You're the Voice

The practice of analyzing and evaluating a text through the major literary criticism approaches has got to be kept alive if you happen to belong to the English Society. After all, what’s the sense of being an English major without embracing the hell out of it? (Pardon the language) Amidst our busy schedule, the seemingly unending phenomenon strikes once more but only a little better this time as we no longer have to deal with lengthy and sometimes utterly profound literary texts. Now, we tackle a much interesting one as it comes in the form of a song.

First released in 1987, the song, “You’re the Song,” was originally sung by John Farnham, an Australian pop singer. It has become a hit not only down under but also in many countries, but it flopped in the US. The lyrics was composed in the collaborative efforts of Andy Qunta, Mitchel Reid, Maggie Ryder and Chris Thompson. The likes of Australian Idol first season winner, Guy Sebastian; the rock band Heart; and the recent American Idol finalist, David Archuleta are among those who have the song’s cover versions.

Here goes the lyrics:

You’re the Voice

John Farnham

We have the chance to
turn the pages over
We can write what we wanna write
We gotta make ends meet
before we get much older
We're all someone's daughter
We're all someone's son
How long can we look at each other
Down the barrel of a gun?

[ Chorus: ]
You're the voice, try and understand it
Make a noise and make it clear
(Oh Oh Oh Ohooooh)
(Oh Oh Oh Oh Ohooooh)
We're not gonna sit in silence
We're not gonna live with fear

This time, you know that we
all can stand together
With the power to be powerful
Believing, we can make it better
We're all someone's daughter
We're all someone's son
How long can we look at each other
Down the barrel of a gun?

[ Chorus: ]

We're all someone's daughter
We're all someone's son
How long can we look at each other
Down the barrel of a gun?

[ Chorus ]

MARIO:

With regard to its inherent features, it is conspicuous that the lyrics employ simple and straightforward wordings that juveniles and adults alike can easily grapple with. Except for the following lines: “How long… down the barrel of a gun” and “We have… to turn the pages over; …write what we wanna write, it doesn’t use sundry literary tropes that usually confuse and make listeners delve into what a word or phrase actually means. The former simply means that the war and violence the persona and the people (depending on who it is addressed to) are suffering from must now come to an end. The latter two, which support the idea of the first one, imply that it is about time for the people to make a difference to the situation they are in as the power to change it is within their hands. Moreover, the tone is pretty much personal considering the fact that it is directly addressed to the ones listening it, with the use of the pronouns “we” and “you”. Like any other songs and being basically a poem, ‘You’re the Voice’ makes use of the elements of a traditional poem such as rhyme and meter.

AMOS:

I just like the lyrics of this song. especially I really like the lyrics in the second passage. "We're all someone's daughter. We're all someone's son. How long can we look at each other. Down the barrel of a gun." it is really realistic and idealistic expression. how long could people look at each other down the barrel of a gun? perhaps a couple of minutes? anyway I like the point of this passage.

MARIO:

Considering the milieu of the text, some research would be of great help for its analysis, and so I dug deeper to the matter and found out some interesting notes. The song was recorded in 1985, so I looked into some topics relevant to wars that might have happened in Australia back in the mid or late 80’s, but I failed to find one. With this in mind, it should probably be particularly related to the so-called Persian Gulf War between the armed forces of Iran and Iraq, which lasted eight long years from 1980 to 1988. Perhaps, the composers were deeply moved by the horrifying effects of the war as it resulted in thousands of casualties, including not only soldiers but innocent civilians as well. The scenes of war and hostilities are also depicted in the music videos of Farnham and Heart, with the latter making it appear like a documentary.

AMOS:

I think this song's general point is to prevent the war or I may say the chaotic reactions that coming from the disagreement, human's vanity and their selfishness because i saw the phrase, ' Say No To War ' in the performance of the group heart. In the performance of john Farnham and Heart I could catch these things out bacause there is a scene that showing the war or an argument of the people.

MARIO:

The song undoubtedly delivers a powerful message of freedom, hope, and human sensitivity. It portrays the people’s desire and optimism to achieve a peaceful and serene atmosphere. Though the song was at its peak two decades ago, it is still timely and relevant to our contemporary time. Although we do not experience the ill effects of wars first hand, we can feel and even share the excruciating pain felt by mothers, children and many other innocent individuals as lives have been taken instantaneously in Iraq for a couple of years now. Certainly, now is the right time to divert our attention from petty things to the really crucial ones. We have to work not for the attainment of our own selfish ends but for the realization of the ever-elusive world PEACE.

Much to its substantial point and significance, I now come to the even more interesting part --- the comparison among a few versions including the original singer John Farnham, Heart, Guy Sebastian, and David Archuleta. Of the four, Guy Sebastian is the best, vocal-wise. He has this one of a kind voice that’s simply great to listen. However, I have an aversion to the way he does his thing on the stage; he seems too arrogant that I’d rather choose listening to him singing on the radio than watching him on tv. (To Guy’s aficionados, I’m sorry.) David Archie’s version, on the other hand, is not bad but I prefer that of Farnham’s. Ever since I’ve become an American Idol freak, David has never been my bet. Why? Well, his voice quality, for me, reeks of mediocrity. I was even startled when he made it to the top three, even more when he placed second to David Cook. Perhaps, David Archuleta’s edge to the other contestants is that he has the charisma, the charm and appeal that inspire admiration in the audience. David Cook, by the way, deserves his victory. (His version of Mariah Carey’s Always Be My Baby was unreservedly superb!) John Farnham’s overall performance in the video is quite awesome but a little funny. The all-black-background video showing a television set passing by behind him is pretty odd, giving us an idea about how poor the special effects were back then. (See it yourself, and you’ll realize.) I find Heart’s video an excellent and more appealing one because it uses videos and photographs of agonizing scenes, providing us a sort of factual account of what actually has been happening.

AMOS:

I like this song very much!! At first, when I saw the video clips of John Farnham and Heart, I just thought “What kind of song is this?” Isn't this to old and weird? And what kind of genre is this song? But I really liked the melody of the song. When I saw the performance of David Archuleta and Guy Sebastian, I just realized that I was already following it and singing it.
Guy Sebastian's performance was the mostly liked one for me. I could really feel the power and I think he had expressed the feelings of that song very well.