2nd Analysis: Song

Can't Take That Away From Me by Mariah Carey

They can say anything they want to say.
Try to bring me down,

but I will not allow anyone to succeed hanging clouds over me.
And they can try hard to make me feel that I don't matter at all,

but I refuse to falter in what I believe or lose faith in my dreams.

Cause there’s, there's a light in me that shines brightly.
They can try but they can't take that away from me.
From me...

No nonooo...
Oh they, they can do anything they want to you.
If you let them in but they won't ever win,

if you cling to your pride and just push them aside.
See I, I have learned, there's an inner peace I own. 
Something in my soul that they cannot possess.
So I won't be afraid and the darkness will fade.

Cause there's, there's a light in me that shines brightly.

Yes, they can try, but they can't take that away from me.

No oh oh...
They can't take this precious love I'll always have inside me. 
Certainly, the Lord will guide me where I need to go.

Woah, woah...
They can say anything they want to say.
Try to bring me down but I won't face the ground. 
I will rise steadily, sailing out of their reach. 
Oh Lord they do try hard to make me feel that I don't matter at all

but I refuse to falter in what I believe or lose faith in my dreams.

Cause there's a light in me that shines brightly

Yes, they can try but they can't take that away from me
From me...
No nono...

2^nd Analysis: Song

                Simple words were used in the song. The song is full of verbs. Positive words composed of adjectives and nouns like “inner peace” and “precious love” contributed to the inspiring mode of the song. It is also composed of compound and complex sentences. As a literary piece, there are words with rhyming sounds in the end like afraid and fade. These words gave a good audio impact to the listeners.

            Cohesion was achieved through lexical and grammatical meanings. Like other songs, some stanzas and words are repeated. The word “they” was mentioned 16 times while the title and the line “cause there’s a light in me that shines brightly” were repeated thrice. This repetition contributes in conveying the song’s message to the listener.Identical words like light-shines, believe-faith, succeed-win, own-possess, down-ground also helps to emphasized the “never give up” theme of the song. There was also a sense relation in the words Lord-faith-soul that stressed God’s guidance. This song is also rich in opposites (cling-push, pride-peace, rise-down, win-lose, faith-afraid, hanging-sailing, light-darkness) which highlighted the composer’s own experiences in life.

            In terms of grammatical cohesion, forward reference can be seen in the first stanza. The word “they” refers to anyone which was mentioned in the following sentence. In the second stanza, “that” refers to light which means the hope inside us. In some stanzas, something is left unsaid in the line “they can try”, it could be “they can try to bring me down” or “they can try to get it”. Simple conjunctions like “and” and “but” were used to connect ideas.

            The first stanza is in present tense except for the line “but I will not allow...”showing the composer’s determination not to give up despite what others say or do to her. The following stanzas are parallel in tenses except for some shifting in the lines beginning in “I” like “I have learned..” and “I will rise...”.

            Through lexical and grammatical cohesion, the song achieved its purpose in inspiring the listeners. Everyone who feels down can relate to the song. Figurative words like light and darkness are also comprehensible even for those who are not that good in English comprehension.