Frequency

While most people would agree that “this”Take the ‘A’ Train” is an “upbeat song”, when we apply our Circumplex Emotional mapping to just the text, it opens up for interpretation.

The lyrics are exceptionally short, so Circumplex doesn’t have a lot to of content to analyze:

Hurry, hurry, hurry take the “A” train
To get to Sugar Hill way up in Harlem
If you should take the “A” train
You’ll get to where you’re going in a hurry

Hurry, hurry, hurry now it’s coming
Can’t you hear the bells a humming
If you should miss the “A” train
You miss the quickest way to Harlem

Hurry, get on, now it`s coming
Listen to those rails a-thrumming
All aboard, get on the “A” train
Soon you will be on Sugar Hill in Harlem

Circumplex maps the Primary Emotion as Alert and the Secondary Emotion as Happy.

Alert makes sense as the majority of the song is a call to action to make that train. Happy isn’t as clear.

Stepping way, way back from what I “know” about this song, while the song does convey that I need to get to Sugar Hill in Harlem as soon as possible, it actually doesn’t say why. Am I worried about being late for work? Is this an ad for the MTA? A lot of the “story” of this song rests on both the music, and the social understanding of what Sugar Hill in Harlem stands for, which is where our problems start. I’ve been very specific in restricting Chat: it is only to analyze the text. I don’t want our current understanding to influence the analysis (for example, reading “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” as a children’s song) unless its specifically asked for.

So the question here is would the audience at that time “know” the meaning of Sugar Hill in Harlem as an actual place or a stand in for a positive experience? I’m not a historian of Popular Culture, Black History or New York, but doing some research (and it’s a fascinating story) I’m going with yes.

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