This poem is most likely a spin off of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "The Village Blacksmith." This original poem tells the story of a blacksmith who lives his life very independently. The original poem promotes this independence through hard work and honesty. Orwell's new version, perhaps the Newspeak version, promotes independence in the light of betrayal and separation which are values promoted in the Oceania society. Each time the song comes on, Orwell describes the note as being yellow. The color yellow is often used for enhancing memories. When Winston hears the song for the second time, he says that "perhaps it was not happening, perhaps it was only a memory taking on the semblance of sound." The song itself had became a memory. The song - which represents the change in societies over time due to its immense alteration since its translation into Newspeak - is used by the Party to drill the importance of betrayal and separation into citizens' heads and the hint of yellow helps these beliefs stick.
Works Cited:
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. "The Village Blacksmith." Bartleby.com. 2010. 24 Aug. 2010 <http://www.bartleby.com/102/59.html>.
"Color Therapy." BioPulse. 24 Aug. 2010 <http://www.biopulse.org/color.html>.
Photo Credits:
"Planting Trees in North Korea." LOAF Project. 2009. 26 Aug. 2010 <http://www.loafproject.co.uk/html/project_2009.html> .
"Yellow." Tinker. 2009. A Glam Media Service. 26 Aug. 2010 <http://www.tinker.com/featured/?category=Topic&categoryType=topics>.
I've liked your use of images throughout both concordances -- but here the color is particularly effective
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