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.
This is an interesting artifact choice because of the historical career-ending events that soon followed. As you state, this group was very popular and getting bigger - this being their biggest hit. Remember that your rhetorical analysis of the song cannot include comments regarding Ms. Maines comments or the backlash that followed.
ReplyDeleteBut also, how significant is that this is a cover song from a different war - or that the song was originally sung by a male performer? Consider the difference in public sentiment between Viet Nam and Afghanistan.
The blog you found appears to be more like peer work than scholarly work - perhaps like if some of the best blogs from our class were arranged on a particular site. Describing how the "historical approach" was "biographical as well as political" doesn't indicate a method. You suggest that we are in a society where everyone is entitled to their own opinions, which is true; but rhetorical analysis isn't meant to be a matter of opinion, but a matter of method - some of which might be interpretive, but it still must be something more than opinion.
Consider what about this song made it a hit. Was it merely timing? Was the story especially poignant? What about the recording artists? Were the DCs particularly suited to this song? There is much to examine here. Let me know how I can help.