SONG ANALYSIS ON IMMANUAL KANT:

JUSTIN SEAN LUIS CANARIA, ARBEE KYLE JALANDOONI, AND JEROME MARIE YABUT

1. R&B: “If I Ain't Got You” by Alicia Keys

Some people live for the fortune

Some people live just for the fame
Some people live for the power, yeah
Some people live just to play the game
Some people think that the physical things define what's within
And I've been there before, and that life's a bore
So full of the superficial
Some people want it all
But I don't want nothing at all
If it ain't you, baby
If I ain't got you, baby
Some people want diamond rings
Some just want everything
But everything means nothing
If I ain't got you, yeah
Some people search for a fountain
That promises forever young (you know)
Some people need three dozen roses
And that's the only way to prove you love them
Hand me the world on a silver platter
And what good would it be
With no one to share, with no one who truly cares for me
Some people want it all
But I don't want nothing at all
If it ain't you, baby
If I ain't got you, baby
Some people want diamond rings
Some just want everything
But everything means nothing
If I ain't got you, you, you
Some people want it all
But I don't want nothing at all
If it ain't you, baby
If I ain't got you, baby
Some people want diamond rings
Some just want everything
But everything means nothing
If I ain't got you, yeah
 SONG ANALYSIS ON IMMANUAL KANT:
JUSTIN SEAN LUIS CANARIA, ARBEE KYLE JALANDOONI, AND JEROME MARIE YABUT

If I ain't got you with me, baby, oh, ooh

Said nothing in this whole wide world don't mean a thing
If I ain't got you with me, baby

Analysis:

For Immanuel Kant, it is us who will reckon the existence of space and time
because they are merely representations of the things in themselves. We do not
experience the things in themselves (called the noumenon) for they are
independent of anyone’s experience. What we experience is a phenomenon.
With this in mind, our perception of reality differs insofar as we experience it in
our understanding. This song by Alicia Keys paints a picture of the ideal world
that the singer wants. Its words imply that the world conforms to their senses like
in the lyrics everything means nothing if I ain't got you or life's a bore so full of
the superficial. Moreover, that line implies that without our fellow human beings,
the world would be meaningless. This reflects Kant’s second maxim in his
categorical imperative to “act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in
your person or the person of any other, never merely as a means to an end, but
always at the same time as an end.”1

1
Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, James W. Ellington, trans. (Indiana:
Hackett Publishing Company, Inc, 1993), 30.
 SONG ANALYSIS ON IMMANUAL KANT:
JUSTIN SEAN LUIS CANARIA, ARBEE KYLE JALANDOONI, AND JEROME MARIE YABUT

2. Love Song: “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion

Every night in my dreams

I see you, I feel you
That is how I know you go on
Far across the distance
And spaces between us
You have come to show you go on
Near, far, wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on
Once more you open the door
And you're here in my heart
And my heart will go on and on
Love can touch us one time
And last for a lifetime
And never let go 'til we're gone
Love was when I loved you
One true time I'd hold to
In my life we'll always go on
Near, far, wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on
Once more you open the door
And you're here in my heart
And my heart will go on and on
You're here, there's nothing I fear
And I know that my heart will go on
We'll stay forever this way
You are safe in my heart and
My heart will go on and on

Analysis:

For Kant, space is merely an object of our perception and not necessarily a real
concept. In the first four stanzas of Celine Dion’s song, emphasis on the notion
that space is not a barrier for humans to love each other is given. It may be true
that this not on the physical side of the spectrum but it illustrates well Kant’s
views on space and time in general. The singer has his subjective perception of
reality to which that reality conforms to his/her will. Just because their partner is
there, they are already strong. Moreover, they are very optimistic that their love
will last forever. The principle idea Celine sings about is that the couple had the
most perfect type of affection, and such is difficult to overlook. She further vows
to protect his recollections in her heart all through her lifetime. Because space is
not enough to keep the two lovers apart, they end up loving each other to the
 SONG ANALYSIS ON IMMANUAL KANT:
JUSTIN SEAN LUIS CANARIA, ARBEE KYLE JALANDOONI, AND JEROME MARIE YABUT

fullest as in the line my heart will go on and on. And finally, the way the singer
treats their partner not as a means but as an end also reflects the second maxim
in the Categorical Imperative. 
 SONG ANALYSIS ON IMMANUAL KANT:
JUSTIN SEAN LUIS CANARIA, ARBEE KYLE JALANDOONI, AND JEROME MARIE YABUT

3. Heavy Metal: “Hallowed Be Thy Name” by Iron Maiden

I'm waiting in my cold cell when the bell begins to chime

Reflecting on my past life and it doesn't have much time
'Cause at 5 o'clock, they take me to the Gallows Pole
The sands of time for me are running low, yeah!
When the priest comes to read me the last rites
I take a look through the bars at the last sights
Of a world that has gone very wrong for me
Can it be that there's some sort of error
Hard to stop the surmounting terror
Is it really the end, not some crazy dream?
Somebody please tell me that I'm dreaming
It's not easy to stop from screaming
The words escape me when I try to speak
Tears flow, but why am I crying
After all I'm not afraid of dying
Don't I believe that there never is an end
As the guards march me out to the courtyard
Somebody cries from a cell "God be with you"
If there's a God then why has he let me go?
As I walk all my life drifts before me
And though the end is near I'm not sorry
Catch my soul, it's willing to fly away
Mark my words, believe my soul lives on
Don't worry now that I have gone
I've gone beyond to seek the truth
When you know that your time is close at hand
Maybe then you'll begin to understand
Life down here is just a strange illusion
Yeah, hallowed be thy name
Yeah, hallowed by thy name

Analysis:
The song speaks of a man reflecting on his life as he is about to be executed. It
has a heavy emphasis on experiencing time whose source, Kant said, must be
sought in experience.2 In fact from verses 3 onwards, he is questioning the
validity of his experience. It seems that there is something more to this than what
he is experiencing. Verily, what the singer is saying here conforms to Kant’s
beliefs. For space and time are merely conditions of our sensibility and do not
2
Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), 81.
 SONG ANALYSIS ON IMMANUAL KANT:
JUSTIN SEAN LUIS CANARIA, ARBEE KYLE JALANDOONI, AND JEROME MARIE YABUT

present the things as they are in themselves. 3 The line in the song that
showcases Kant’s belief in space and time is Life down here is just a strange
illusion. Moreover, the line world that has gone very wrong for me implies an
affirmation of Kant’s belief that human nature is ‘radically evil’. 4

3
Ibid.

4
Immanuel Kant, Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason, Werner S. Pluhar, trans. (Indianapolis:
Hackett Publishing Company, 2009), 8.