Irony Analysis

In the song “Funny the way it is”,  the Dave Matthews Band demonstrates verbal irony, clever contradictory, and descriptive imagery to convey the idea of how one thing can be happening in life while something else totally opposite is going on too; “funny the way it is”

Irony is the most used device is the song “Funny the way it is” Dave Matthews band uses irony to show that “One kid is walking 10 miles to school, another’s dropping out” This shows that while one student is willing to walk 10 miles to school every day just to get an education, another is not thankful enough for their education and would love to do other things besides that.  When the Dave Matthews Band writes that “On a soldier’s last breath his baby’s being born” At the exact moment when the soldier is taking his last breath his own baby is taking his first breath into the world. This also has the use of paradox because babies are being born every day and every one dies some way, somehow.  When “somebody’s heart is broken it becomes your favorite song” is ironic because many songs that people listen to consist about a break up. These songs are appealing to listeners because many people can relate to it in some way or another.

Contradictory is another device that is used in the song.  Usually you don’t “hear laughter while the children play war” When you think of war the first thing that comes to your mind is death not laughter. War is the total opposite of laughter.

Different uses of imagery are used throughout the song.  A more positive, happy use of imagery is used through the line “Lying in the park on a beautiful day/Sunshine in the grass, and the children play” This is portraying a happy scene in the song. On the other hand, that image quickly changes in the next lines when “Siren’s passing, fire engine red/Someone’s house is burning down on a day like this” The image changes to negative rather than positive. Also, the negative feel carries out throughout the song when “A bomb blast brings a building crashing to the floor” and when “Someone is screaming and crying in the apartment upstairs” The images change as the song goes on shifting from positive to negative.