Original
"Blown Away" by Carrie Underwood
Dry lightning cracks across the skies
Those storm clouds gather in her eyes
Her daddy was a mean old mister
Mama was an angel in the ground
The weather man called for a twister
She prayed, "Blow it down."
There's not enough rain in Oklahoma
To wash the sins out of that house
There's not enough wind in Oklahoma
To rip the nails out of the past
[Chorus:]
Shatter every window 'til it's all blown away,
Every brick, every board, every slamming door blown away
'Til there's nothing left standing, nothing left of yesterday
Every tear-soaked whiskey memory blown away,
Blown away
She heard those sirens screaming out
Her daddy laid there, passed out on the couch
She locked herself in the cellar
Listened to the screaming of the wind
Some people call it taking shelter
She called it sweet revenge
[Chorus:]
Shatter every window 'til it's all blown away,
Every brick, every board, every slamming door blown away
'Til there's nothing left standing, nothing left of yesterday
Every tear-soaked whiskey memory blown away,
Blown away
There's not enough rain in Oklahoma
To wash the sins out of that house
There's not enough wind in Oklahoma
To rip the nails out of the past
Shatter every window 'til it's all blown away (blown away)
Every brick, every board, every slamming door blown away (blown away)
'Til there's nothing left standing, nothing left of yesterday (blown away)
Every tear-soaked whiskey memory blown away,
Blown away, blown away, blown away, blown away, blown away
With NO Figurative Language:
Lightening strikes. It is not raining.
She is angry.
Her dad was mean.
Her mother was dead.
The weatherman said there would be a tornado.
She wanted her house to fall from the wind.
There is not enough rain in Oklahoma
To take away all the bad things that happened in that house.
There is not enough wind in Oklahoma
to destroy the house that had bad memories.
[Chorus]
Break all the windows and blow them away.
Every brick, every board, every door that she closed when she was angry...blow it away.
Every sad memory that made her cry because her dad drank a lot--blow it away.
She heard the emergency vehicles approaching.
Her dad was lying on the couch after drinking too much.
She went to the basement and locked the door.
She listened to how the wind sounded outside.
Some people call it finding a place to stay.
She called it getting back at daddy.
[Chorus]
Ugh. The version with no figurative language is boring, has no style whatsoever, and cannot be sung to the tune very well. The first stanza is especially boring--saying that her dad was mean and her mom was dead. There's no suggestion of just HOW mean her dad was or how she felt about her mom, as is indicated in the original. Many of the unique adjectives that Carrie Underwood built into her song are removed when the metaphors, imagery, and personification are removed. There weren't any similes in this song, but there was hyperbole, which is another kind of figurative language. Metaphors are marked in red, imagery is marked in green, personification is marked in orange and hyperbole is marked in blue.