"Replace" dull language with Figurative Language

Replace Me -Family Force 5

My batteries died sometime ago
Gotta heart shaped box where they must go
Corrosions building everyday
My flesh is leading me astray, that's why I started to decay,
and I will slowly rot away, but I can't feel that anyway

This heart it wants to beat
These lungs they want to breathe
These eyes they want to see
Gotta mouth that wants to sing

Desperation, needing you
Every last breath I scream for you
Shatter me into a million pieces, make me new

Crush me, tear me, break me, mold me,
make me what you want me to be
I am yours for you to use
Oh, take and replace me with you

Needing more than just a jump start to get me through
My disconnection is now the issue

I miss my first love bad and it's driving me mad
Just like a mixed up crazy person out of his head
It's been a long long time, I've been on the decline
I do an a-bout face so I can be replaced. 180.

This heart it wants to beat
These lungs they want to breathe
These eyes they want to see
Gotta mouth that wants to sing

Desperation, needing you
Every last breath I scream for you
Shatter me in a million pieces, make me new

Crush me, tear me, break me, mold me
Make me what you want me to be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmvj96NyVN0



So when I heard this song I thought it would be effective in displaying the usage of figurative language. Many of us know about similes, metaphors, and analogies, but this song by Family Force 5 (or FF5) makes use of an extended metaphor, which is like a regular metaphor except it spans the entire piece or most of the piece.



In this song, the main message that is being conveyed is one of feeling dead or drained and needing to be refreshed or have a new set of "batteries". We see the comparion between batteries and our heart, as the first lines state that the batteries have died and there is a "heart shaped box where they must go". This implies that like many electronic items, that we run on "batteries" or on our heart. Without it our body has trouble functioning, there is "corrosion" building up and keeping us from living. We can see at the end of the chorus another implication with the batteries -"take and replace me" like you would a pair of drained batteries. Now that they are dead, we replace them with a brand new pair that's filled with life and energy. This regenerizes the heart and body. The Pre Chorus states how the heart, lungs, eyes and mouth want to continue working again, wanting to beat, breathe, see and sing. Without a working "battery" they are dead and unfunctioning, needig a replacement. When we get to the second verse, we get the idea of car with a dead battery, as not even a "jump start" can regenerate their heart.



Along with this idea of battery, we get the description of this regeneration by starting anew. The chorus explains this idea of shattering into "a million pieces" and starting a new creation, a remolding into something better. This is also seen in the line "so I can be replaced. 180". The 180 is implying a complete turn around, such as is implied in the song the change from death to life.

While this is a short song, we can see the overall usage of the metaphor of batteries throughout the entire song, giving the impression of a battery in an electronic and even later the battery of a car. By using an extended metaphor, the reader (or listener) can understand the overall implied comparison that is going on over simply stating it in one or two lines. We are able to understand the message the writer is trying to convey.

-Adri