Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

New ‘hop: Song Lyric Sunday.

This Sunday’s theme: ‘The Psychic Apparatus‘

This week, our Host, Jim dishes on the Father of Psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. Specifically we are asked to relate how (Freud’s) construct, the Id, might be manifest in song and lyrics. Putatively the source of all human drives of a wet or crunchy nature, the Id accounts for the inspiration for a remarkably broad catalogue of music. For those of us growing up in the ’60s, this concept of the landscape of the Unconscious is, like, the ultimate Hall Pass, endless source of closing lines to deploy Thursday evenings in college dorms and well, it also provided us with something we could relate to our parents about…sorta.

Jim, take it away:

Sigmund Freud developed the concept of the id (“das Es” or “the it”) as the primal, unconscious component of the personality present from birth.  He introduced this in his 1923 work The Ego and the Id, when it arose from his research into the unconscious, driving urges like hunger and sex via the pleasure principle, which demands immediate gratification.  The id operates on the immediate gratification of desires, such as hunger, thirst, and sexual impulses to avoid pain or discomfort.  The id is not organized and acts on instinctual impulses that may coexist without canceling each other out.  The id can be representative of the devil being on a person’s shoulder, where he pressures an individual to seek their deepest, unfiltered, most selfish of desires to satisfy their primal urges and act on illogical impulses.  Music that is raw, aggressive, rhythmic, highly passionate, or exciting with an emotional kick can be interpreted as speaking directly to the id.  Music can act as a safe outlet for your forbidden, chaotic, or intense emotions, allowing listeners to experience them vicariously through artists.  Oddly, Sigmund Freud was notoriously unmusical, and he claimed to dislike most music.  He was known to cover his ears or leave if a band started playing.  Some analysts speculate he feared the emotional power of music (the “liberating axe” of emotion) because it threatened to overpower his own ego, allowing the unconscious (id) to run wild.

(Further), We’re all invited to:

“…find a song related to Sigmund Freud’s id exhibiting instinctual drives that seek immediate pleasure or gratification without regard for reality.   Tell everyone why you like the song, whether it was a hit, or what you think the song is about.  Show the lyrics, let’s all listen to our favorite songs and explore some new music.  Try to find a song that fits the theme, then write your post and create a pingback, or you can just place your link in the comments section.”

Our choice, (selecting and culling the candidates, by no means and easy process, their number being Legion), is Avenged Sevenfold’s Nightmare.

While arguably endemic to those who are inclined to create a blog, in general, and participate in bloghops, in particular, the song we’ve selected has it all. Sin, Punishment, Torment and Regret.

Hey! Kinda like Sigmund’s schema: Id, Superego, Id and Superego and finally …Ego.

Nightmare
Avenged Sevenfold (2010)