Catcher in the Rye Song Project

â€Å"Under the Bridge† – Red Hot Chili Peppers Analysis In this song, the lead singer, Anthony Kiedis, is describing how after a drug addiction he moved to a different city to start a new life. This relates to Holden in Catcher in the Rye because after he was kicked out of school he had a hard decision to make. He either could go to his home before his parents knew about the expulsion, or he could run away to New York. Anthony and Holden both choose to go to the city. Also in the song and the book, the singer and Holden turn to drugs as a way to help their lives. Obviously that is the wrong choice, but anyways Holden, although underage, drinks as a means of an anti-depressant. â€Å"†¦The more depressed I got, and I decided, while I was walking and all, to stop off and have a drink somewhere† (90). This quote shows just one of a couple instances where Holden wants to drink because he is depressed or lonely. Anthony Kiedis, just like Holden, turned to hard drugs because he felt lonely from his family and friends. â€Å"Shake Me Down† – Cage the Elephant Analysis This song is about how the lead singer, Matt Shultz, dealt with the death of his last family member. He talks about how people usually grief and turn to drugs to help deal with someone’s loss. The line â€Å"I’ll keep my eyes fixed on the sun† shows how Matt is being optimistic and trying to make his life better from the death. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden’s brother Allie dies and Holden has a bold reaction to his death. â€Å"I was only thirteen, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage† (38-39). Although Holden has a completely different reaction to a family member’s death, this song relates to Holden because it shows the different ways that people deal with a person’s death. Use Somebody† – King’s of Leon Analysis Throughout this song, the writer describes a person that is trying to find somebody to accompany him that has similar personalities. Holden Caulfield throughout the book goes around meeting new people but most of the time he is depressed and lonely. Holden relates to the song’s character because they both need someone in their lives to fix their problems. â€Å"The first thing I did when I got off at Penn Station, I went into this phone booth. I wanted to give somebody a buzz†¦but when I got inside, I couldn’t think of anybody o call† (59). This quote shows how Holden wanted to talk to someone, but anybody he thought of he found a reason not to call him or her. In the song, the singer repeats the same phrase â€Å"You know I could use somebody† to emphasize the need of a friend. Holden is the same in this case, being he needs someone to help him break his negative attributes. â€Å"Express Yourself† – NWA Analysis The main theme in â€Å"Express Yourself† by N. W. A. is to practice what you preach. An important trait to Holden is genuineness and not being a phony, which is why this song relates to him. Many of their other songs such as and â€Å"Straight Outta Compton† and â€Å"F*** Tha Police† were banned from the radio even though they did contain a lot of the truth about their lives and some of the corruption and brutality they faced in their lives. Meanwhile, other artists produced phony music and imitated others. Being â€Å"straight-up† and truthful is something Holden values a lot. â€Å"Or they kill where the hip-hop starts/Forget about the ghetto, and rap for the pop charts. † This line from the song talks about sell-out rappers who make music just for the money and fame. These kinds of people are phonies. Another quote from the song is, â€Å"It's crazy to see people be/what society wants them to be, but not me. † The meaning of this is that other people around him change to make others happy and to fit in, but he won’t. Holden is just like this. His brother D. B. â€Å"sold-out† by moving to Hollywood and being a screenwriter. Holden doesn’t want to follow the same path. â€Å"Basket Case† – Green Day Analysis Green Day’s singer Billie Joe Armstrong wrote this song while he was in a wretched state of emotional distress. Instead of facing his problems, he would resort to drugs and complaining. This song fits in perfectly with how Holden is handling his problems. After being kicked out of a private school in which his mother paid for, he delays telling her until he can get his emotions under control. He goes to New York City and tries to get drunk to relieve his stress, as Billie Joe Armstrong did with drugs. â€Å"Am I just paranoid? Or I'm just stoned. † This song also talks about the constant paranoia he faces. Holden also has to deal with being paranoid as he is clearly insecure. It is rare that the reader will find Holden describing somebody positively. He is constantly making shallow judgments about the people he encounters. He says, â€Å"I’m not kidding, some of these very stupid girls can really knock you out on the dance floor. † Before even having a conversation with her, he already comes to the conclusion that she is a stupid girl. This proves his insecurity because he is seeing his imperfections through others and criticizing them for it. â€Å"Unwell† – Matchbox Twenty Analysis This song was written from the point of view of a depressed person, rather than a crazy person. I feel that Holden would fall into the category of a depressed person rather than a crazy person. He states several times that he really is just lonely. He says,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"What I really feel like, though, was committing suicide. I  felt like jumping out the window. †Ã‚  This may contribute to his depression. This type of depression that he has doesn’t stop him from doing what he wants; it just places an ongoing negative mindset, always judging people. He says, â€Å"The worst part was, the jerk had one of those very phony, Ivy League voices, one of those very tired, snobby voices. He sounded just like a girl. He didn’t hesitate to horn in on my date, the bastard. † This shows his rashness towards people he doesn’t really know. He is just immediately generalizing the people around him. â€Å"Seventy Times 7† – Brand New Analysis This song relates to Holden’s interpretation to a lot of the people he sees. He views everyone like the writer of this song does: as shallow, ignorant and mentally weak. The writer says, â€Å"So, is that what you call a getaway? Tell me what you got away with. Cause I've seen more spine in jellyfish. I've seen more guts in eleven-year-old kids. † He’s exposing the subtle weaknesses of man, much like Holden does in his thoughts. These lyrics are the kind of assumptions that Holden would make about people before even talking to them. This song also fits the way Holden lives his life, â€Å"Back in school they never taught us what we needed to know, like how to deal with despair, or someone breaking your heart. † These are some of Holden’s biggest problems. His failure in his previous relationships will heavily contribute to his ongoing disparity. Dear Holden Caulfield, Over the years I have known you, I have noticed that your personality has changed for the worse. You have gone from a fantastic brother who I loved hanging out with to a lousy, lonely, and depressed person who I feel separated from. I don’t even know who the hell you are anymore! You’ve become a damn childish brat even though you are what now 16 years old? One of the things I hate the most is you think that everything is crap. Movies, people, and everything! It is all crap! You always accuse people of being phony. What exactly is a phony? Have you ever thought of yourself being a phony? Everything you say is a contradiction. In reality, the people you call phony are just average, friendly people. Using your definition of a phony, your own brother would be a phony because he writes stuff for movies. I almost forgot about your social problems. Now, I can’t really ridicule you for this, but you are a lonely person. You don’t have any friends and make people soak in your own sorrows. We need to get someone for you that fix that problem; I’m not worrying about that now though. Your always depressed too damnit. And that makes everyone around you depressed as well. You always have to ruin everybody’s good time. Everything would be going well then all of a sudden you come along and screw up everything. I have decided to get a little creative with the situation. I made you a CD and sent it to you up in Pency Prep. It is a compilation of songs that describe you as a person. It is filled with songs that describe how you coped with your brother’s death, loneliness, and other qualities you have. The first song I have for you is â€Å"Basket Case† by Green Day. This song describes how someone didn’t face their problems and forgot about them. You do the same exact thing. Instead of facing your parents when you get kicked out of Pency, you run away to the city and put away the issue. This song is related to the next song in a way, which is â€Å"Under the Bridge† by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This song describes the singer turning to drugs to fix his problems, just like you turn to alcohol as an anti-depressant. The singer also shows how he ran off to Los Angeles, just like how you ran off to New York, to â€Å"fix† his problems. Another song I picked for you was â€Å"Unwell† by Matchbox Twenty. The singer in this song tells the listeners he is not crazy but instead just epressed. I felt like that related to you because people may think you have some anger management issues or something, but you’re just extremely depressed and lonely. I also thought that â€Å"Express Yourself† by NWA was an appropriate song for you. This song talks about being true to yourself, and makes fun of people who are fake or phony. Do I ha ve to explain this one? You think everything is phony, I mean seriously, this song is probably your favorite song ever. This next song, â€Å"Shake Me Down† by Cage the Elephant, shows how people deal with someone’s death. During the song the singer talks about people who can’t get over the death, just like you and your mother. You even broke all the windows in the garage because of your anger over your brother’s death! I mean damn, that is a way you could react I guess. Another song I put on the CD was â€Å"Use Somebody† by Kings of Leon. The singer in this song shows the need of a friend in people’s life. You definitely could use a friend. Maybe they can help get rid of your depression and loneliness. The next song I put on there was â€Å"Seventy Times 7† by Brand New. The singer relates to you because both of you have the same outlook on people. that they are ignorant, mentally weak, and phony. This song, â€Å"What’s My Age Again† by Blink-182 is the perfect example of you. The song is about a person that acts nothing like his real age. You act like an immature child even though you are 16. The title even describes you. You say people think you are older than you actually are because of your height, but you are only 16! Another song I put on was â€Å"Prayer of the Refugee† by Rise Against. This song describes a refugee that says he is independent and doesn’t want help but yet people try to help him.