Adam Weinstein
ENG 101
1 November 2007
When we were told to pick a politically charged song to write about, I had a hard time thinking of a song. I decided to go through my iTunes and see what songs I may have that are politically charged. It took me a while but I finally came across a song by the Dixie Chicks. The song is called Not Ready To Make Nice. When you listen to the song you can defiantly tell that there is some anger along with some political meanings. To understand this song though you need to know a little background on them and why they wrote this song.
A few years ago, the Dixie Chicks made a comment about being ashamed to be from the same state as the president. This really enraged Toby Keith, a fellow country singer. They went back and forth with snide comments until the country music world decided that what the Dixie Chicks had said was bad, and they stopped playing their music on the radio and on TV. For a few years no one really heard anything about the Dixie Chicks. Some say that they went to Europe to play their music. When they came back to the United States a few years ago, they came out with a new song. This song was played CMT for a while. It seemed like they had tried to make things better. They had even released a statement apologizing to the President. The new song was not a happy song by any means; it was a song that could get their feelings out for the whole world to know.
In this song the Dixie Chicks are just telling us how mad they are that everyone was so mean to them after they said that comment. They talk about the things that people said to them and the threats that were made. We know that people made threats because in the song they say,
“how in the world can the words that I said send somebody so over the edge that they’d write me a letter saying that I better shut up and sing or my life would be over”(Judy).
Some people were just that angry at them. They are really just saying that they aren’t ready to make nice, they aren’t ready to just make everyone happy. We know this because in the song they say, “I’m Not ready to make nice, I’m not ready to back down, I’m still mad as hell and I don’t have time to go round and round and round”(Judy). They are just saying that they of tired of all this crap that has been going on and not they are just going to ignore it and move on. They also say that they most likely would not go back and change what they said. The message is really just telling people that they are back music wise, but they are not going to apologize for what they said. They just want the listeners to get over it and move on because they have.
The message is constructed in a very good way. When you listen to the song they really just start at what had happened and what people want them to do about it. They just tell you the things that people have said and their reaction to it. I think that the goal of the song is to just let people know what had and has been going on and to just tell people to get over it. I think they just want people to start listening to them again and to maybe even express themselves.
I don’t really know if there are any positive qualities to this song. It may make people want to respect others and their right to sat what they want to say. It may make people get over what they said and how they acted. I think that the negative qualities of this song are that it made some people madder. Some people think that they should apologize for that they did and how they acted. Some people think that they should stop singing all together. The method that they used could have gotten the point across but I don’t know if it got the point across to everyone.
I think that if the Dixie Chicks were speaking to the people that they offended, then they may have gotten the point across, but some people may have just been too offended to take it the right way. If they were talking to the people that have always supported them then they most likely got the point across. Some people may now accept the Dixie Chicks and they may have forgotten what they said. I think that some of the goals were met and some were not, but it really depends on the person listening to the song.
When I listen to this song, it really makes me think about the war and all the things that have gone on with the Dixie Chicks and Toby Keith. This song is defiantly a politically charged song. It may bring some good thoughts and it may bring some bad thoughts but either way they are politically charged. This is a good song and I would recommend that everyone listen to the song.
Works Cited
Dixie Chicks Henhouse, Judy, http://www.lyrics.com/url.php?link=http://chickoholic.tripod.com/DixieChicks/id195.html
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