Methodology for Developing Word Clouds
- Open playlist in Spotify, listen to songs.
- Use Genius.com to determine lyrics, in an attempt to gain a foundation.
- Determine which songs don’t have lyrics, exclude from document.
- Copy and paste lyrics into document.
- Upload Document to Voyant Tools website, run wordcloud software
- Determined that some words such as “chorus” and “Verse” threw off results.
- Go through document, delete words not part of lyrics.
- Run word-cloud again
Part II
- Divide songs up into different languages
- Make decisions regarding to what extent varying languages are represented, and to which word cloud they should be included in. For example, Buju Banton’s “Hills and Valleys” is sung both in English and Jamaican Patois
- Run word cloud software on songs written in English, Spanish and Jamaican Patois
Word Clouds (Results)
All Songs with Lyrics
Songs in English
No Woman No Cry-Bob Marley
Is This Love-Bob Marley
Jamming-Bob Marley
Waiting In Vain-Bob Marley
Turn Your Lights Down Low-Bob Marley
War-Bob Marley
Trench Town Rock-Bob Marley
Stir It Up-Bob Marley
Slave Driver-Bob Marley
Slavery Days—Burning Spear
Body and Soul—Ella Fitzgerald
Rivers of Babylon–Melodians
Songs in Spanish
No Sabes Como Duele—Mark Anthony
Cerezo Roza–Perez Prado
Beautiful Maria of My Soul—Mambo All Stars
Que Rico El Mambo–Perez Prado
A Medio Vivir—Ricky Martin
Asignatura Pendiente—Martin
Casi un Bolero—Ricky Martin
Isla Bella—Ricky Martin
Mambo No. 5—Perez Prado
Songs in Jamaican Patois
Blackboard—Beenie Man
Deportees (Things Change)—Buju Banton
Nuff Gal—Beenie Man
Untold Stories—Buju Banton
Beat and a Mic-Chronixx
Pianist–General Degree
Love Punany Bad—Shabba Ranks
Wicked Inna Bed—Shabba Ranks
Coca Cola Shape—Simpleton
Hills and Valleys-Buju Banton
Findings:
What do the word clouds provide us? They certainly give us a visual representation of the songs included in the text, however, despite attempts to disaggregate the data, there still remain methodological flaws. For the English songs, the word “Jammin” occurs 51 times in the song “Jammin,” by Bob Marley. However, the word is significantly represented in the songs written in English. This is clearly not because in the broader scheme of songs written in English (or even in Marley’s oeuvre) it is relevant, but because that particular song is sonically repetitive.
Another flaw came from the fact that many Jamaican artists are fluent in both English and Jamaican patois, and bring both to bear languages in their songs. The decision to choose how to categorise these songs is thus arbitrary. It also raises the question–is language the best medium through which we can analyse music? It certainly is a limited one. The inability of a word cloud to represent songs without lyrics reveals the limitations of this method of analysis. Ultimately, we decided that this method of analysing aggregated data was insufficient to explore the phonographic potential of the songs included in the playlist. To reveal this potential, we decided to close-read several of the songs on the “Phonographic Memories” playlist. You can find that work here.
