Dave Dudley’s song “What Were
Fighting For” was written in response to the anti-Vietnam war protests in order
to remind the people why we are in this war. Dudley understands how the war
seems on United States soil, “that we don’t fight for peace,” however Dudley
tries to remind the American public that we are fighting to protect the very
peace that so many Americans hold dear. The song reached #4 on billboardmagazines country standings at the time, however failed to gain much influence among
the most popular songs in the country, and thus failed to influence many
protesters. The songs message
Sam Jacobson
I see your points, I just think you could make the presence of the stasis theory in the song clearer. Explain how the song utilizes the five canons of rhetoric. Invention could be creating the argument in response to the protests. The arrangement would be the approach the singer takes with the song and how he structures the message within the lyrics. The style could come from the singer's own lyrical style and connects to arrangement. Memory and delivery would be how he established the song to be remembered for time to come through the way he sings it.
ReplyDelete-Amrita
Sam, I really like your analysis at the end of your post about how this song failed to ignite the same passion in protesters as songs such as "Imagine" or "A Change Is Gonna Come". That being said, I think, perhaps in another post, you could explore the logical fallacies of this song. For example, I think the song completely ignores any counter arguments people may have had against the war in Vietnam which is part of the reason why the song failed to connect with people. The audience of the song who Dudley is aiming to convince clearly have a different moral base and thus are unlikely to even listen to his argument unless he addresses their concerns. By the way, you also did a good job hyperlinking out to other sites.
ReplyDelete-Daniel Saliunas