Blog #2

Paige Kaltenbach

Blog #2

9/28/2015

Travelin' Soldier

With the amount of controversy with “Travelin’ Soldier” by The Dixie Chicks at the time it came out you would think there would be plenty of analysis for it. Sadly though, I only found two. One was not so creditable so I decided to use  http://critiquegeeks.weebly.com/writing-on-poetry--lyrics.html as my analytic source for this artifact. In this analysis called "Travelin' Soldier Critique" you read many facts about the piece. The blogger says "The historical approach that I took was biographical as well as political". This is shown throughout the writing.

The historical approach was addressed by looking into the songs background. The song was originally written and performed in 1996 by Bruce Robinson. He wrote it about young love destroyed by the Vietnam War. The song was very relatable at this time do to the war but it did not blow up as much as The Dixie Chicks version. Another rendition of this song is by Ty England in 1999. Yet again, the song was not that big of a hit. When The Dixie Chicks released their version in 2002 they already had five singles and were very well known. Also at the time of the song release could not have been better. It was released in 2002 just a few months after the Terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Many people could relate to this song because they either knew a soldier or just felt for the people of the country who did. This is most likely why when they released their version of the song it topped the charts for weeks and weeks on end!

As the blog goes on it also addressed the political aspect of the comment made by The Dixie Chicks. The comment made was by the lead singer, Natalie Maines, saying that she and the rest of the band were ashamed that the president, George Bush, was from Texas like they were. The weebly blog goes on saying this comment "provoked mixed feelings throughout the world" which I completely agree with. Some people completely boycotted The Dixie Chicks while some others were mad when the group released a public apology because they believe that the girls were just expressing freedom of speech.

I believe that this is a very well written criticism and I agree with most of what it says. Although this song was written about the Vietnam War it truly can relate to the Iraqi War as well. The blog looks at the song without opinion and just states facts about what the song is and what happened with it. What I learned from this critical analysis is that you can write a very good piece without having opinions or biases which I believe to be really hard nowadays due to the fact that we grow up in society where everyone is entitled to, and suppose to have their own opinions.

Blog #1

Paige Kaltenbach

Blog #1

September 12, 2015

Travelin' Soldier by The Dixie Soldier

Travelin' Soldier is a heart wrenching song about a young boy going off to the Army. Before he got on the bus to leave he stop at a diner for a meal. He's shy but asks the waitress with a big pink bow to sit with him because he's lonely. She takes him to a pier and they sit and talk. The boy tell the girl, " I bet you have a boyfriend, I got no one to send letters to, would you mind if I sent one back here to you?"

He sends letter to her from all over the world, California, Vietnam. He tells her in the letters he thinks he might be in love with her. He writes that it's getting tough but he always thinks about that day on the pier. Next in the letters he says that he doesn't know when he'll be able to write her again. "Don't worry but I won't be able to write for a while" Little did she know she wouldn't be hearing from him again. A few weeks later at a High School football game the announcer read off a list of recent Vietnam dead. Everyone cried and cried until one name was read off that no one recognized except that girl in the stand with the big pink bow. The song says "I cried, never gonna hold the hand of another guy." and "Our love will never end."

Listening to this song anyone would get a rush of emotions but when The Dixie Chicks released it the song spoke to so many people. The Dixie Chicks released this song on February, 20, 2002, just five months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and after the United State declared war. Just a few months after the song came out it hit number one. It seemed that everyone could relate with this song because of the tragedy of the World Trade Center’s is attacked. Being so closely released after 9/11 many people thought of it as an anti-war song. I believe everyone can feel from this song but the audience most effected would be people that were getting deployed and leaving their loved ones behind with only letters to write back and fourth. Travelin' soldier had a steady spot at number one for a very long time due to all the country was going through. The Dixie Chick preformed it everywhere from football games, to music award, and all over the world on tour. This song was all over until over a year later when the group performed it in while on tour in Europe. As the song started playing the lead singer, Natalie Maines, said that her and the band were ashamed that the President of the United State, George Bush was from Texas like they were. The US marines made a comment back so many stations refused to continue playing the song. In one week Travelin' Soldier went from number one to number 3, and the following week it was completely off the Billboard Top 100 Chart. With the Nation in such a bad place at the time, many people were very upset that Natalie Maines would say that, especially on foreign soil. With such controversy behind it, many stations wouldn't play them anymore and people stopped going to their concerts. Many people believe that is what ruined their career because after that comment in 2003 they never had a number one song since. The song and The Dixie Chicks went from number one to being completely ignored. I think that this happened because people felt the comment was anti-American ad after 9/11 people wanted to all stick together and be strong as a Nation.