"Hell of a year"
Link to clip: "Hell of a Year"
I was going through my Snapchat memories and came across several videos of Parker McCollum that I took from a concert I attended. This is why I came to choose this song. I feel like this song has a slow but catchy tune and can sometimes be relatable.
"Hell of a Year" was sung and written by Parker McCollum. His song was published in 2017 and is based in Austin, Texas. "Hell of a Year" is a country song as well! According to a post on "X" (also known as Twitter), Parker McCollum wrote this song at two in the morning while sitting in the Whataburger drive-thru! The five elements I find most important in this song are the lyrics, rhythm, tempo, duration, and form.
Lyrics:
I chose lyrics because I find it most important. Lyrics are the way a music artist tells their story, and this can impact the listeners and how they perceive the lyrics. In his song, he uses the words "hell of a year" several times but sings it several times so his other lyrics can be tied into those four words.
Rhythm:
Rhythm is a pattern throughout a song. I chose rhythm because throughout the song "Hell of a Year," we can see patterns. Two patterns I noticed are when he plays the guitar and when he sings "hell of a year." As the guitar is being played as background for the song, it stays at a steady pattern. When it comes to the rhythm, these lyrics Parker McCollum sets them up as a pattern, he only says "hell of a year" after a certain number of lyrics.
tempo:
Next is tempo, which is the bpm in a song or the speed. In the song "Hell of a Year" the speed of the song is moderate even though it may seem like a "slower song" due to the rhythm and the speed of his lyrics. According to "SongBPM" the tempo is 98 bpm.
duration:
Duration is an amount of time. I found this to be important for two reasons, how long Parker McCollum's song is and the amount of time he spent singing "year." "Hell of a Year" is almost four minutes long, which I think is a good amount of time. In the beginning of this song we only hear a guitar and throughout the song we get a few pauses after he sings certain lyrics, which is the perfect balance. Next, when he sings the line "hell of a year," he chooses to sing the word "year" for a longer duration then the other words, which also adds to the balance of the song and the emotion.
form:
Lastly, I chose form because this organizes the song as a whole. Below is a link to the chords and lyrics, which play a role in the form of this song. I find the form of the song "Hell of a Year" well put together; as listeners, we are able to easily see what is a chord in this song and a verse. And because the form is organized we can easily play this song as well.
Parker McCollum, https://x.com/ParkerMcCollum/status/1395043864310910976 , May 19, 2021.
SongBPM, https://songbpm.com/@parker-mccollum/hell-of-a-year#:~:text=Hell%20of%20a%20Year%20is,of%204%20beats%20per%20bar. , "Parker McCollum- Hell of a Year, 2011- 2024.
Koichi Kondo, Parker McCollum- Hell of a Year- Chords, http://www.countrytabs.com/tablature/Parker_Mccollum/Hell_Of_A_Year_Chord_73927/ , 2022.
Hello Claire!!
ReplyDeleteI love Parker McCollum! This is a great country song and I am glad I am not the only one that did a country song. Keep up the good work and good music! You're so lucky you got to see him in concert!!
My one thing I think you could've also used would have been tone, he uses his tone in order to convey the message the right way. It could have been a cool additional thing to look into.
ReplyDeleteHi Claire! First, I wanna say I love this song and am super jealous you saw him live. I bet that was so great! I really enjoyed your analysis of the lyrics. As you said, the repetition of certain lyrics is absolutely purposeful and deliberate. One thing I would note in this analysis is if there was a specific event in Parker McCollum's life, that he has shared publicly which gave this song its meaning and purpose. I wonder this because of the sad undertones throughout the song and lyrics.
ReplyDelete