Songs about Success
1.) "The Thrill" Wiz Khalifa
2.) "I Made It" Kevin Rudolph
3.) "Lucky" Britney Spears
4.) "That Was A Crazy Game of Poker" OAR
5.) "Billionaire" Travie McCoy FT. Bruno Mars

Songs about Liberation
1.) "King Without A Crown" Matisyahu
2.) "Redemption Song" Bob Marley
3.) "Who Says" John Mayer
4.) "Let Her Cry" Hootie and the Blowfish
5.) "Learn to Fly" Foo Fighters

     For this assignment, I found the aim of to be more prevalent than the aim of liberation. Everyone wants to find success in one way or another, so there is no wonder that there are numerous songs about finding it. The aim of success reaches across all genres. From country to rap, one can find something about the journey to, in midst of, or fall from success. I believe this to be true, due to the nature of humankind. We are taught from a young age that success in life will bring the greatest happiness. Success comes in many different forms and definitions. For one, success might come in the form of a loving marriage, for others it might be a high paying job with a corner office. Though these forms of success differ, there is one common goal. Happiness.
     Unlike the Western view on Success, the Hindu view stresses that success will never be enough, and it is not truly what you want. Success may be something that you want to achieve on your way to "Ultimate Reality", but simply being successful will never truly fulfill you and be "enough" to satisfy the needs of a person. For many Americans, success is enough for them to be happy. An American's view of  "Ultimate reality" may be the 4 million dollar mansion with a 5 car garage. The material things truly fulfill them and there is nothing else that could possibly make them any happier. In my opinion, the Hindu view on success is much more realistic and down to earth. As Americans, we are a consumer culture and material wealth is a means of great success. It is hard for us to comprehend that material wealth or power is simply not enough to fulfill a great life. It is important to remember that great success will not bring you fulfillment.

Aims of Pleasure and Community Service

Pleasure Songs

Corey Smith "Drinkin Again"

Pepper "No Control"

Benji Davis Project "Do It With The Lights On"

Bob Marley "Is This Love"

Soul Decision "Faded"

Community Service Songs

Matisyahu "Youth"

Soja "Open My Eyes"

Jack Johnson "Good People"

Bob Marley "One Love"

Jackie DeShannon "Put A Little Love In Your Heart"

For this assignment, I found the aim of pleasure to be much more prevalent than its community service counterpart. When it comes to the aim of pleasure, it is much easier to find themes of sex, drugs and alcohol, rather than themes of community involvement and good will. American media has taught us that "sex sells" and sex, in fact is everywhere. Every aspect of our media coverage has something to do with sex, in all forms. Drug and alcohol usage among Americans is at an all time high. We are bombarded with these images in everyday life and value has been placed on attaining pleasure through the use of these addictive substances. In Hinduism, in order to attain pleasure, one must "seek intelligently", as if to use their morals as a guide to what activities are appropriate, yet fulfilling.  The Eastern view on pleasure seem much more morally sound and appropriate. I feel that Western views should take influence from their Eastern counterparts and realize that not everything needs to be so sexually explicit or drug and profanity laced. The more wholesome, Eastern view is where we should seek guidance. While I was able to find many songs that emphasized pleasure, I found it surprising that there aren't very many sons about community service or good will. I spent hours going through songs, analyzing lyrics and trying to determine if the song could appropriately be categorized as the aim for community service. While it was hard to find songs to fit this particular aim, the ones that I did find seem to be very appropriate for the topic. As Americans, we are slowly trying to put more emphasis on the importance of service to your community and mankind as a whole. There are many media outlets that try to spread the word of good will and service in a fun and entertaining way that attracts people young and old to the ideas of  social responsibility. Though the Hindu view on community is much different than that of Americans, some ideas are still the same. Community is very important and the power of the community is something that we can put trust in, even if all else fails