Anna+L

I'm Still Breathing Katy Perry  //From her debut album __One Of The Boys__, 2008 //

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__Lyrics﻿﻿﻿ __ I leave the gas on, walk the alleys in the dark  Sleep with candles burning, I leave the door unlocked

I'm weaving a rope and running all the red lights Did I get your attention? 'Cause I'm sending all the signs

That the clock is ticking and I'll be giving my two weeks Pick your favourite shade of black you'd best prepare a speech Say something funny, say something sweet But don't say that you loved me

I'm still breathing But we've been dead for a while <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; text-align: center;">This sickness has no cure, we're going down for sure <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Already lost our grip, best abandon ship, oh

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; text-align: center;">Maybe I was too pale, maybe I was too fat <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; text-align: center;">Maybe you had better, better luck in the sack <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; text-align: center;">No formal education, I swore way to much <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">I swear you didn't care 'cause we were in love

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; text-align: center;">So as I write this letter and shed my last tear <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; text-align: center;">Know it's all for the better that we end this here <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; text-align: center;">Let's close this chapter, say one last prayer <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; text-align: center;">But don't say that you loved me

__<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Introduction __

//<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m Still Breathing //<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> is not the type of song I normally listen to and it’s not even one of my favourites ones at all although I think it’s really good specially for its lyrics. This song is one of those which you love not because it’s rhythm or rhyme, which it’s not bad at all, but because its content. It’s a very powerful, deep and personal song and that’s the main reason why I chose to analyse it Also I chose it because I consider there’s a lot to talk about the lyrics, as I would preferred choosing other songs rather than this one but I realized that I couldn’t write much about them.

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">It’s a song with a really depressing, hope and helpless mood. The author, Katy Perry, makes it very personal as she sings it in first person and talks about her deeper feelings and emotions. It’s divided by eight verses, each one of four lines except the last one which it’s not really like a verse, it’s the ending of the song which we could say it’s of three lines. There is very little repetition and as we can see it’s a quite extended song. There are plenty of metaphors which can be interpreted in many ways. There’s not any rhyme in all the song and the rhythm of it it’s quite slow as she’s talking about her depressing feelings.

__<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Analysis __

//<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m Still Breathing //<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">talks about a girl who is in a failing relationship and it’s about to end it because she feels ignored or taken for granted by her boyfriend, or possibly even cheated on. <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">She describes the feelings you have when you suddenly realize a relationship is coming to an end because of the other person, and you can't control the situation because it's not you that's the problem.

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">The song could be interpreted that’s about committing suicide because of the inability to deal with the negative emotions a person has when the relationship comes to the end and in order to get the attention from a person who seems not care anymore.

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">I personally think that it's not truly about committing suicide, I think it's about coming to terms with it, that she doesn't necessarily want to die but you do feel like that sometimes, about the way she doesn't care about her life anymore, like if it had lost all meaning for her. She is talking about that in the first verse - she isn't going to kill herself with premeditation, but just die. If she will keep on doing all the things she is talking about, it's for sure going to happen. Before she realizes she doesn't have to give on life to give up on him, she really doesn't know if she can go through with suicide so she puts herself at risk to see if death comes upon her. And above all of this, she is still trying to get his attention, because he doesn't care anymore, and she still loves him. She knows it's not going to work, she realizes he won't come back, there is no help, but without him life makes no sense.

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">The first verse of the song is her trying to get his attention. She might not be doing all these things to die, only getting close to dying, to get his boyfriend’s attention. She thinks that the person she turns to doesn't care for her, so she's trying to get his attention by doing all those risky things. It could also be interpreted as if she was really trying to commit suicide because of her failing relationship.

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">The second verse means that she's expecting a funeral of herself and tells the person she was turning to before what to do during this ceremony, including saying "something funny", "something sweet" but not mentioning about loving her, because that would make her wish she hadn't died or maybe she doesn't want her boyfriend to say it because she knows it's not true. Like if she was trying to say: I don't believe you anymore, you never loved me so stop lying and don't pretend now. We know she’s talking about a funeral as she says " pick your favourite shade of black" and you typically wear black to a wake or a funeral and as she also says " you best prepare a speech" referring to the eulogy. Before that happens, she’s putting a kind of deadline, "the clock is ticking, and I’ll be giving my two weeks" as she wants to end with all of this soon and after that she’s going to kill herself.

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">The chorus is her saying that their relationship is doomed, and is best they end it now before it becomes much worse, such as her killing (as hinted at by the various suicidal activities mentioned in the first verse). The girl is quite surprised with the fact that she's still breathing, because their relationship has died, and she didn't expect she could survive this. It seems that she have never thought about it this way: for her this love was all her world and it was normal that when it ends, her life will end too. She is realizing that there is no hope for this love, that she cannot save it, there isn't anything between them anymore. Their ship is going down, so they have to abandon it before it sinks, which could be a metaphor of death, as they have to end this relationship before she kills herself.

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">The fourth verse is her trying to figure out the reasons her boyfriend is being more and more hostile and reclusive. Show that the reason for her despair is the ending or broken relationship. She is wondering what made him stop loving her or stop paying attention, she guesses it was her imperfection.

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">Finally, in the fifth verse she tells about writing a goodbye letter and this is what the form of this song is. She "sheds her last tears" because she's expecting death. She is somehow glad that it's over, probably she's had enough of all these doubts. She repeats "don't say that you loved me" because if she finds out he loved her though, she might find her death was pointless. Find out on the other side, of course, after she dies.

__<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Brief bullet points on my exposition __

· __<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Introduce Katy Perry __

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">- American singer-songwriter

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">- Known specially by: <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">//I Kissed A Girl// <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">//Hot N Cold// <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">//California Gurls//

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">//-// Deeper songs

· __<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Song choice __

· __<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Analysis __

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">- General idea of the song

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">- Death metaphors

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">- Mood: depressing, hope and helpless

__<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Task __

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Fill in the gaps with the correct missing words:

__<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">I’m Still Breathing //by Katy Perry// __

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">I leave the gas on, walk the alleys ………………………

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Sleep with candles burning, I leave ………………………

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">I'm weaving a rope and running ………………………

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Did I get your attention? 'Cause I'm sending ………………………

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">That the clock is ticking and I'll be giving ………………………

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Pick your favourite shade of black you'd best ………………………

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Say something funny, say ………………………

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">But don't say that ………………………

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">I'm still breathing

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">But we've been ………………………

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">This sickness has no cure, we're going ………………………

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Already lost our grip, best ………………………, oh

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Maybe I was too pale, maybe I was ………………………

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Maybe you had better, better luck ………………………

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">No formal education, I swore ………………………

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">I swear you didn't care 'cause ………………………

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">So as I write this letter and shed my ………………………

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Know it's all for the better that we end this here

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Let's close this chapter, say one ………………………

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">But don't say that you loved me

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">I'm still breathing

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">But we've been ………………………

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">This sickness has no cure, we're going ………………………

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Oh we've been diagnosed, so let's ………………………

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">I'm still breathing

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">But we've been ………………………

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">This sickness has no cure, we're going ………………………

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Already lost our grip, best ………………………, oh

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Oh I'm still breathing, I'm still breathing

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Oh

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">