Throw Them Overboard

Utilizing their opinions against “modern technology” in Abney Park’s “Throw Them Overboard”, the band uses the upbeat tone and beat of the song, intricate jargon in their lyrics, and archaic and rebellion-type imagery to express what they think is wrong with society, and how they’d fix it, namely by “lining them up and throwing them overboard”

Abney Park’s “Throw Them Overboard” has a very upbeat tone. It’s fast and quick, and has a very joyful tune. Even though the song is condemning “newfangled technology”, it’s doing it very happily. The singer treats modern society audaciously, claiming that he’s “got no love for this society”.

Abney Park also utilizes jargon in this song. Using words such as anthropophagy, urology, and horology, they hearken back to a time where such long words were common. Anthropophagy means the study of human history, which the singer prefers way more than today’s music. Urology is the study of urine, and refers to the idea that today’s society is pissing away its good parts. Finally, horology is the study and art of measuring time. The band will have to go back in the past to obtain a society they approve of.

Finally, Abney Park uses imagery to convey their thoughts, emotions, and ideas through their song.  The main example of imagery is the repeated use of “newfangled” in the chorus, where modern technology such as phones and cars are viewed on as overcomplicated and evil. The “throw them overboard” line refers to the point in time when people used wooden ships, and a traitor/mutineer would be forced to walk the plank or, if they refused, thrown overboard. Overall, imagery colors this song in all the right ways that accentuate the ideas it represents.