Break My Soul - An Interpersonal Analysis

The Briefing

For an Interpersonal Communication class, I was assigned to review a song and apply concepts from our textbook to it. Here is what I wrote.

The Write-Up

The song I selected for this assignment was Break My Soul from the Welsh electronic band Hybrid. One reason I selected this song was because I have a tendency to selectively listen (Adler & Proctor II, 224) to music. By this, I mean that I have a greater interest in purely orchestral and instrumental music than mainstream songs in general, so I usually tend to pay more attention to the instrumental backing than the lyrics. On the flip side of that, I feel the instrumental backing add a tone and context to the lyrics telling the listener how to feel.

One reason I selected this song because it’s one I find matches the perspectives of at least one or two characters I try to write in my stories. The main reason I selected it, though, was for the opportunity to analyze the lyrics more deeply than I have before. Before, I would mostly listen to the lyrics and try to glean a character from them. Now, I listened to actually make sense of the lyrics in this song and ask: what is it really saying?

Looking into that, I can see that I made use of the Listening Process (Adler & Proctor II, 221-22) more deeply than I usually have. Before, like I said in the previous paragraph, I would mostly just Hear the music without really Attending to it much. In this case, I was attending more to the tone of the song instead of what was actually being said. Because of that, I wasn’t truly Understanding it.

When it comes to paraphrasing and interpreting the lyrics, I have to point: I (and by extension everyone who interprets a song) did the work in coming up with a basic interpretation of this song. Others can, could and/or do use the same Listening Process, but could come up with a different interpretation. Because of that, I feel paraphrasing the lyrics and offering an interpretation affects someone else’s ability to come up with a unique interpretation of their own.

For example, the impression I got from interpreting the lyrics was a tone that was emotional, bitter (for lack of a better word), and reflective. I found the first lyrics (Shadows on the pavement burn a watermark of you/And every city siren calls your name) emphasize the reflective aspect of the song. Here, I feel that the singer/speaker Charlotte James is constantly confronted with reminders of a dark past – be it a person or event – which is left to the listener to think over.

When the song transitions to the second (Falling into contemplation, broken to my knees/But I need no resolution here, thought it cuts me at the seams), James again references the idea of reflection, this time in a more bitter way. The implication I take from it here is that, although James cannot shake feelings and memories of whatever happened in her past, she doesn’t want to confront it one last time, even though instinct screams at her to.

At this point, I would like to point out that the song makes extensive use of “I” and “You” Language (Adler & Proctor II, 170). I find that a unique mix of both appears throughout the song. For example, the lyrics on slide 5 of my PowerPoint (See my youth begin to fade through the eyes of a child/And I study every lesson learned that wipes away my smile) has James taking her own responsibility for whatever past event happened in her life.

By contrast, she immediately goes into “You” language in the same slide (And learn that all your walls are just the cover of a book/Every word a broken promise, every page a heart you took). Lyrics such as these take on a more accusatory tone. Likewise, lyrics like the ones on slide 7 (No, I won’t see you later/Go build another castle out of sand) make a similar, combined use of “You” and “I” language that take on a confrontational tone against whatever antagonistic aspect of her past she refers to.

The only place I could have any idea of nonverbal cues was to watch the music video. In it, Charlotte James is depicted as leaving the city and driving to a wintery forest. It’s here that I think the two primary physical environments (Adler & Proctor II, 210) throughout the video are worth noting. The city is depicted as dark and hectic. The amber lights that appear early in the video appear to hint at a beautiful side, while the tunnel James travels through – with stark white or grey lighting – hints at a darker side. The forest, on the other hand, appears open and much freer.

I feel it’s worth noting two things about the physical environment here. The first is that city is only depicted at night, while the forest is depicted during the day. Admittedly, both are also shown as having seen a great deal of snow, but whereas the snow appears to create a colder, unwelcoming atmosphere in the city, it serves to add a sort of natural beauty to the forest.

It was an interesting experience observing James’ body language (Adler & Proctor II, 198) throughout the song. In the first half in which she appears in the city, she has almost swaying body movements, with a loose, slouching posture (Adler & Proctor II, 198) and somewhat emotionless expression (Adler & Proctor II, 201). I read into this as serving the function vaguely similar to a drunk-like depression.

When she is walking through the forest in the second half of the video, her movements appear more controlled, and she actually emotes more through this segment. I understand that some of it could be attributed to the cold, but I look at the lyrics and find that they provide somewhat more context (at least as far as my interpretation goes). Combined with the more natural beauty of the landscape, she appears (to me) to be more comforted and in control here.

The main lyrical content here is James repeating the “break my soul” line (slide 9), followed by a final reprise of the centerpiece lyrics throughout the song (I’m still the same/You’re not going to take me down again/I’m feeling old/That doesn’t mean you can break my soul). At other times throughout the song, it seemed to sound like a declaration. Here though, James appears to use a different tone of voice (Adler & Proctor II, 202) that sounds more determined than the previous uses. Combined with my aforementioned interpretation of her being more comforted and in control in the forest, it sounds to me as if she’s now challenging whatever antagonistic element in her past.

This was an interesting song to paraphrase and interpret. I think the message a listener would glean from it would be to take control over a painful aspect of their lives and not let it drag them down. The best example I can find that applies to my own life would be just the input of bad news almost daily now. I find it really stings me on a deep level to see what darkness is making itself known throughout the world, but I make my efforts to surround myself in my own comfort zone and not let it break me down.

Sources & References

• Adler, Ronald B & Proctor, Russell F II. Looking Out, Looking In. Ed. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Boston, MA, 2011. Print
• James,Charlotte. Break My Soul. Hybrid. Hybrid, 2010. MP3.