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VH1
Storytellers: Pearl Jam
VH1 Music Studio
Cable in the Classroom
Lesson for Music Classes, Grades 7-12
Lesson 3
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Note to Teachers: The programs viewed in conjunction with these lesson plans may include references, consistent with the eras portrayed, to substance abuse, violent acts, and topics of a sexual and/or political nature. Because this may be considered inappropriate for classroom use in some communities, you are encouraged to review the programs before presenting them to your students, and if necessary, choose those sections that enhance your lesson and are acceptable for use in your classroom.
Objectives
- Students will examine the nature of their own generation by looking at current events and music styles.
- Students will update old lyrics with new ones that are more relevant to current times and express a truth about their own generation.
- Students will perform their updated lyrics and support their choices.
National Standards:
1. Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
4. Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines.
6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.
7. Evaluating music and music performances.
8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.
9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture.
Materials
- VHS VCR Player
- Television
- VH1's Storytellers: Pearl Jam (Cable in the Classroom edited version)
- Web-based lesson materials
- Blank paper (students)
- Chalkboard
- Pens/Pencils (students)
Prior Knowledge:
- Students should have a basic knowledge of the elements of music – melody, harmony, form, rhythm, and color/texture.
Procedures
- Cue the video to Segment 4 of VH1’s Storytellers: Pearl Jam. Watch the final segment of the show. Engage a class discussion about what the students think their own generation will be known for in fifteen years.
What current events will be remembered? How might the music of their generation influence future generations? (see below for a weblink to VH1 music charts) As with stories, genres have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Are there any emerging musical genres that express the nature of their generation?
- Divide the class into groups of three. Tell the students they will be updating the lyrics to a song of their choice to reflect a TRUTH about current issues and/or culture. Provide a few copies of each of the Pearl Jam songs previously examined, and web links to other artists and lyrics. Tell the class that content source(s) for lyric revisions is up to them - newspaper clippings, personal experiences, memory, imagination, etc. They should attempt to revise as much of the song as possible, or at least two verses and the chorus.
- Invite each group to perform their updated lyrics for the class - spoken, a cappella, or with accompaniment. Ask each group: What truth does your song tell?
Supplemental Resources:
National
Standards for Music Education
1. Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
2. Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
3. Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments.
4. Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines.
5. Reading and notating music.
6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.
7. Evaluating music and music performances.
8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.
9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture.
These standards-based materials are provided through a partnership with MENC: The National Association for Music Education. This lesson plan was created by MENC, Jennifer Wilson, Composer, Author, Music Educator, Los Angeles, CA
“Gone” 2005 Pearl Jam
No more upset mornings
No more tired evenings
This American dream
I am disbelieving
When the gas in my tank
Feels like money in the bank
Gonna blow it all this time
Take me one last ride
For the lights of this city
They only look good when I'm speeding
Gonna leave em all behind me
Cause this time
I'm gone
Long gone
This time I'm letting go of it all
So long
Cause this time I'm gone
In the far off distance
As my tail-lights fade
No one thinks to witness
But they will someday
Feel like a question is forming
and the answers far
I will be what i could be
Once I get out of this town
For the lights of this city
They have lost all feeling
Gonna leave em all behind me
Cause this time
I'm gone
Long gone
This time I'm letting go of it all
So long
Long gone, I'm letting go of it all
Cause this time I'm gone
If nothing is everything
If nothing is everything, I'll have it all
If nothing is everything
If nothing is everything, I'll have it all
I am gone
“Alive” 1990 Pearl Jam
Son, she said, have I got a little story for you
What you thought was your daddy was nothin' but a...
While you were sittin' home alone at age thirteen
Your real daddy was dyin', sorry you didn't see him,
but I'm glad we talked...
Oh I, oh, I'm still alive
Hey, I, I, oh, I'm still alive
Hey I, oh, I'm still alive
Hey...oh...
Oh, she walks slowly, across a young man's room
She said I'm ready...for you
I can't remember anything to this very day
'Cept the look, the look...
Oh, you know where, now I can't see, I just stare...
I, I'm still alive
Hey I, but, I'm still alive
Hey I, boy, I'm still alive
Hey I, I, I, I'm still alive, yeah
Ooh yeah...yeah yeah yeah...oh...oh...
Is something wrong, she said
Well of course there is
You're still alive, she said
Oh, and do I deserve to be
Is that the question
And if so...if so...who answers...who answers...
I, oh, I'm still alive
Hey I, oh, I'm still alive
Hey I, but, I'm still alive
Yeah I, ooh, I'm still alive
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
“World Wide Suicide” 2006 Pearl Jam
I felt the earth on Monday. It moved beneath my feet
in the form of a morning paper. Laid out for me to see.
Saw his face in a corner picture. I recognized the name.
Could not stop staring at the. Face I'd never see again.
It's a shame to awake in a world of pain
What does it mean when a war has taken over
It's the same everyday in a hell manmade
What can be saved, and who will be left to hold her?
The whole world,... world over.
It's a worldwide suicide.
The whole world,... world over.
It's a worldwide suicide.
Medals on a wooden mantle. Next to a handsome face.
That the president took for granted.
Writing checks that others pay.
And in all the madness. Thought becomes numb and naive.
So much to talk about there's. Nothing for to say.
It's the same everyday and the wave won't break
Tell you to pray, while the devil's on their shoulder
Laying claim to the take our soldiers save
Does not equate, and the truth's already out there
The whole world,... world over.
It's a worldwide suicide.
The whole world,... world over.
It's a worldwide suicide.
Looking in the eyes of the fallen
You got to know there's another, another, another, another
Another way
It's a shame to awake in a world of pain
What does it mean when a war has taken over
It's the same everyday and the wave won't break
Tell you to pray, while the devil's on their shoulder
The whole world,... world over.
It's a worldwide suicide.
The whole world,... world over.
It's a worldwide suicide.
“Here's to the State of George W.”
Here's to the judges of William Rehnquist,
Who wear the robe of honour in their phoney legal fort.
Oh, justice is a stranger when the partisans report,
When the court elected the president it was the beginning of this war.
Whoa here's to the land you've torn out the heart of,
William Rehnquist, find yourself another country to be part of!
And here's to the government of Dick Cheney,
With criminals are posing as advisors to the crown
And they hope that no one sees the sights and no one hears the sounds
'Cause the speeches of the president are the ravings of a clown
Oh, here's to the land you've torn out the heart of
Dick Cheney, find yourself another country to be part of
And here's to the churches of Jerry Falwell,
Where the cross, once made of silver, now is caked with rust
And the Sunday morning sermons pander to the fear of men in lust
Heaven only knows in which God they can trust
Oh, here's to the land you've torn out the heart of
Jerry Falwell, find yourself another country to be part of
And here's to the laws of John Ashcroft,
Congress will pass an act in the panic of the day
While the Constitution is drowning in an ocean of decay
And freedom of speech is dangerous, I've even heard them say
Oh, here's to the land you've torn out the heart of
John Ashcroft, find yourself another country to be part of
And here's to the businessman of George W.,
Who want to change the focus from Halliburton and Enron
And their profits, like blood money are spilling out on the White House Lawn
TO keep their hold on power they're using terror as a gun
While the bombs that fall on children don't care which side that they're on
Oh, here's to the land you've torn out the heart of
George W., find yourself another country to be part of
***
“Here's to the State of Mississippi”
Here's to the state of Mississippi,
For Underheath her borders, the devil draws no lines,
If you drag her muddy river, nameless bodies you will find.
Whoa the fat trees of the forest have hid a thousand crimes,
The calender is lyin' when it reads the present time.
Whoa here's to the land you've torn out the heart of,
Mississippi find yourself another country to be part of!
Here's to the people of Mississippi
Who say the folks up north, they just don't understand
And they tremble in their shadows at the thunder of the Klan
The sweating of their souls can't wash the blood from off their hands
They smile and shrug their shoulders at the murder of a man
Oh, here's to the land you've torn out the heart of
Mississippi find yourself another country to be part of
Here's to the schools of Mississippi
Where they're teaching all the children that they don't have to care
All of rudiments of hatred are present everywhere
And every single classroom is a factory of despair
There's nobody learning such a foreign word as fair
Oh, here's to the land you've torn out the heart of
Mississippi find yourself another country to be part of
Here's to the cops of Mississippi
They're chewing their tobacco as they lock the prison door
Their bellies bounce inside them as they knock you to the floor
No they don't like taking prisoners in their private little war
Behind their broken badges there are murderers and more
Oh, here's to the land you've torn out the heart of
Mississippi find yourself another country to be part of
And, here's to the judges of Mississippi
Who wear the robe of honor as they crawl into the court
They're guarding all the bastions with their phony legal fort
Oh, justice is a stranger when the prisoners report
When the black man stands accused the trial is always short
Oh, here's to the land you've torn out the heart of
Mississippi find yourself another country to be part of
And here's to the government of Mississippi
In the swamp of their bureaucracy they're always bogging down
And criminals are posing as the mayors of the towns
They're hoping that no one sees the sights and hears the sounds
And the speeches of the governor are the ravings of a clown
Oh, here's to the land you've torn out the heart of
Mississippi find yourself another country to be part of
And here's to the laws of Mississippi
Congressmen will gather in a circus of delay
While the Constitution is drowning in an ocean of decay
Unwed mothers should be sterilized, I've even heard them say
Yes, corruption can be classic in the Mississippi way
Oh, here's to the land you've torn out the heart of
Mississippi find yourself another country to be part of
And here's to the churches of Mississippi
Where the cross, once made of silver, now is caked with rust
And the Sunday morning sermons pander to their lust
The fallen face of Jesus is choking in the dust
Heaven only knows in which God they can trust
Oh, here's to the land you've torn out the heart of
Mississippi find yourself another country to be part of
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