MUSE Starlight: Analysis

Charan Arulmani Mr. Graham Lyrics: - http://www.metrolyrics.com/starlight-lyrics-muse.html Far away The ship is taking me far away Far away from my memories Of the people who care if I live or die Starlight I will be chasing your starlight Until the end of my life I don't know if it's worth it anymore And hold you in my arms I just wanted to hold You in my arms My life You electrify my life Lets conspire to re-ignite All the souls that would die just to feel alive But I'll never let you go If you promise not to fade away Never fade away Our hopes and expectations Black holes and revelations Our hopes and expectations Black holes and revelations Hold you in my arms I just wanted to hold You in my arms Far away The ship is taking me far away Far away from my memories Of the people who care if I live or die I'll never let you go If you promise not to fade away Never fade away Our hopes and expectations Black holes and revelations

Yeah Our hopes and expectations Black holes and revelations Hold you in my arms I just wanted to hold You in my arms I just wanted to hold

Analysis: Starlight is a hit song written my British alternative rock band Muse. The album this song is found in; Black Holes and Revelations was written in a time where the band was trying to change the mood, and message of its song to a more political and scientific front. The album is voted as #34 in the Best Album by a British Band of All-Time, and received high praises from fans, and critics. The inner meaning is often disputed by fans. Whereas most fans agree its about a topic that takes a lot of energy and effort from the singer, the dispute is in regards of whether its love thats causing the singer to write this song, or another explanation. I personally believe that this song is about chasing your dreams; the feelings felt when the chase isnt immediately successful, and the emotions and thoughts felt by the singer during this part of his life. I know this because of the many metaphorical statements in the song and symbols in the lyrics. The song begins with the singer talking about how the ship is taking him far away from the people he loves and cares about this. This could show how trying to achieve your dreams takes so much effort and work and sometimes it leaves the singer excluded from his family and friends because he has no time for them or he is so obsessed with trying to reach his goal he feels nothing is important except for the end objective. The word ship could also symbolize lucky journeys, and good and bad times, which could be inferred that the singer is feelings emotions of being stranded and unaccompanied and alone. The next stanza talks about the singer trying to chase the starlight and the beginning of feelings of depression, low self-esteem, and hopelessness. The act of trying to chase starlight itself is preposterous because light the fastest thing known to man is humanely impossible to catch. This could represent how the artist feels like its near impossible to try to succeed his chase and he should just quit. The end shows that he knows he wont quit, and he understands that till the end of his life he will be trying to do something that he thinks is impossible. The next line shows how the end result of all his dreams may not be worth it any more. The next line hold you in my arms may represent how he wants to so badly obtain his dreams. The way the artist sings it gives of the impression that if he could just merely hold it he would be happy. The fourth stanza talks about how his dreams complete his life; without it he would just be a soul that would die to feel alive. The fact he says you electrify my life is that you give my life ups and downs, without dreams life would be boring and predictable, I think the artist is saying dreams are the variable in a constant life. This verse shows how the artist would never stop chasing his dreams, if the DREAMS themselves would not just deteriorate. This is giving the inanimate object of dreams the action of fading away or applying personification.

The chorus of the song means that his hopes and expectations or another word for dreams is related to black holes and is supposed to reveal something. This may show that like a black hole his dreams are sucking everything from him; his financial resources, his family, friends and time. However, it may also mean like a black hole that is indescribable and mostly a mystic, unknown supernatural force. If he succeeds in accomplishing his goal his dreams will reveal things more confounding and awe-striking than a powerful black hole. The artists intended audience, is probably for people that are feeling down, or just feel hopeless, and want to quit because the message in his song tells these people that there is an end, and in the end you will be successful and have learned many things in your journey that would build your character. Another view at the song may say that his audience may have been his lover, or wife that he may have had a bit of rocky times with to say that it is all going to get better. The singers tone in this song varies from his beginning tone to the climax of the song. In the beginning the artist was very bitter towards love, feeling hopeless, tired and excluded from his family and friends. However near the climax of the song, all these feelings are reversed progressively the artist feels energized by his dreams and clingy to its existence. I think the most powerful line in the song is I will be chasing your starlight. I love this line because it packs imagery as well as metaphors and symbols all into a packed phrase. It also gives a lot of wisdom in light that addictions is like chasing starlight, it will get you nowhere and will waste your time even though that is not how its used in the song. The most visual phrase in the song has to be The ship is taking me far way/ Far away from my memories. When the singer sings this song, I can imagine rough seas and calm seas and one man stranded, alone, in the boat surrounded with thousands of miles of serenity and just loneliness attacking him. This song is filled with figurative devices such as; imagery, metaphors, personification, repetition, and symbolism. Imagery: o The imagery in this song starts with the first line as the line as the artist describes a ship far way from civilization stranded in a vast sea. This image makes you understand the deep loneliness and sorrow the artist is feeling, and through imagery makes you understand the emotions the artist is feeling. o The image of a man chasing starlight helps the listener visualise the impossibility of chasing something as fast as light, and sheds light to the situation the artist thinks he is in. o The image of Electrifying my life makes you imagine sparks, and energy which is what the metaphor symbolises Metaphors: o Even though the entire song is one big metaphor there are some metaphors that make it up. The phrase about chasing starlight is a metaphor too, because it represents impossibility, wasting of time and also the wasting of effort. o You electrify my life This is a metaphor for running my life, or giving my life a spark or charge. This metaphor shows the listener how important his dreams are to his existence and life, and gives of the vibe that without his dreams he would be incomplete or uncharged. o All the souls that would die to feel alive This a metaphor for how some people have no purpose in life, and they feel dead when they are alive. This metaphor relates to the last

metaphor which showed that without dreams he would feel uncharged or another word; dead. This may tell the listeners the vitality of dreams. Personification: o You (Dreams) electrify my life Life cannot actually be electrified, and dreams cannot actually apply electrical charges to another inanimate object. Like previously stated this statement shows how important dreams are for him o If you (Dreams) promise not to fade away This gives the inanimate perception of dreams the characteristic to make and abide to promises. This is important because this shows how much he NEEDS dreams, not does he WANT it but he really needs it to function properly. Repetition: o The chorus is repeated 2 times and the bridge is repeated 3 times for dramatic effect, and as a transition to the next stanza. Symbolism: o Electricity this represents life, charge, and deep passion. o Ship represents the sea (rough times, good times, bad times, etc.), lucky journey o Black Holes vast unknown, supernatural power, powerful

The title of the song Starlight represents the innocence of stars, as well as the purity and spotlight of the word light. The word together may mean a spotlight on one passion (his dreams.) It later in the song means impossibility because the singer describes himself as trying to chase starlight which is unmanageable since light is the fastest thing known to man. Starlight doesnt have any present rhyme scheme and just relies on the singers voice and interesting techniques he used to make it flow. One technique is to have very little words in one line but to use his voice and different levels to really high light and bring out those two words. Another technique

the singer performs is to make the words very staccato but than one word he wants to highlight stretch out, this is very pleasing to the ear and brings a very melodious sense to the music. The mood of this song is a very depressing, slow song of the singer just sharing his innermost feelings and emotions. That establishes a one-on-one link with the listener and the singers voice like a snake charmer just melodiously depresses the song. The music in the background contributes a high contrast to the singer without being to overpowering because the music is very upbeat and fast in tempo, and sharp whereas the singer is slow and melodious. I think this purposely done to give the ears a very pleasant contrast as wells as to not bore the listener with slow lyrics and instrumental. The diction in this song is very formal, with no fillers or colloquial language (Yeahhh ohh, etc.) this creates the voice of a confident man, and lets the artists inject his own variations in the voice to control his depression and loss in confidence and not let the yeahhhss, or ums interfere with his clean canvas to work with the character. I personally believe the character and the singers voice match perfectly and leads to the inference that the singer is the character. I can conclude this because of the singers purposely dreary, and tired voice even though its a very pleasing, melodious and dynamic voice. His voice is also stained with the feelings of past experiences and wisdom.