Boyle1 Andrew Boyle ENG 200 Lyrical Analysis Essay Christine Olding 6 October 2013 T.

Rex Many people think that it was David Bowie who created the backbone for Glam Rock and was the key factor in identifying its key principles, but the band that should really be rewarded with all the credit is T.Rex. The process of selfexploration that Marc Bolan underwent in the early 1970s can be defined as the first discovery of what Glam Rock is all about. He taught other musicians that when they were on stage there is more to a live performance than just the music itself; it is an opportunity for the lead singer to take on a whole new persona within their control and put themselves in the spotlight. Through the singles Get it On and 20th Century Boy, Marc Bolan identifies how Glam Rock displays a long journey of self-exploration and developing an onstage persona. He uses not only the lyrics and instrumentation of a song, but also the vocals to depict the message he wants to get across. Another focus of T.Rexs influence is their onstage performance, but I would like to focus more on the message of the songs themselves. The band T.Rex was derived from a band that Marc Bolan and Steve Porter started in 1967, originally called Tyrannosaurus Rex. In terms of musical appeal, the band jumped on to the counterculture bandwagon and wrote psychedelic music that attracted more of a hippie crowd. Around 1970, after Tyrannosaurus Rex

Boyle2 actually gained decent recognition in the U.S., Marc Bolan wanted to use the same focus on his lyrics about fantasy and wizardry, while adding the electric guitar and bass guitar to emphasize their message. Releasing albums like Electric Warrior and The Slider, the band showed their shift from a psychedelic sound to a deeper, pop rock sound. Marc Bolan strived to be like the Beatles or Rolling Stones, so he shifted the music of T.Rex to a pop rock sound where he could make more hits. However, bands like the Rolling Stones and T.Rex shared one very significant difference. While the music of the Rolling Stones had contributions from each band member to create their sound, Marc Bolan purposely chose members for his band that were not only under his control, but less talented than him so he could steal the spotlight for himself. Even though T.Rex had multiple #1 singles and sold over 40 million records in the U.K., they never gained fame in the U.S. Many think the country wasnt ready for T.Rexs sound and was still in a psychedelic phase. The first song that really showed a change in Marc Bolans identity and how he redefined his original psychedelic from Tyrannosaurus Rex as being a pop rock musician with an aggressive sound was Get it On. The lyrics of the song focus on a sexual exploration for Bolan and him expressing his vision of the right girl for him, but through this song he also shows an identity change from a psychedelic performer to having much more of a pop essence. Throughout the song, Bolan consistently repeats the phrase Youre dirty sweet and youre my girl to emphasize his sexual interests and also identify his hyper-masculinity. Not only through specific instances in the lyrics does he show his identity, but even the context and vocabulary themselves show his major change. Bolan makes a big shift from lyrics

Boyle3 evolving around wizardry and fantasy to easily recognizable, easily quotable lyrics that help emphasize his new pop sound. The instrumentation is what probably has the biggest emphasis on Bolans identity change. Generally, the change from light, acoustic instrumentation to heavier, electric instrumentation shows the major change of the style of the band and the crowd they started to appeal to. Furthermore the more aggressive, heavier instrumentation helps emphasize the theme of sexual exploration and relates to the persona Bolan wants to undertake on stage. The heavy repetitions of the lead guitar supported by the strong influence of the bass guitar in the background allow Bolan to take on his new flashy persona and take control of the stage. Another element that shows T.Rexs change, or really Marc Bolans change in his persona were how his vocals changed and the way he expressed his lyrics changed drastically. He switched from the high pitched vocals and a very soft voice to what sounds like much more aggressive, and actually somewhat feminine vocal range to do more than focus on the lyrics. He emphasized his vocals and how the lyrics were portrayed to make the message of this song stronger. It almost sounds like hes shouting into the microphone unlike the way he sung with a very soft voice with Tyrannosaurus Rex. The vocals also help express his strong interest in women being portrayed through his lyrics, and so does and somewhat feminine vocal range. There is a second single by T. Rex that even further narrates Bolans long adventure of self-exploration, 20th Century Boy. Specifically, the lyrics show the way Bolan has changed his onstage persona to further influence the movement of Glam Rock and learn more about his onstage identity. Also, they show how the style

Boyle4 of the band shifted to focusing around Marc Bolan. First, Bolan repeats the phrase Im you toy, your 20th century boy, to explain to the listeners that he wants to be the ultimate performer of his era. He initially shifted his focus to being a rockstar and now he wants to be the best performer, not just musician. Second, he uses references like move like a rat, talk like a rat and charge like a ram, sting like a bee to refer to his slick new persona and the personality that follows along with it. He had reached a new phase in self-exploration and thrived to be everybodys favorite performer. During the song, the instrumentation is a very big factor in how Marc Bolan displays his new identity. Still using an electric guitar, he takes the instrumentation from Get it On and builds off it by allowing more influence from the bass guitar and applying much heavier instrumentation to portray the performer he has become. Before, he wanted to be the king of pop rock and now he wants to be the best rock performer of his era. Another thing I would like to acknowledge is that the sound that T. Rex has at this stage in their career may resemble the very early stages of metal. They(Marc Bolan) introduced a whole new style for the electric guitar that influenced musicians like Alice Cooper. Like Get it On, Bolan uses his extremely wide vocal range to top off the heavy instrumentation and emphasize the lyrics. Aside from the lyrics, the vocals of Bolan help accentuate his new performing persona and the glamorous identity of his future. Similar to Get it On, it also sort of sounds like Bolan is shouting into the microphone in some parts of the song. For example, when he repeats I wanna be your boy, it doesnt sound at all like his singing voice.

Boyle5 In conclusion, these two relate in the sense that they show Marc Bolans exploration into his own identity and how he evolved into and originated the style of a Glam Rock musician. Through his process of self-exploration, he showed both his listeners and his peers how to take the concept of a musician and push it to a whole new level. Also, he showed how a musician can use music to create a second identity entirely different from their own. He permanently changed what it means to be a performer.

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Works Cited T. Rex, 20th Century Boy, Youtube. Youtube, 13 Feb. 2009. Web. 7 Oct. 2013 T. Rex, (Bang a Gong) Get it On, Youtube. Youtube, 27 July 2010. Web 6 Oct. 2013 Bolan, Marc. 20th Century Boy. 20th Century Boy Lyrics. MetroLyrics. Web. 6 Oct. 2013 Bolan, Marc. Get it On. Bang a Gong(get It On) Lyrics. MetroLyrics. Web. 6 Oct. 2013 Auslander, Philip. Performing Glam Rock: Gender and Theatricality in Popular Music. Ann Arbor. U of Michigan Press, 2006, Print.