Depiction of the Ups and Downs in Life in the Song Conqueror by Estelle

Details
Word count: minimum of 500 words, maximum of 600 (not including appendix)
Submission types: .doc, .docx, and .pdf files
Format: MLA with an appendix
Due: No later than 11:59 p.m. March 6th.
Assignment Criteria
Popular music is sort of like the poetry of our day, only much more invasive. Although we can ignore poetry almost completely whenever we want by just closing a book, we are constantly bombarded with song lyrics on the road, in stores, at the gym, and many other places we go on a daily basis. That's a lot of text to be subconsciously consuming. You have to wonder: What sort of messages are being stuffed into your brain without your say so? Even when it comes to some of our favorite songs, how can we be sure we really know what they're about
While we often assume we know what certain songs are about, can we really be 100% sure without diving deeper?
For this assignment, your task is to interpret and analyze the lyrics of a song. Essentially, you will do a close reading of a song similar to the close readings of The Road Not Taken and Ozymandias that I shared with you. Only in this case, you'll be writing a paper about it.
Assignment Steps
First: Choose a song that is neither too long nor short. It should be the sort of tune you would hear on the radio. Ideally, the song you choose will offer you a bit of a rigorous challenge. For instance, something as straightforward as the Happy Birthday song isn't a good choice for his assignment. Similarly, songs like Day O! (the one about the bananas) don't have enough meaningful content for you to puzzle out.
Next: Take a look at the Example Analysis Paper to get an idea of how you might write your own paper. You will find it below.
Then: Write a paper interpreting and analyzing the meaning of the song you chose. In addition to looking at the lyrics of the song itself, you can feel free to bring in other sources like interviews, articles, and anything else that seems relevant to your interpretation and analysis. Similarly, if you feel the instrumental elements of the song will support your reading, you can include those as well; however, please note that this should be only a minor addition to the overall work. Ultimately, you should focus on the song's lyrics and YOUR reading of them.
Your paper should include
An introduction with a clear thesis statement. While this isn't an extremely argumentative paper you'll be writing, you are making a claim about the meaning of a song, so it ultimately falls under the category of argumentative. Just so, be sure to include a thesis of sorts. Basically, you want to make sure to state what you believe the meaning of your chosen song is up front before you begin to explain the song's meaning and defend your claim with evidence.
At least three quoted lines from the song (more than three if you want) which you use to (1) explain the meaning of the song to your audience and (2) defend your thesis.
A satisfying conclusion.
An appendix that includes at least: (1) the song's title, (2) the song's creator/writer/singer, and of course (3) the song's lyrics. You will find an example of an MLA appendix below.
A works cited page. This is MLA after all. No plagiarism is allowed.