Je Suis Un Homme by Zazie
Je Suis Un Homme: An Analysis
'Je Suis Un Homme,' is a free form song composed and performed by Zazie, a French singer. The song is about our evolution from ape to man and how it's not just our way of life but also how our attitude towards life has changed. Our priorities and what makes us so important, happy and successful have changed to material goods, and the song makes you feel that somewhere, somehow, something went wrong and screwed our priorities in a direction it should have never gone in.
The tone of the song is critical, analytical, impassive and is what really packs a punch with the message. However it is the tone of the song that makes it more than just yet another someone's feelings about our society nowadays because it makes us think more of ourselves. When people are too passionate about things, we tend to brush it of and not think about it because we see it as a joke but when it's so impersonal it draws our attention. It makes us feel embarrassed at what we do but it's not telling us to change just telling us how we are. That's what I like about the song, it makes us want to change because we want to not because we were told to after all, the change begins within us.
The most prominent poetic technique in the song is repetition. Repetition seems to be something that's very common in songs not just to give a rhythm but to hone in on an important message. In this case, the repetition is that of 'I run in circles,' which serves to emphasize her message that we have never changed and although we know it's not good for us, we never change.
Another repetition would be 'I am the king of fools.' In my opinion, it is a line that rings true and is my favorite message from all the ones in the song simply because of the honesty in it. We have become the king of fools because we have lost sight of what is important. We always see war as the answer and and never seem to learn from our mistakes. We call those who think differently, act differently or see the world in a different light as fools and yet we are the bigger fool. We call other animals dumb and yet forget that we too are animals and often, they are smarter than us. We are the bigger fools if we consider everyone and everything else fools.
'Cast in gold and concrete. Caged body and prisoned heart,' seems to be a metaphor or at least description used to show how we've changed the world. Precious metals and other material goods are more important to us than the natural world, the trees and plants and all the animals. The world used to be natural and now everything is industrialized which would explain the reference of 'Cast in gold and concrete.' 'Caged heart and prisoned body,' seems to refer to how we've suppressed the natural world and urbanized the world, land we didn't need to use and all the animals we've destroyed and species wiped out.
Personally, I love this song. I love everything about it from the tune to the rhythm but what I love the most is the message. It's an important message, something I'm sure Al Gore would approve of and it's something we need to listen to because it is quite possibly the most honest song about us. Everyone else sings about having fun, falling in love or acceptance and former presidents but no one sings about what we've become and it's something that needs to be explored. It packs a strong message without forcing her views on us and for that, I absolutely adore this song.
The tone of the song is critical, analytical, impassive and is what really packs a punch with the message. However it is the tone of the song that makes it more than just yet another someone's feelings about our society nowadays because it makes us think more of ourselves. When people are too passionate about things, we tend to brush it of and not think about it because we see it as a joke but when it's so impersonal it draws our attention. It makes us feel embarrassed at what we do but it's not telling us to change just telling us how we are. That's what I like about the song, it makes us want to change because we want to not because we were told to after all, the change begins within us.
The most prominent poetic technique in the song is repetition. Repetition seems to be something that's very common in songs not just to give a rhythm but to hone in on an important message. In this case, the repetition is that of 'I run in circles,' which serves to emphasize her message that we have never changed and although we know it's not good for us, we never change.
Another repetition would be 'I am the king of fools.' In my opinion, it is a line that rings true and is my favorite message from all the ones in the song simply because of the honesty in it. We have become the king of fools because we have lost sight of what is important. We always see war as the answer and and never seem to learn from our mistakes. We call those who think differently, act differently or see the world in a different light as fools and yet we are the bigger fool. We call other animals dumb and yet forget that we too are animals and often, they are smarter than us. We are the bigger fools if we consider everyone and everything else fools.
'Cast in gold and concrete. Caged body and prisoned heart,' seems to be a metaphor or at least description used to show how we've changed the world. Precious metals and other material goods are more important to us than the natural world, the trees and plants and all the animals. The world used to be natural and now everything is industrialized which would explain the reference of 'Cast in gold and concrete.' 'Caged heart and prisoned body,' seems to refer to how we've suppressed the natural world and urbanized the world, land we didn't need to use and all the animals we've destroyed and species wiped out.
Personally, I love this song. I love everything about it from the tune to the rhythm but what I love the most is the message. It's an important message, something I'm sure Al Gore would approve of and it's something we need to listen to because it is quite possibly the most honest song about us. Everyone else sings about having fun, falling in love or acceptance and former presidents but no one sings about what we've become and it's something that needs to be explored. It packs a strong message without forcing her views on us and for that, I absolutely adore this song.