"Tell Me Something Good": Popular Music and the Language Arts

Many songs tell stories, describing characters and their adventures in particular places at particular times. This class looks at some of the great stories of rock and roll and examines how lyrics can establish a setting, introduce characters, and develop a plot. Through exciting recorded performances by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees like Aretha Franklin, the Beatles, and Chuck Berry, students learn how narrative can be developed. They will act out undersea adventures on a "Yellow Submarine" and imagine what it would be like to be "Johnny B. Goode" by drawing what they hear and read in the lyrics, all while learning to summarize and retell the stories told through rock and roll.