CHAPTER IV DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION Blink 182‟s songs have unique choice of word expressions because the lyrics use the ideas teenagers used to express themselves in their life such as the ideas of being lonely and lost, and also the ideas of being rejected from a society; ideas that show punks are pessimists. Those ideas will be found in three songs of Blink 182 that I chose to analyze. At this point discussing the song lyric is analyzed by using the real meaning of the sentences (denotation) and the meaning beyond the words or phrases in which people can put their assumption toward them (connotation). Denotative and connotative sentences deal with diction which means word choices to impress the listeners, in order to give a certain condition toward the listeners‟ mind. In analyzing the denotation meaning of the lyrics, I am using the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary: Third Edition (Walter, 2008) to help me find the real meaning of the words or phrases in the lyrics. 22 4.1 Song 1: Stay Together for The Kids Pessimist people tend to have the value represented by negative words such as “lost, no sense, dead, gone, and hard”. As a punk band, Blink 182 also uses negative words that show pessimism such as “haunted, pathetic, no sense, ripe and dead”. As I mentioned earlier in Chapter II, pessimism itself can lead people to depression and contrariness, which affected by black-mood. Black-mood is a negative mood that will affect people‟s state of mind from positive to negative. From the negative words in Blink 182‟s songs, it seems that Blink 182 wants to show their pessimistic view on their life experiences. In the song entitled Stay Together for The Kids, Tom DeLonge tried to tell his private experience when he grew up with the fact that his parents were divorced at the age of 18. Tom DeLonge‟s band, Blink 182, produced this song in around 1998 or 1999 to show the world that there would be lots of children and teenagers that may lose their hopes and dreams if their parents had a divorce. The lyric of the song was relevant with what happened in the end of 1990s until early 2000 when many marriages ended in divorce. Mediate.com (2003) states that, “The divorce rate in the United States is the highest in the world. Fifty percent of marriages end in divorce”. Thus, Tom‟s words which depict the consequences of divorce shown in the beginning of Blink 182‟s music video leave a message that the children 23 who are victims of the divorce were angry and in total disagreement with what their parents did. The first stanza which consists of line 1 to 4 below shows the children‟s feeling D: feeling of sadness D: severe anxiety of a place C: feeling of sympathy or empathy C: something or place that have been abandoned D: unpleasant, rude language D: no meaning and unacceptable C: things going rude C: logically out of mind It's hard to wake up, when the shades have been pulled shut 1 This house is haunted, it's so pathetic, it makes no sense at all 2 I'm ripe with things to say, the words rot and fall away 3 What stupid poem could fix this home, I'd read it every day 4 D: unintelligent, foolish D: to decay D: broken if drop of or fall C: dumb and idiot people C: nonsense words/habits C: suddenly gone for good Tom talked about what he felt when his parents got divorced. In other words, the stanza represents Tom‟s feelings as a child from a broken family. Line 2 which starts with, “This house is haunted ...” clearly shows Tom‟s feeling. The word „haunted‟ in line 2 has several denotative meanings. They are (1) signs of suffering or severe anxiety and (2) a place where ghosts often appear (p. 192), while connotatively it means something that has been abandoned for a long period of time and never been visited. Most people believe that the word „haunted‟ relates to a strange activity and related with ghosts appearance. The word „haunted‟ in 24 the beginning of line 2 represents the strange moment that Tom felt when he realizes the fact that his parents has divorced. Tom‟s house is not like what he wants. The house that is supposed to make Tom feel comfortable and happy to be home has instead changed into a haunted and scary house. The music video shows some young adults in an abandoned house who does nothing but sitting with the depressing faces, while in the outside, there is a wrecking ball which is ready to destroy the house. I believe it represents a family that has already been broken. It symbolizes that somehow their parents are trying to rip their family apart with their decisions, and it makes Tom or some young adults get more desperate. Another negative word in line 2 is „pathetic‟. The word „pathetic‟ which follows the word „haunted‟ emphasizes the abandonment felt by Tom DeLonge. The word „pathetic‟ in line 2 connotatively refers to people‟s feeling of sympathy or empathy on something that tragically happens around them. The feeling of sympathy and empathy has changed into sick condition as it has a stronger meaning than just (1) causing feelings of sadness especially because a person or animal is suffering, or (2) making someone feel no respect, often because of unsuccessful or showing no ability or effort or bravery (p. 1041) as the denotative meaning. Thus, the word „pathetic‟ has negative connotation as being a loser. In other words, I believe that Tom wants to show his disappointment towards his parents who choose to have a divorce because they are not brave enough to face and solve their problems. Beside Tom‟s 25 disappointment, he feels sympathy and empathy for other people who experiences the same thing and tries to represent their feeling. Additionally, in line 2, the phrase „no sense‟ denotatively means (1) spoken or written words that has no meaning or no sense and (2) foolish or unacceptable behavior (p. 965). Connotatively it means a decision or an idea that is logically out of mind and mostly unbelievable. Thus, the phrase „no sense‟ shows that Tom logically did not believe in what happens to his family. For teenagers, the divorce is just like a nightmare of when they constantly wake up and wish the nightmare will be gone. Next, line 3: “I‟m ripe with things to say ...” The word „ripe‟ denotatively means (1) describes a smell which is strong and unpleasant and (2) describes language that is rude (pp. 1231-1232). Connotatively it means that something goes unpleasant and rude. Thus, the word „ripe‟ represents Tom who wants to express his feelings in an unpleasant way. However, in line 3, there is the word „rot‟ which denotatively means (1) to (cause to) decay, (2) nonsense (n), and as an idiom, the word „rot‟ means; to stay in prison or etc. for a very long period (pp. 1241-1242), while connotatively it means words or habits or activities that is nonsense. Some people would call it a „crap‟ which means that Tom is thinking that the feelings that he wants to express are useless. In other words, the word „rot‟ could be understood as a child who cannot be used as a guarantee to save their family. So, I tend to say that in parents think about their child as being not as important as their ego and the problems they face. This 26 statement is supported by the phrase „fall away‟ in line 3 which connotatively means things are broken and suddenly lost or gone forever, which has a stronger meaning than if parts of something falls away, by breaking off and dropping to the ground (p. 507) as the denotative meaning. Implicitly it means that Tom feels that his family is no longer possible to be together. The music video shows that there is no parent in the house so the children have to live alone. These are the kind of feelings that every child would feel knowing if their parents are no longer together and that their families are ripped apart. The negative words mentioned above previously represented in the music video has used the simple word „hate‟, which means that Tom totally disagrees with what his parents decided. Line 4: “What stupid poem could fix this home, I‟d read it everyday”. The word „stupid‟ denotatively means unintelligent, foolish, and stupid (p. 431). Connotatively it means things or people that are dumb or idiot or silly. Obviously in this case, the word signals that Tom as the song writer would do anything to make his family in one piece again. Besides, I also believe that the word „stupid‟ means the parents‟ attitude of breaking their family‟s is togetherness. The parents‟ stupidities are, for example, being an angry person, being a negative minded person, being a narrow minded person, and being a moody person. These children, like Tom, should have a family that can cure any illness and becomes the 27 strongest support that everyone needs in bad circumstances so having his parents always angry and then have a divorce is regarded as stupid. Then in the second stanza, which consists of line 5 to 9, the lyric goes: D: not living, not important C: lost feelings and hope for the future D: dead/extinct C: no longer exist, hopeless So here's your holiday, 5 hope you enjoy it this time, you gave it all away 6 it was mine, so when you're dead and gone 7 will you remember this night, twenty years now lost, 8 it's not right.