first album after Roger Waters’ departure, “A Momentary Lapse of Cause.” “One Slip” carries a tragic, remorseful tone: in contrast, Swift is defiant in her obsession.

Aristotle’s Ethics names cash as one other need susceptible to extra, and this reality is famous in the identical band’s iconic tune “Cash.” Right here, Waters wrote the lyrics and gifted guitarist Roger Gilmour put it to music. He as soon as complained that Waters typically appeared to overlook that his oft-difficult prose needed to be transferred to the musical clef. On this case, the music discovered its house with the bizarre time signature of seven/8. The music video is as well-known because the music itself. 

Cash, nicely, get backI’m alright, Jack, preserve your arms off of my stackMoney, it’s a hitDon’t give me that do goody-good bullshit.

“Too A lot” by the Dave Matthews Band satirizes immoderation: “Trigger in between the strains / I’m gonna pack extra strains.” The refrain appears to have a vice for everybody:

I eat too muchI drink too muchI need too muchToo a lot

Justice

Rightly understood, equality is an expression of “justice”—giving individuals what they deserve. Common music actually has a lot to say on that theme, a lot of it silly. However typically music moderates, as an example, by countering the feminist concept that if a girl is to reach life, she should suppose and act like a person. Such gossamer-thin premises are swept away by U2’s “Mysterious Methods,” which celebrates the “thriller” of womanhood. The official music video is shot within the Center East, replete with a stomach dancer. The dancer, Morleigh Steinberg, later married lead guitarist “the Edge.” The dancer additionally accompanied the band for dwell performances; later, she was changed by girls randomly chosen from the viewers who have been invited to bop with frontman Bono. The music acknowledges not merely the equality of a girl, however the occasions through which she is superior to a person as a result of her “thriller.” It’s a welcome reflection on sexuality in a time of “gender identification” insanity.

Let her discuss concerning the issues you’ll be able to’t explainTo contact is to heal, to harm is to stealIf you need to kiss the sky, higher discover ways to kneelOn your knees, boy

………………….She sees the person contained in the youngster

It’s all proper, it’s all proper, it’s all rightShe strikes in mysterious methods, yeah

Prudence

Bob Dylan addresses the prudence and proper judgment that comes with age and expertise. Though Dylan’s lyrics and singing type made him a legend, the magnificence of his songs is usually clearer when another person sings them. Such is the case with the reflective “My Again Pages” (1964), whose younger creator was studying essential classes about social change. It was The Byrds’ model that was carried out by a outstanding array of superstars on the thirtieth Anniversary Tribute to Bob Dylan in 1992. Dylan sings the fifth stanza. 

His perception into imprudently conceived “equality” in a time of impassioned upheaval is prescient. 

A self-ordained professor’s tongue too severe to foolSpouted out that liberty is simply equality in class“Equality, “I spoke the phrase as if a marriage vow

The refrain is straightforward, an implicit acknowledgment that prudence comes with age and expertise. This confirms Aristotle’s remark within the Ethics, that whereas a teenager could also be a very good geometrician or mathematician, a younger man of prudence is difficult to search out: 

Ah, however I used to be a lot older then, I’m youthful than that now. 

A Tribute to Magnificence

Aesthetics has fallen on onerous occasions. Many are loath to say that the ugly emperor has no garments, but when there’s an unwillingness or incapability to criticize vulgarity, the place does that go away magnificence? An appreciation of magnificence, nevertheless, appears to persist. Why do nicely over three million individuals nonetheless go to the Prado Museum in Madrid yearly, with its Velázquez, Goya, El Greco, and Murillo? In a widely known tackle titled “What Is Liberal Training?” delivered by Leo Strauss in 1959 on the College of Chicago, he asserted, 

Liberal training is liberation from vulgarity. The Greeks had a stupendous phrase for “vulgarity”; they referred to as it apeirokalia, lack of expertise in issues lovely. Liberal training provides us with expertise in issues lovely.

Examples of vulgarity abound in up to date music, however magnificence is discovered as nicely. 

Within the Metaphysics and Poetics, Aristotle pursues goal standards which may outline magnificence. He regarded the appreciation of magnificence as a uniquely human trait that elevates the soul, and, within the Nichomachean Ethics, he extends the dialogue to “ethical magnificence,” implying that magnificence is intimately concerned in ethics. Do we discover in up to date music help for magnificence, in addition to examples of vulgarity? Certainly, we do. “Lovely Day” was written and recorded in a relaxed interval for U2. Bono explains they have been on the lookout for one thing “ecstatic.” They succeeded:

It’s a stupendous daySky falls, you are feeling likeIt’s a stupendous dayDon’t let it get away

The music’s bridge begins with an allusion to astronaut Invoice Anders’ description of the Earth from Apollo 8 in 1968: 

See the world in inexperienced and blueSee China proper in entrance of youSee the canyons damaged by cloud

It then finds magnificence in a secular world:

See the tuna fleets clearing the ocean outSee the Bedouin fires at nightSee the oil fields at first gentle and

The music ends with an allusion to the story of Noah’s Ark after the flood:

See the chook with a leaf in her mouthAfter the flood all the colours got here out

The elegant “Metropolis of Blinding Lights” will be the band’s most transferring composition. It addresses the fantastic thing about humanity and contains the marvelous line “Oh, you look so lovely tonight!” However magnificence doesn’t a lot stem from our look however from our dignity, in order that, “They’re promoting within the skies for individuals like us.” Seeing the fantastic thing about others means wanting past the superficial and gazing previous the issues that distort our imaginative and prescient of one other:

Don’t look earlier than you laughLook ugly in a photographFlash bulbs, purple irisesThe digicam can’t see

However it’s true that the fantastic thing about our dignity can be obscured by our compromised nature:

Are you able to see the sweetness inside me?What occurred to the sweetness I had inside me?

Sixpence None the Richer took their title from a phrase in C. S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity. They acquired widespread recognition when their pretty music “Kiss Me” appeared within the 1999 film “She’s All That.” Like U2, a lot of their music displays Christian themes, however religion isn’t essential to be entranced by “Melody of You.” 

A Mad Existentialist World

Existentialism appears to encourage significantly lovely music, maybe as a result of trendy individuals determine so readily with the lonely wrestle to search out ourselves in a world that usually feels pitiless and empty. That temper is mirrored within the Jakob Dylan-led band, the Wallflowers, melancholy melody, top-of-the-line out of seven studio albums, “God Says Nothing Again.”

Looks as if the world’s gone undergroundNo gods or heroes dare to go downAs teardrops from a gap in heaven comeOverhead like ravens dropping down like bombs

A sobering chorus follows:

Now by means of the morning’s silver frosted glowGod says nothing again however I advised you so.I advised you so.

One other forlorn existentialist tune that’s broadly identified: “Mud within the Wind” by Kansas. It fantastically describes a bleak existence. Søren Kierkegaard, at the least, ought to be happy, on condition that, as he explains in Worry and Trembling, his existential world isn’t really ugly so long as people confront it with dignity. Even Christians mustn’t anticipate a pleasing and untroubled coast by means of life. The music employs the metaphor of the ocean. Curiously, that appears to be an allusion in a few of the finest existentialist music. 

Mud within the windAll they’re is mud within the wind

Usual songJust a drop of water in an limitless sea

All we doCrumbles to the bottom, although we refuse to see

“The Voice” is by the refined artwork rock band, the Moody Blues, an English group whose following simply spans three generations. At this writing, frontman Justin Haywood continues to be performing, though bassist John Lodge handed away in October of 2025. “The Voice” is a name to “face the music,” to just accept the world as it’s, not as we want it may be. It begins with the singer admitting that he doesn’t perceive life in addition to he thought he did.

Gained’t you are taking me again to high school?I have to be taught the golden ruleWon’t you lay it on the road?I would like to listen to it only one extra time.

The reality is accepted within the second verse:

Each coronary heart it seemsIs bounded by a world of dreamsEach and each rising sunIs greeted by a lonely one.

The bridge as soon as once more employs the metaphor of the ocean:

Trigger out on the ocean of life, my loveThere’s so many stormsWe should rise above

Are you able to hear the spirit callingAs it’s carried throughout the waves?You’re already fallingIt’s calling you again to face the music

Camus and Sartre may respect that “The Voice” comes from inside, as a result of the one steering and inspiration we’ve on this life is self-generated. The Moody Blues urge us to withstand the alienation and loneliness about which the existentialist philosophers warn, by embracing it and producing one thing dignified as a replacement. 

Much less well-known is the group Guster. The members met as freshmen at Tufts College in 1991 and are nonetheless going robust. The music “On the Ocean” is considered one of their most philosophical, through which, in a nod to the “Wizard of Oz,” the artist should admit, “There’s no magnificence right here/no emerald city.”

Am I asleep?Is that this a dream?Oh my god, what have I finished?Something?

……………………………….

On the oceanI suppose we’re taking over waterThe storm is on the wayBut I’ll maintain on anyway

It’s, certainly, a “Mad World,” lined right here by the world-class a capella group, Pentatonix:

I discover it onerous to inform youI discover it onerous to takeWhen individuals run in circles, it’s a really, veryMad world, mad world

The music turned the signature soundtrack from the 2001 existentialist psychological movie, Donnie Darko. In an unlucky (existentialist?) twist, the movie’s launch was delayed as a result of 9/11 as a result of the film comprises a recurring airplane crash. 

Staring into the Nihilistic Hearth 

Nihilism will get a nasty press; accordingly, Nietzsche sought to redeem it by including an inspiring, even elegant, doctrine of creativity, for which destruction is barely the prelude. That is nowhere higher expressed than in up to date music. As soon as once more, the paranormal tone of the Moody Blues expresses the doctrine in “The Story In Your Eyes.” 

Take heed to the tide slowly turningWash all our heartaches awayWe’re a part of the hearth that’s burningAnd from the ashes we will construct one other day

Nietzsche was practical about going past good and evil and even apprehensive of what we would discover on the “different facet”; in any other case, we might not want an “Ubermensch” to boldly “Break on By way of to the Different Aspect” as Jim Morrison expressed it. Morrison learn Nietzsche as a movie pupil on the College of California, Los Angeles, and his music displays Nietzsche’s insistence that human progress requires a forceful, although dangerous, push ahead.

You understand the day destroys the nightNight divides the dayTried to run, tried to hideBreak on by means of to the opposite sideBreak on by means of to the opposite sideBreak on by means of to the opposite facet, yeah

Brandon Flowers, a devoted household man, and the entrance man of Las Vegas-based band the Killers, has mentioned his motivation for writing their huge hit “Human” was his misery on the decline of morals and the world through which his kids should develop. Maybe with out consciously doing so, he wrote a prescient, quintessential assertion of Nietzsche’s doctrine. 

The idea of “dancer” or “dancing” is a conspicuous idea in Nietzsche’s celebrated philosophical novel, Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The protagonist declares, “I ought to solely imagine in a God that might know find out how to dance.” With the intention to overcome the “Spirit of Gravity,” Zarathustra additional explains, “I realized to stroll; since then have I let myself run. I realized to fly; since then I don’t want pushing as a way to transfer from a spot. Now am I gentle, now do I fly; now do I see myself underneath myself. Now there danceth a God in me.” Accordingly, the music asks, “Are we human / or are we dancer?

The method of transferring Past Good and Evil is expressed remarkably nicely within the second verse of the music:

Pay my respects to grace and virtueSend my condolences to goodGive my regards to soul and romanceThey at all times did the most effective they might

And so lengthy to devotionYou taught me the whole lot I knowWave goodbyeWish me wellYou’ve gotta let me go

It appears an open query whether or not “Human” expresses concern for, or celebration of, Nietzschean “overcoming.” 

The Nature of Pedagogical Novelty

There’s a threat in “over-interpreting” up to date music, twisting it to conveniently say no matter suits the event. Lots of the songwriters could not even have the ability to articulate, from a philosophical standpoint, what their music is about. 

That doesn’t make the themes unreal. The very best artwork of all durations is to some extent a repository or reinterpretation of concepts and themes that got here earlier than, and on this respect at the least, fashionable music is definitely an actual, and nonetheless creating, inventive style. It expresses and explores concepts which can be presently on individuals’s minds. And it connects them to older theories and literary works. Typically it’s value drawing out these connections.

A few of the music into account at occasions should bridge the technology hole; at occasions, I invite college students to make their very own musical selections, so long as they will clarify how they’re associated to foundational texts. As famous within the introduction, a pedagogical method like this one could at occasions over-interpret or misread up to date music—or provoke disagreements. I as soon as acquired an electronic mail from the “Moody Blues Fb Fan Membership Affiliation” asking why “The Story in Your Eyes” is nihilistic. It was a good query. 

Younger individuals at present do dwell in a world deeply formed by fashionable music, nevertheless. Exploring that reality additionally forces us to re-read nice works of the Western canon. Is just not such dialogue and evaluation the target of training?