Waterfalls, Essay Example

Wright Mills’ sociological imagination shows in a real world context beyond the classroom and textbook as the lyrics of the song “Waterfalls” is used to connect between personal and social issues/problems and individual biography and social circumstances. Mills’ essential belief was that people need to understand the history of their culture in order to understand their place in that culture and to comprehend why generally accepted moral codes are the way they are.

There is value in using sociological imagination to understand social life. Sociological imagination is defined as the ability to live inclusively within society with perceptions that allow for interactions with others. Mills found this realization, as people are capable of making lucid summations of the events of their society. Any failure to grasp sociological imagination leads to the alienation of self, general frustration, confusion, and isolation from mainstream life. If an individual is going to be a productive member of society, then there must be, if not acceptance, then at least an understanding, of culture, mores, and social values. The balanced, adjusted individual will see that most problems are societal problems and need solutions at that level and not at a personal level.

Social and personal issues/problems are different. Personal efficacy is a person’s ability to control his or her own words and actions. The degree to which a person is personally responsible for these is the degree to which the person can manage life situations. For example, students learn when they are willing to apply themselves to learning tasks, such as this one, in order to achieve desired goals and outcomes. Locus of control means how a person attributes events on a scale that can range from things being very external to internal.

Generally, it is helpful to feel that most things are under our own control. By feeling this way, we can manage our affairs in order to achieve the things we want from life. Those who lie toward the external locus side of the scale feel that, no matter what they do, they will not be able to control things that happen to them. It is important not to think that internal locus is all-good and that external locus is all undesirable. Those with preponderant internal locus can become out of touch with a realistic view of their personal abilities. Too much external locus can cause people to become too complacent and underachieving.

“Waterfalls” is by the female trio, TLC, and from the group’s second album, CrazySexyCool. The album found release in 1995. The D.A.R.P., Doppler, and Bosstown recording Studios of Atlanta, Georgia recorded it as a joint venture. TLC’s music is considered to be in the R&B, Hip Hop, and Pop genres. The single, “Waterfalls,” went on to reach number one on Billboard’s Hot 100 hits, and it became the second most successful song of 1995. I selected this song because I have listened to it for years and have always liked it.

“Waterfalls” is a song about how people try to reach out for dreams that do not satisfy, long-term. Prominently described in the song are the issues of drugs and sex. The first part of the song deals with a troubled youth’s involvement with dealing drugs as a way to make lots of money, easily and quickly. Because he chose not to follow his mother’s admonition to stay away from drug dealers, his life ended abruptly through violence. The second part of the song deals with sexual obsession and infidelity. We know from the lyrics that through unsafe sexual practices there is death and the contraction of HIV/AIDS.

The most prominent social issue of the song, apart from the specific drug and sex themes, is the fact that people want immediate gratification. Some want to amass incredible wealth, and they want it right now, without having to work hard for it or to be concerned with the legality of their actions. This is considered a social issue rather than a personal issue or problem because society sends messages to us that the way to find happiness to have plenty of money. All people want to love and know love, and sexual promiscuity is the way that many people try to find elusive love.

Most healthy people who work hard at legal, honest work will earn enough money to support themselves and their families. They may not become rich, but their efforts find reward as they assume upstanding places within the framework of society. Those who commit to monogamous relationships find harmony that belies those who move from partner to partner. Society deems the most proper relationship to be between two people. In previous generations, this found definition as that relationship between a man and a woman. Today, there is growing conflict with this societal definition as gays and lesbians fight for equal rights and equal recognition.

Two facts from scholarly sources show the relevance of the social issue of immediate gratification. First is a scientific study conducted with those who have accumulated instant wealth through winning state-sponsored lotteries. The research findings suggest that such people find increases in life gratification and personal acceptance and experience loss in the area of fostering personal, future life goals because of their winnings (Abrahamson 1980). Second is the persistent notion, born through research, that the family is the primary and most influential medium by which moral values find transmission (Luckmann 2002).

The group, TLC, was an Atlanta, African American hip-hop group composed of three women: Tionne Watkins, Lisa Lopes, and Rozanda Thomas. Each of the girls is known to their fans by their aliases. Watkins is known as “T-Boz, Lopes as “Left Eye,” and Thomas as “Chilli.” The group formed in 1991 and used the services of Perri “Pebbles” Reid as its manager. Reid had several hits as an R&B artist. While Thomas and Watkins handled the vocals, Lopes served as the rapper of the group. Lopes lost her life in a head-on car crash in 2002. She was 30 years old. As a trademark and as away of bringing awareness to the cause of practicing safe sex, Lopes frequently wore glasses with a condom adhered to her left eye.

Falling victim of the very things brought out in ‘Waterfalls” –wanting too much—the group filed for bankruptcy in 1995, following a string of successful hits and concert tours. Lopes received a fine and probation when she pleaded guilty to the arson of her professional football player boyfriend’s home. Despite these setbacks, TLC won four Grammy Awards. By 2000, the group had all but dissolved. The two living members of the group, Thomas and Watkins, have announced a return to the music business.

The words of the song, “Waterfalls,” are as follows:

A lonely mother gazing out of the window, staring at a son that she just can’t touch. If at any time he’s in a jam she’ll be by his side. But he doesn’t realize he hurts her so much. But all the praying just ain’t helping at all, cause he can’t seem to keep his self out of trouble. So, he goes out and makes his money the best way he knows how. Another body laying cold in the gutter. Listen to me.

Don’t go chasing waterfalls. Please stick to the rivers and lakes that you’re used to. I know that you’re gonna have it your way or nothing at all. But I think you’re moving too fast. Little precious has a natural obsession for temptation, but he just can’t see she gives him loving that his body can’t handel. But all he can say is baby it’s good to me. One day he goes and takes a glimpse in the mirror, but he doesn’t recognize his own face. His health is fading, and he doesn’t know why 3 letters took him to his final resting place. Y’all don’t hear me. I seen a rainbow yesterday, but too many storms have come, leaving a trace of not one God-given ray. Is it because my life is ten shades of grey? I pray all ten fade away. Seldom praise Him for the sunny days. And like His promise is true, only faith can undo the many chances I blew to bring my life to a new clear, blue, and unconditional skies have dried the tears from my eyes. No more lonely cries. My only bleedin’ hope is for the folk who can’t cope with such an endurin’ pain that it keeps ‘em in the pouring rain. Who’s to blame for shootin’ caine into your own vein. What a shame you shoot and aim for someone else’s brain. You claim the insane and name this day in time for fallin’ pray to crime. I say the system got you victim to your own mind. Dreams are hopeless aspirations in hopes of comin’ true. Believe in yourself. The rest is up to me and you.

This song applies to Social Conflict Theory, because society is complex and characterized by inequalities and conflicts that elicit social changes. This theory traces its origin to Marx who labored to reduce the differences between social haves and have-nots. A sad fact of society as we know it is that we tend to place value on those who have it all together and generalize that those who do not possess things are as worthy. The government’s rules protect the power of the wealthy. Social conflict finds problems when some members of society are valued above others (Van Wormer 2004). The victims described in ‘Waterfalls” are captive to the immediate gratification that comes with selling drugs and enjoying sex. In both instances, such quests for ecstasy cost the participants their lives.

I learned something from doing this project. Doing the research caused me to think deeply beyond familiar texts to seek answers to underlying problems outlined through the lyrics. Mills’ theory is compelling, and I imagine that I will refer to it as I encounter future societal issues and try to discern why things are the way they are and why people do the things we do.

Works Cited

Abrahamson, Mark. “Sudden Wealth, Gratification, and Attainment: American Sociological Review 45, 1 (1980): 49-57.

Luckmann, Thomas. “Moral Communication in Modern Societies.” Human Studies 25, 1 (2002): 19-32.

Van Wormer, K. “Restorative Justice: A Model for Personal and Societal Empowerment.” Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work 23, 4 (2004): 103-120.