Toby Keith’s Song

Keyleigh Cooper

13 February 2018

Reading Response

Dr. Liljegren

Toby Keith’s Song

        I am a person with a background in country music. I have always liked “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue,” by Toby Keith.  Keith took the tragic event of 9/11 and turned it into a song fueled with rage, that all Americans could understand. I feel like there is a lot that goes into this song and I feel like it sends some good and bad vibes depending on how your point of view the art of war.

With lyrics like:

 “Now this nation that I love. Has fallen under attack. A mighty sucker punch came flyin' in. From somewhere in the back”

Shows the meaning of how most people felt when the Twin Towers came crashing to the ground.  Also, being the nation that we are, went straight to war because of this attack on our nation. In the song, it made it seem like we were happy to have gone to war because of this part in the song:

“Soon as we could see it clearly. Through our big black eye. Man, we lit up your world. Like the 4th of July,”

 As though Toby is proud of us fighting fire with more fire. Even though I resonate with this song because I felt personally attacked when the Towers fell, I was only six years old when it happened, but I also feel like we have become a nation that goes to war for just about anything now days.

“You'll be sorry that you messed with the U.S. of A’s. Cause we'll put a boot in your ass. It's the American way.”

 This lyric gives the message of, if you hurt us we will hurt you twice as hard, because we are the big bad USA and we will not fall. We do need to change how we view war and the money-making machine that war is; only then can we move forward and start replacing “fighting fire with more fire” to compassion equals peace.