Eagles similes and metaphors

[sodascouts]

I was teaching figurative language in poetry today, and we discussed similes and metaphors. I asked them to think of some examples, maybe from song lyrics. Well, since everyone knows my obsessions at school, I threw in some Eagles and Fleetwood Mac.

"An example of a simile would be 'Life goes on like a broken-down carousel where somebody left the music on.'" We then proceeded to analyze it a bit. "Does this image give you a positive or negative overall impression? Why would the author choose a carousel - what kinds of connotations and associations do we have with carousels that make this an effective simile? Why doesn't the author simply stop with the broken-down carousel; how does the continuance of the carousel's music reflect the emotional state of the person whose 'life goes on'?"

A student asked me which song that was from, which made me wish I had picked one I liked better as I sheepishly answered "You Never Cry Like a Lover". It made me wish I'd picked a song I liked better; I told him to listen to more than just that song if he wanted to check out the Eagles, lol.

It made me think though - it would be fun if we could list some of our favorite similes and/or metaphors from Eagles songs! Solo songs are OK, too.

For those who don't remember what a simile or metaphor is from your high school days, here's the definitions courtesy of Dictionary.com:

Simile: a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid (e.g., as brave as a lion, crazy like a fox ).

Metaphor: a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in “A mighty fortress is our God.” (Nancy's Note: unlike a simile, it does not use "like" or "as").

Fire away!

[MaryCalifornia]

Would "life in the fastlane" be a metaphor?

[MaryCalifornia]

"two people who lived through years in the dark"

Edit: I'm unsure if something is a metaphor or just imagery - like "she got the moon in her eyes" - there is so much of this in Eagles' songs! Fun topic.

[thelastresort]

Ah, this takes me back to the many hundreds miserable English language lessons I had where we had to analyse text after text for stuff like this

Anyway, 'Like a bluebird with its heart removed; lonely as a train' gives an example of both I believe.

[Freypower]

The Road. See Take It Easy, Hotel California, This Way To Happiness. The road or highway is a metaphor for the journey through life.

[sodascouts]

I'm unsure if something is a metaphor or just imagery - like "she got the moon in her eyes" - there is so much of this in Eagles' songs! Fun topic.

Hey, we can extend the topic to any imagery so you don't stress out about whether or not something is technically a metaphor / simile - I won't be grading you.

FP, I was thinking more in terms of specific lyrics, but certainly that concept gets used a lot.

[Freypower]

OK, from This Way To Happiness:

On some endless road just south of nowhere
Always searching but never really free

From Take It Easy:

Well I'm running down the road
Tryin' to loosen my load

[Keith]

One of the best lines... ever. "So often times it happens, that we live our lives in chains, and we never even know we have the key."

[thelastresort]

This is my own take on Take It Easy and I'm not sure others think, but I'd always thought the 'seven women on my mind' referred to the days of the week...

[Keith]

From a great songwriting team: "Your prison is walking through this world all alone."