"Gotta Keep me Movin, Keep Me Groovin, with Some Energy"

"All work and no play makes John a Dull Boy."

If you live your life with all seriousness in mind, you will be stressed and unhappy. No one likes doing all work, all the time. Even in school, Teachers know that they can't keep a students attention for more than 20 minutes or so. In response to that, they use different but interesting teaching techniques to help students learn.

Everyone has their own stress relieving techniques. Some people go running to release endorphins to the brain. Some people meditate, or do yoga to calm themselves. The woman singing in this song sounds like she hasn't exactly had a good time in this "town" of hers. She wants to just chillax and relieve some stress. She wants to find a place to "keep her groovin."

So, she poses the question to people on who is going to take her to funkytown. Funkytown could be a literal chill city, or just a disco club. Either way, the singer wants to go to funkytown so she can shake her groove thing, and just enjoy life to the fullest.

Gotta Move On

The song, “Funkytown” by Lipps Inc. can literally be taken as someone needs to be taken to “Funkytown.” In life, there are multiple transitions which nearly every human faces. The transitions from childhood to adulthood, from high school to college, or from college to the real world are transitions which many people experience. The transition from high school to college to high school is one I have just made myself.
Though I am having a marvelous time in school, there are definitely moments when I feel like I don’t belong; like I don’t fit in. Sometimes I feel as though I just want to leave and go back to the place where I belong. The groove in the song talks about the same thing.
“Gotta make a move to a town that’s right for me.
Town to keep me moving, keep me grooving with some energy.”
Sometimes if the move to a new place doesn’t work out, you can just get up and go. That’s what the singer in Lipps Inc wants to do. Moving to a new place is hard, and everyone just wants to belong. To her, “Funkytown” is just a place where everyone has fun, and everyone gets along. A place where she feels right, and where she can be herself.

What I'm Doing

This blog is a student run project to delve into "Funkytown" written by Steven Greenberg and sung by Lipps Inc. The posts that follow will contain a textual and contextual analysis of the lyrics, the writer’s word choice, how the music emphasizes certain lyrics, and how those lyrics function in the world.

I am particularly interested in seeing what responses, memories and feelings these lyrics evoke in myself as I continue to peel back the layers of meaning. And less interested in interviews given by the artist on the lyrics, although I may include some of those later on in my project.

Later, this blog will also feature an analysis of the official music video associated with the song.

"Won't You Take me To....Funky-Town?"

Lyrics by: Steven Greenberg
Performed by: Lipps Inc.

Gotta make a move to a
Town that's right for me
Town to keep me movin'
Keep me groovin' with some energy

Well, I talk about it
Talk about it
Talk about it
Talk about it
Talk about, Talk about
Talk about movin

Gotta move on
Gotta move on
Gotta move on

Won't you take me to
Funkytown
Won't you take me to
Funkytown
Won't you take me to
Funkytown
Won't you take me to
Funkytown

Gotta make a move to a
Town that's right for me
Town to keep me movin'
Keep me groovin' with some energy

Well, I talk about it
Talk about it
Talk about it
Talk about it
Talk about, Talk about
Talk about movin

Gotta move on
Gotta move on
Gotta move on

Won't you take me to
Funkytown
Won't you take me to
Funkytown
Won't you take me to
Funkytown
Won't you take me to
Funkytown

(Lyrics provided by http://www.stlyrics.com)