Analyzing Music Lyrics Social Sciences Coursework Paper

Analyzing Music Lyrics
Student's Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course
Professor
Date
Analyzing Music Lyrics
The song, Sylvester and his Mule, by Memphis Minnie, reflect on some of the chapter's themes. The specific themes reflected in the song's lyrics are classism and racism. In this song, the lyrics are about an African American sharecropper (Sylvester) who is on the verge of losing his land. Sylvester calls the White House to speak to the President, where he believes he could get help. Several of his calls go unanswered. After numerous unsuccessful attempts, his call gets received. Surprisingly, the President gave Sylvester's call to someone else. The President says he does not want to speak to Sylvester. Sylvester continues to make the calls, and every time a person picks, he thinks he is talking to the president, but this was contrary to reality. His attempts to speak to the President repeatedly fail, but through persistence and insisting, Sylvester finally manages to speak to the President. Shockingly, his effort proves fruitless. Upon submitting the request to be helped not lose his land, the President ignores Sylvester's plea on claiming that he was not a priority in his service and the situation was not of importance.
Racism is evident in the song because the President fails to serve Sylvester by perceiving not to be of priority. Though the song only refers to one person's case, Sylvester is a depiction of a bigger picture about the prevalence of institutionalized racism. Sylvester's case represents the extent to which the government does not care about the people affiliated with the African American race. The incident justifies the prevailing racism to date. Racism has continued to dominate American society through the systemic discriminative treatment that African Americans experience. The government ignores the ordeals experienced by African Americans in their daily lives. Worse still, the government establishes structural barriers that treat African Americans unfairly and prevent their progress. Institutionalized racism that makes African Americans be treated differently compared to other races, such as the Whites, has purely been blamed on the government. The government has failed to promote measures that can advance the principles of equality among the entire population, and this is the villainy that the song depicts.
Classism is reflected in the song through the President's ignorance of Sylvester's problem by ...