Analysis Essay (Whiskey Lullaby)
The song Whiskey lullaby was recorded in 2004 and sung by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss. The song is in the genre of country music through producer Frank Rogers. The writer of the song was Jon Randall and Bill Anderson. It is a sort of an acoustic ballad of B minor. The song appeared on the album Mud on the Tires and its label first appeared in Arista Nashville. This song presents a historical story of the soldiers who listed during the wars so hopeful that they would come back home and continue with their lives. The man in the story comes back from the war and gets hurt from the infidelity of the woman he left behind. The pain drives him into serious indulgence in whiskey until it finally kills him. The woman also drinks and eventually commits suicide after realizing that she cannot live without the man.
Couples go through in instances of deception and the pain overwhelms them to a point that they become suicidal like when the song says that ‘He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger’. That pain never dies and even on occasions when people do not understand, like when the song says that, “the rumors flew but nobody knew how much she blamed herself”. The song is full of romantic language that gives the impressions of what transpired between the lovers and the way it pushed them into drinking themselves to death.
This song presents its story in a nostalgic and romantic way as it displays the power of guilt and rejection. It uses a deep diction purposefully for romanticizing the love burning between the two individuals that cannot be unrequited. The story contains issues of love, guilt, suicide just the same way as in the story of Romeo and Juliet most especially since neither of the lovers could stay away from the other, and at the same time, it is impossible for them to live together. The pluralism of narration in the song makes it come out through the opinions of both the parties involved in the failed love. At the same time, that romanticizes the song by presentation of the desires of the characters and presenting the subject of the song in a manner that makes it easy for the listener to follow.
The song lyrics used in Whiskey Lullaby are some of the most effective arrangements for presenting the story. The song starts with the man telling his tale and the follows the input of the lady in telling her part of the story. They do the choruses together in some sort of unison that produces the effect of both pleading a case that never faced fair judgment. The arrangement of the lyrics uses distancing language, which creates a distance from the tragic events. At the same time, there is imagery in the song employing visuals, allusions, contrasts and comparisons for romanticizing the tragedy of the story. The song compares the hurt caused by the woman as putting off a cigarette “she put him out like the burning end of a midnight cigarette.” It is a point that hurts the man so much since he came from the war with the hope of starting a new life with his lover. His getting home only leads him to the pain of a lost love and he spent much of his time “drinking his pain away” to the point when he was eventually “buried beneath the willow.”
I love this song so much because it talks of reality in relationships. This song speaks so much about relationships and it the expressions in the song remind the listener of any instances that a relationship failed to work. The issues of breakups are daily occurrences and on most occasions, people may be overwhelmed by circumstances such as emotional needs, which led the woman to look for consolation in the arms of another man in the absence of her lover. I am a fan of country music because of the way they express true stories in creative ways just as presented in this song. Relationship deception is something that drives people into making drastic conditions and as much as I do not drink alcohol, I can justify this man for feeling so hurt and resorting to alcohol to drain away his pain, “he finally drank his pain away a little at a time” that he finally killed himself.
However, since the woman also kills herself the moment she can no longer take the pain, it feel like maybe the man would have given her some time. The writer touches on ethos the moment he claims that no one cared about the feelings of the woman regarding the situation and it made her to finally kill herself clinging to his picture. At the end, the song portrays that the woman truly loved the man and the no amount of whiskey could get him out of her mind. The only thing that could help them to remain united is death so they could share a resting place under the willow tree. The anguish of love goes beyond any amount of pin a man or woman can experience.
The emotions in the song are too much and as it combines with the musical accompaniments, as the music plays slowly at the point when the man (Brad) finds his wife cheating. The coming in of the woman (Alison) heightens the presentation of the emotions in the song and creates a better understanding. This makes the song seem as if the actors themselves tell it and there are moments when the storyline confuses and makes me feel that it is the singers of the song telling their stories. Even the video of this song creates an emotional attachment to the occurrences in the story. There is a connection between visual and audio presentation of the story. As the story presents the happy moments when the lovers made promises to each other, the lighting is bright and the faces of the singers show clearly. However, at the end of the song when things are not going right, there is change in lighting and it becomes darker. The production of this song is just an example of the hurt relationships can cause in the lives of people. So many people resort to alcohol but it is never choice enough for keeping off pain and when the love is too intense, suicide becomes the case like this couple who died and got married under the willow tree because they could not take the options of rekindling their love or staying away from each other.
Brad Paisley Featuring Alison Krauss
She put him out like the burnin’ end of a midnight cigarette
She broke his heart he spent his whole life tryin’ to forget
We watched him drink his pain away a little at a time
But he never could get drunk enough to get her off his mind
Until the night
1st Chorus
He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger
And finally drank away her memory
Life is short but this time it was bigger
Than the strength he had to get up off his knees
We found him with his face down in the pillow
With a note that said I’ll love her till I die
And when we buried him beneath the willow
[ From: http://www.elyrics.net ]
The angels sang a whiskey lullaby
(Sing lullaby)
The rumors flew but nobody knew how much she blamed herself
For years and years she tried to hide the whiskey on her breath
She finally drank her pain away a little at a time
But she never could get drunk enough to get him off her mind
Until the night
2nd Chorus
She put that bottle to her head and pulled the trigger
And finally drank away his memory
Life is short but this time it was bigger
Than the strength she had to get up off her knees
We found her with her face down in the pillow
Clinging to his picture for dear life
We laid her next to him beneath the willow
While the angels sang a whiskey lullaby
(Sing lullaby)
