"Just a Kiss" by Lady Antebellum SA2

 Love is difficult to find, but once found people are never happier. Some might take it to fast when falling for someone who might end the relationship, while others take it to slow and end up in the “friend zone”. One needs to find a balance between the two, and once found with the right person, love will be cast upon them. In “Just a Kiss” Lady Antebellum depicts passionate imagery in order to explore affectionate allegory, yearning mood, and intense understatement to show that when given time “It’ll only bring us closer to the love we wanna find”.



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Antebellum conveys affectionate allegory to show the extent of how two people feel about each other. This song is sung by two people, male and female, both preaching the same message. The person is on a date and has very strong feelings towards the other, but doesn’t want to fall to fast. She is trying “to fight these feelings when it feels so hard to breathe” when she in on this date. She cannot actually “fight” the feelings she had, which is personification. She can also breathe fine, but she wants to show the listener the affect this man is having on her, he is simply taking her breath away. She goes on to say, “I’ve never opened up to anyone”; inquiring that she feels remarkably close to him instantly. One might perceive that she meant she opened up her actual body to this man. She knows she is starting to fall for this boy, and she doesn’t know what to do. She is “caught up in this moment” and” in your smile”; she doesn’t know how to react. There is no net or arms that the man is using to “catch” her smile and the moment, but rather she is saying that she is enjoying this moment and likes these things about him.

Antebellum portrays a yearning mood throughout the song. The song is talking about two people falling in love, but don’t want to take it too fast yet they want to because they love each other’s company. The mood is yearning because they want to be with each other, but also to “take is slow” by only giving each other “just a kiss goodnight”. The feelings are growing throughout the night, but she feels that if she goes to fast things can be lost. This is where the tone of the song comes in. She seems a little nervous throughout her date with him. She has these feelings that she cannot help yet she only wants “a kiss goodnight”. She decides that time will tell if they will have something special, so she says “No I don’t want to say goodnight, I know it’s time to leave, but you’ll be in my dreams”. The tone and mood of the song is that she is falling in love, but is going to take her time and not rush into anything to make sure that he is going to be the real deal.

Throughout “Just a Kiss” understatement is used to describe their night; it is lessening the effect it actually had. She starts by saying, “Just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight”. Many people who have their first kiss with their boyfriend are very excited, especially if it is as romantic as under the night moon and stars. She goes to make it sound that it is nothing, and not a big deal to her. The chorus is filled with understatement:

“Just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight

Just a touch on the first burning so bright

No I don’t want to mess this thing up

I don’t want to push to far

Just a shot in the dark that you just might

Be the one I’ve been waiting for my whole life

So baby I’m alright, with just a kiss goodnight.”

When one touches a fire, it is very hot and is excruciating pain. Antebellum makes it seem nonchalant as with “Just a shot in the ark that you just might- Be the one I’ve been waiting for my whole life”. When someone finds their sole mate it is one of the best moments in their life. She makes it sound that it is just another thing that happened to her; neither happy or sad. She makes these events sound average using understatement.

People search for their soul mate all their life.  In “Just a Kiss” she has found her soul mate, and decides that time will tell if they will last. By using allegory, mood, and understatement, she makes the listener feel that they are there that night going through what she went through using explicit imagery.

Just A Kiss by Lady Antebellum lyrics

Lyin' here with you so close to me
It's hard to fight these feelings when it feels so hard to breathe
Caught up in this moment
Caught up in your smile


I've never opened up to anyone
So hard to hold back when I'm holding you in my arms
We don't need to rush this
Let's just take this slow


Just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight
Just a touch in the fire burning so bright
And I don't want to mess this thing up
I don't want to push too far
Just a shot in the dark that you just might
Be the one I've been waiting for my whole life
So baby I'm alright, with just a kiss goodnight


I know that if we give this a little time
It will only bring us closer to the love we wanna find
It's never felt so real, no it's never felt so right


Just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight
Just a touch in the fire burning so bright
And I don't want to mess this thing up
I don't want to push too far
Just a shot in the dark that you just might
Be the one I've been waiting for my whole life
So baby I'm alright, with just a kiss goodnight


http://www.elyricsworld.com/just_a_kiss_lyrics_lady_antebellum.html
No I don't want to say goodnight
I know it's time to leave, but you'll be in my dreams
Tonight
Tonight
Tonight


Just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight
Just a touch in the fire burning so bright
And I don't want to mess this thing up
I don't want to push too far
Just a shot in the dark that you just might
Be the one I've been waiting for my whole life
So baby I'm alright, oh, let's do this right, with just a kiss goodnight
With a kiss goodnight
Kiss goodnight

"Little Green"

crocuses

           

           People need to make decisions in life, and some are harder than others. Many are life changing, and might not have worked out in the end. Some decisions are made that are terrifying and sad, but ultimately was the right decision; and this is exactly what Joni Mitchell went through. Moving from the characterization of the father to that of the mother in “Little Green,” Joni Mitchell portrays naturalistic imagery, melancholy tone, and uplifting personification to tell her daughter why she ended up where she is today, and that life can be enjoyable but “there’ll” also “be sorrow”.

            Illustrating fresh imagery, Mitchell shows the reader the insight of the troubles with the soon to be father leaving, “He went to California”, and Mitchell giving her daughter up, “you sign all the papers in the family name”, for adoption to happy and warm images about her daughter “Green”. Mitchell talks about the beginning of “little Green”, describing how the father was never there. He wasn’t there to see her face or to name her. He fled to “California” to get away from “the children who’ve made her”. He is getting away from the road block in his life. Mitchell writes him to tell him her daughters “eyes are blue”, and he reacts to this by showing no love towards his daughter or remorse for why he is in “California”.

            Mitchell pictures what life would be like with “Green”:

                        Like the color when the spring is born

There’ll be crocuses to bring to school tomorrow

Just a little green

Like the nights when the Northern lights perform

There’ll be icicles and birthday clothes

She thinks of the years to come, with her daughter picking flowers for school, the seasons such as winder, and her birthdays with clothes as presents. She talks about spring, the beginning of spring, which is beautiful and starting to take life like her daughter is. Mitchell portrays what life would be like with “Green” and she sets images of her with how beautiful she is. She shows the image of what she things her daughter is like through other images.

            Mitchell conveys a very depressing tone throughout the song to explain to her daughter why she did what she did, and although she is said about this event she is not “ashamed”. She uses a lullaby tune, which implies that the song was written for “Little Green”. It is serious, calming, and very melancholy. Mitchell talks about why she did what she did, “child with a child pretending”. She felt unfit to raise her daughter, and although she loved her, she was still just a child herself. She was wise and mature enough to decide to give her child up, but cannot help and look back on what could have been:

                        Just a little green

Like the color when the spring is born

There’ll be crocuses to bring to school tomorrow

Just a little green

Like the nights when the Northern lights perform

There’ll be icicles and birthday clothes

And sometimes there’ll be sorrow

She is singing to her, letting her know why things occurred the way they did; and although she is sorry she is “not ashamed”.

            Although “Little Green” is a serious and sorrowful song, Mitchell puts in uplifting personification about her daughter that has to do with things that are growing and beautiful. This contrasts to the tone of the song, but makes it successful because it shows two opposite feelings. When she is talking about her daughter she describes her as a beautiful and playful girl. She describes her daughter like when “spring is born,” which gives the reader a connotation that she is a breath of fresh air. Spring cannot be born because it is not a physical living thing, but “Little Green” is and that is how Mitchell feels about her daughter. She wants her daughter to “be a gypsy dancer” and live free and enjoy everything that comes her way; because as Mitchell knows, life can be unexpecting. She gives the “Northern lights” human characteristics to “perform” to show how she feels what her daughter does to her and everyone else.

            When an event comes one’s way that is much unexpected, people have to make choices on what to do. Mitchell made her choice, and she feels and knows that it was the right one. Through the imagery, tone, and personification the reader can understand and picture what Mitchell went through and can feel her sadness through her lyrics.