Tras haber analizado las letras de las canciones de U2 a través de un estudio de las palabras más utilizadas, tanto de manera global como por álbum y de haber realizado el mismo análisis de las palabras contenidas en los títulos de las canciones de los siguientes álbumes:
- Boy.
- October.
- War.
- Under A Blood Red Sky.
- The Unforgettable Fire.
- Wide Awake In America.
- The Joshua Tree.
- Rattle and Hum.
- Achtung Baby.
- Zooropa.
- Pop.
- All That You Can’t Leave Behind.
- How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.
- No Line On The Horizon.
- Songs of Innocence.
- Songs Of Experience,
me propongo analizar la primera y la última estrofa de cada álbum.
No sé lo que puede salir, si tendrá algún sentido o no ni tengo muy claro qué orientación darle. Simplemente, voy a dejarme llevar por las palabras.
En esta primera tabla podéis ver la primera estrofa de cada uno de los 16 álbumes y la canción a la que pertenece:
[2] “I try to sing this song I, I try to stand up But I can’t find my feet. I, I try to speak up But only in you I’m complete.”
[3] “I can’t believe the news today I can’t close my eyes and make it go away. How long, how long must we sing this song? How long, how long? ‘Cos tonight We can be as one, tonight”
[4] “I try to sing this song I, I try to stand up But I can’t find my feet. I, I try to speak up But only in you I’m complete.”
[5] “And you know it’s time to go Through the sleet and driving snow Across the fields of mourning to a light that’s in the distance.”
[6] “And you know it’s time to go Through the sleet and driving snow Across the fields of mourning to a light that’s in the distance.”
[7] “I wanna run, I want to hide I wanna tear down the walls That hold me inside. I wanna reach out And touch the flame Where the streets have no name.”
[8] “When you get to the bottom You go back to the top of the slide And you stop and you turn And you go for a ride Then you get to the bottom Then you see me again”
[9] “I’m ready Ready for the laughing gas I’m ready Ready for what’s next Ready to duck Ready to dive Ready to say I’m glad to be alive I’m ready Ready for the push”
[10] “Zooropa… Vorsprung durch Technik Zooropa… be all that you can be Be a winner Eat to get slimmer”
[11] “You can reach, but you can’t grab it. You can’t hold it, control it You can’t bag it.”
[12] “The heart is a bloom, shoots up through stony ground But there’s no room, no space to rent in this town You’re out of luck and the reason that you had to care, The traffic is stuck and you’re not moving anywhere. You thought you’d found a friend to take you out of this place Someone you could lend a hand in return for grace”
[13] “Unos dos tres catorce!”
[14] “I know a girl who’s like the sea I watch her changing every day for me Oh yeah Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh”
[15] “I was chasing down the days of fear Chasing down a dream before it disappeared I was aching to be somewhere near, Your voice was all I heard I was shaking from a storm in me, Haunted by the spectres that we had to see Yeah I wanted to be the melody, Above the noise, above the hurt.”
[16] “Nothing to stop this being the best day ever Nothing to keep us from where we should be I wanted the world but you knew better And that all we have is immortality”
Y en esta tabla podéis ver la última estrofa de cada álbum y la canción a la que pertenece:
[2] “Is that all? Is that all? Is that all? Is that all you want from me?”
[3] “I will sing, sing a new song. I will sing, sing a new song I will sing, sing a new song. I will sing, sing a new song How long to sing this song? How long to sing this song? How long to sing this song? How long to sing this song?”
[4] “I will sing, sing a new song. I will sing, sing a new song I will sing, sing a new song. I will sing, sing a new song How long to sing this song? How long to sing this song? How long to sing this song? How long to sing this song?”
[5] “Sleep, sleep tonight And may your dreams be realised. If the thunder cloud passes rain So let it rain, let it rain Rain down on he.”
[6] “Sun shine, sun shine on me Sun shine, sun shine on me”
[7] “In the trees our sons stand naked Through the walls our daughter cry See their tears in the rainfall.”
[8] “You say you want diamonds on a ring of gold Your story to remain untold Your love not to grow cold. All the promises we break, from the cradle to the grave When all I want is you.”
[9] “Love is blindness, I don’t want to see Won’t you wrap the night around me? Oh, my love, Blindness.”
[10] “Yeah, I went with nothing, nothing but the thought of you. I went wandering.”
[11] “Wake up, wake up dead man Wake up, wake up dead man. Wake up, wake up dead man.”
[12] “Grace makes beauty out of ugly things”
[13] “Take this city A city should be shining on a hill Take this city If it be your will What no man can own, no man can take Take this heart Take this heart Take this heart And make it break”
[14] “Choose your enemies carefully cos they will define you Make them interesting cos in some ways they will mind you They’re not there in the beginning but when your story ends Gonna last with you longer than your friend”
[15] “Somebody stepped inside your soul Somebody stepped inside your soul Little by little they robbed and stole Till someone else was in control”
[16] “And this is a song A song for someone This is a song A song for someone Someone like me Someone like me Someone like me”
Vamos a comenzar con un análisis de las palabras más utilizadas tanto en las primeras como en las últimas estrofas:
Nos encontramos con un total de 199 palabras (146 únicas) en las primeras estrofas (una vez eliminadas las stopwords):
Nos encontramos con un total de 214 palabras (95 únicas) en las últimas estrofas (una vez eliminadas las stopwords):
Conclusiones:
- Las últimas estrofas contienen más palabras que las primeras (en promedio).
- Las últimas estrofas contienen menos palabras únicas que las primeras (en promedio). Si conjugamos estas dos afirmaciones, llegamos a la conclusión de que las últimas estrofas suelen contener repeticiones de palabras como, por ejemplo:
- “sing“, “song” y “long” aparecen en los puestos más destacados tanto en las primeras como en las últimas estrofas.
- Por lo general, las primeras estrofas tienen más contenido y son más poéticas que las ultimas. Ya lo avisó Bono en “Original Of The Species“:
“Baby slow down
The end is not as fun as the start”
Aunque me gustaría destacar una excepción, con un gran final de canción (y de disco) – “Cedars Of Lebannon”
“Choose your enemies carefully cos they will define you
Make them interesting cos in some ways they will mind you
They’re not there in the beginning but when your story ends
Gonna last with you longer than your friend.”
- La primera estrofa del primer disco es:
“I was on the outside when you said
You needed me
I was looking at myself
I was blind, I could not see.“
- y la última estrofa del último disco es:
“And this is a song
A song for someone
This is a song
A song for someone
Someone like me
Someone like me
Someone like me”
¿Alguien se anima a componer una canción a partir de la estrofa inicial y de la final? Bonito reto.