“Not Ready to Make Nice” is a song about a political controversy that the Dixie Chicks struggled with and how they are not willing to apologize for their views that others found offensive. The Dixie Chicks were a successful country band in the 90’s, but were then boycotted from the country music industry when they stated during a concert that they were embarrassed to be from the same state as President George W. Bush.
The song states, “I’m through with doubt. There’s nothing left for me to figure out, I’ve paid the price and I’ll keep paying”. I interpret that as the Dixie Chicks don’t understand how one comment on their political stance can cause this much upheaval and no matter how much time goes by no one can let them forget what they said. They have lost possibly thousands of fans and after years passing their music is still not being played on country stations so I think that’s what they mean by, “I’ve paid the price and I’ll keep paying”.
The one statement that they made caused more then just verbal bashing of the Dixie Chicks, but went on to more serious actions such as death threats being made against them.
It’s a sad sad story
That a mother will teach her daughter
That she ought to hate a perfect stranger
And how in the world
Can the words that I said
Send somebody over the edge
That they’d write a letter
Saying that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over
I interpret that as they just don’t understand how a person can go as far as to say that they would kill someone over their opinions that another person has and they better just stick to singing and stay out of politics. The Dixie Chicks being performers, I think fans just expect entertainment out of them and for them not to be involved in anything else publicly. I don’t think it would have been a problem if an ordinary person would have said it or even a politician, because that is their profession. Being that they were singers and people that were admire by millions to say something out of character I think was most shocking to fans. The Dixie Chicks went on to apologize for their remarks in a live concert after being put through so much torment, only to take it back in Time Magazine.
The chorus of this song summarizes perfectly of how they feel and they don’t think that they should have to feel sorry for stating what they feel in their heart is true.
Lyrics
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
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is
You think I should
It’s stating that what’s done is done and no matter if they apologize or not, it doesn’t change that fact that they still said it. Instead of defending themselves and debating with people (“I don’t have time to go round and round and round’) they are just done with it and ready to move on. In my opinion, it clearly states that if they had to do it over again they probably wouldn’t have it any other way. “I made their bed and I sleep like a baby” which means that they know they got themselves into this situation, but they don’t lose sleep over whether or not someone liked or disliked it what they had to say. It’s almost as if it was a blessing to know who they would want as fans, because they said, “It turned my whole world around, but I kind of liked it”. It gave them a whole new career.
At the beginning and end of the song it states, “Forgive, sounds good. Forget I’m not sure I could. They say time heals everything. But I’m still waiting”. It states that everyone should be forgiven, but it still hurts and even though time passes it’s as if it doesn’t get any better.
I think the song does their stance a lot of justice so they had their music video take a more minimal approach and really let’s the audience concentrate on the lyrics. One of the most powerful acts they did was at the beginning when singers are wearing white dresses and they are being smeared with black paint which represents the ridicule they are being put through by the public and their reputations being tarnished. It also has them writing over and over on the blackboard, “To talk without thinking is to shoot without aiming”. It’s just another example of them being punished for what they said and how not thinking before they speak can have dangerous consequences when making an analogy to shooting a gun.
It showed in the music video at the end of how they are taking a strong stance by walking up in a line wearing white dresses with black coats and it shows them dusting and brushing themselves off which represents them ridding themselves of all the negativity. The instrumental parts of the song also became more powerful and louder that portrayed that the Dixie Chicks are stronger than ever and it really enforced their attitude of how they feel. The music video uses a lot of black and white that represents bad and good and it shows, because they are wearing black and white even though they carry around some disapproval they are still good people.
Forgive, sounds good.
Forget, I'm not sure I could.
They say time heals everything,
But I'm still waiting
I'm through, with doubt,
There's nothing left for me to figure out,
I've paid a price, and I'll keep paying
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
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if I could
Cause I'm mad as hell
Can't bring myself to do what it is
You think I should
I know you said
Why can't you just get over it,
It turned my whole world around
buti kind of like it
I made my bed and I sleep like a baby,
With no regrets and I don't mind saying,
It's a sad sad story
That a mother will teach her daughter
that she ought to hate a perfect stranger.
And 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 will be over
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
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if I could
Cause I'm mad as hell
Can't bring myself to do what it is
You think I should
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
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if I could
Cause I'm mad as hell
Can't bring myself to do what it is
You think I should
Forgive, sounds good.
Forget, I'm not sure I could.
They say time heals everything,
But I'm still waiting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwc5YSAc-7g
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There is a clear thesis in this essay which is I interpret that as the Dixie Chicks don’t understand how one comment on their political stance can cause this much upheaval and no matter how much time goes by no one can let them forget what they said. It does deal with rhetoric or subject matter, and amber identifies the argument of the text and video. The argument is that the Dixie Chicks said something that ticked off a bunch of people but everyone sholud just let it go if anyone else would have said what they said it wouldn't have been a problem.
ReplyDeleteshe does provide specific support and examples for the text and video. she includes a part of the lyrics which describes the the argument.
specific examples: lyrics, Black and white in the music video describes good and bad on their behalf.
include: more on video not to much more than that every thing else is good.
be a little more descriptive on the video analysis other than that it is great.
she provides analysis of her support. Yes, the her examples help the thesis she provided. Like i said the video could use further analysis. The text part is great has plenty of analysis just a little more on the video.
I think the thesis sticks with me the most. I remember when all of this stuff happened, i am an avid country music fan and they are not willing to make nice because they did nothing wrong. They expressed their views and got a load of crap from it. It just goes to show you that they are going to stand behiend what they say. Isn't that what America is all about.
The thesis statement that I hopefully made clear was, "“Not Ready to Make Nice” is a song about a political controversy that the Dixie Chicks struggled with and how they are not willing to apologize for their views that others found offensive." I tried to analyze the lyrics into the every day struggle that the Dixie Chicks go through. I also tried to intrepret the images that were given in the video, for example the black paint being smeared on the white dresses to symbolize themselves being "tainted" by public. I just thought their lyrics were awesome and it gave so much to write about and I loved the way they inadvertantly said things like, "I made my bed and I sleep like a baby" meaning that they got themselves into a mess, but it's not going to worry them. The argument about this how someone has an opinion and that even though it doesn't agree with the other's or neccesarily fit the stereotype of a country singer, it doesn't mean that they should be "bullied by society. This video is describing how hurt they were for feeling different.
ReplyDeleteI tried to do the best I could to have my writing support the lyrics as well as the video. The video was a little harder to write about since it was very simple which I think was done on purpose to make the lyrics even stand out more and be stronger. I personally, think I did a reasonably good job on the lyrics, because there wasn't a part that I couldn't use. The lyrics just painted a perfect picture of their pain and struggle. Some lyrics that I used to describe what they were put through were:
1. "They say time heals everything, but I'm still waiting". That describes that even though years pass by it still hurts as much as it did the day it happened.
2. "And how in the world
Can the words that I said
Send somebody over the edge
That they’d write a letter
Saying that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over". I used this one, because it shows the seriousness of this controversy.
3. I loved it at the end of the video when the girls walked up in a line and dusted off themselves and pulled their hair back from their faces meaning that they're are just going to brush off the means comments people have to make. What I didn't go to detail was when they brushed back their hair of their face it symbolizes that they are not "hiding" anymore.
I definately think I could have been more descriptive looking back on my paper now. Instead of listing out a couple lines of the song at a time, I should have picked apart each couplet (I think that's the word I want to use) seperately. I kind of loosely touched on the song in general as opposed to really getting in depth with it. It hard to tell yourself how to be more descriptive when you can't see what else you need to touch base on.
1. I think I could have talked about the video a lot more. I might need more help with that.
2. I need to go into more depth with the lyrics individualy instead of in bulk. I did that I think in fear of writing way to much.
I thought my examples really supported my thesis that I was trying to create. So far I think my examples that I analyzed from the lyrics and video only make the statement the Dixie Chicks were trying to make clearer. Like I said I could provide further analysis by doing every to lines seperately and going into further detail. I could just write more in general about the whole subject, especially the video.
1. "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". That's probably the most key part of that song, because they are stating that they don't want to apologize for something that people shouldn't have gotten mad about and they are still furious. They don't want to keep explaining themselves to people.
2. "It's to late to make it right, I probably wouldn't if I could. I can't bring myself to do what it is you think I should". I just find that really bold that even if they could go back and change it they wouldn't. They have to much pride to submit to others so apologizing would make them feel that they should be ashamed over an opinion that wasn't even repulsive.
This essay sticks out to me in general, because like John said I remember when this whole thing happened. It's interesting that I'm now analyzing their song that came out when I was in 7th grade when I didn't always understand the lyrics. I can't say what really stands out to me the most to be honest with you. I just love how everything was done by the Dixie Chicks.