Evan Percival's Listening Blog

The song that I chose this week is Deed I do by performed by Ruth Etting. This love song comes from the early 1900's. It tells the story of the relationship between a woman (the singer) and a man. It is very repetitive. The singer has a very calm and smooth tone throughout the song. The most common line in the song is "Do I want/need/love you? Oh my! Do I! Honey deed I do" (Etting). The song repeats this line changing between "want you", "need you", and "love you" in the lyrics. She speaks of how this man brings her happiness and how she was sad before he walked into her life. In the song she also sings about how there were other men who she met but she forgot them the next day. The song features the accompaniment of common instruments. One of the most noticeable is the violin in the background. It has very long drawn out notes and plays the melody. As well as the brass instruments which offer emphasis on special moments throughout the song. ...

 If you are looking for a song that makes you want to throw on a pair of overalls and head to the local hayfield for a square dance Soldiers Joy is the song for you. This song comes from the early 1900's and listening to it is a history lesson in the culture of the time. One of the first lines of the song states "Don't Let Them Dance On Your New Carpet You Make Them Roll It Up" this is an interesting statement because in todays society when we think of carpet we think of fabric that has stapled down to the floor while in this song they are talking about rugs which were probably expensive at the time and easily damaged. So having people dance around on them was likely less than desirable. A majority of this song is instrumental with very little lyrics. This shows that this song was meant to be background to dancing and very little was meant by the lyrics. The key instruments in this song are the violin and the banjo. Both have a very quick tempo so you know the dance ...

 Hey everyone!      My name is Evan Percival and I am from Roosevelt, Utah. Growing up I worked on my family's cattle ranch. I graduated from Union High School in 2018 and afterwards served a two year religious/humanitarian mission in the Marshall Islands.      Growing up in a small town I follow the stereotype of loving country music. Some of my favorite artists/groups include Cole Swindell, Florida Georgia Line, and Blake Shelton. I love this genre because it reminds me of home and many of the ideas within the songs are similar to things I have seen or experienced in my own life. I also enjoy country music because of its strong patriotic themes. I find country music to also be more realistic and applicable to my own life. While artists from other genres often sing about their money or their fancy cars, country artists often sing about working on a farm or driving a truck or tractor. This makes it more relatable to its listeners than other genres. Mos...