Song Analysis

Song: Two Weeks From Twenty
Artist: Yellowcard
Genre: Rock/Pop
Time Period/Date of Release: January 24, 2006
What is the issue being addressed by the song? The issue being addressed in the song is war.
What is the song artist's point of view or opinion? The song artist's point of view is kind of two different ones. They look at it from the point of view of the family but also the point of view of other people in the world.

"And then you hear em' say

That miles away

We lost another one that we sent with a gun

His momma missed him

He was two weeks from twenty

And there's still no shame

From the man to Blame

No there's still no shame

And we're all to blame"

Contextual Factors

What are contextual factors surrounding the writing of this song? There was nothing going on in that point in time, but the war in Iraq had started a few years before. We were sort of going through an economic crisis, which is increasing as the years go by.

Facts and Statistics

• The US 2009 Monthly spending as of October 2009, was $7.3 Billion
• In 2008 it was $12 Billion
• The cost of sending one soldier to Iraq for one year is $390,000
• As of September 30th, 2009. There are 124,000 soldiers in Iraq
• George Bush is the man responsible for sending the troops in the first place.
• Barack Obama promises to pull troops out of Iraq by 2011.

I think the public's attitude toward this war is divided; some think we should be over fighting, and some think we shouldn't. From various tv shows and newspaper articles, "Return to Duty" for example, they talk about and show soldiers that have been through the war, and a lot of them were for the war before they went and when they came back their opinions completely changed.

What is the issue? The issue is the war in Iraq and the fact that people are dying over there.
Who is affected? Everyone is affected, whether it is a soldier that is fighting over seas, a family member of a soldier who is over there, a friend, and there are many other ways it affects others. But it affects everyone one in some way.
What is the severity of this issue? The entire united states is affected by this at least a little bit. The number of us troops casualties is 4,366 and counting. The number of us troops wounded is 31,571 and counting. This war is not only doing damage to the minds and hearts of Americans and Iraqis mentally and emotionally but economically also. There is so much money being wasted because of this war, the US is in terrible debt.
What is the significance of this issue? This issue is significant because there are so many soldiers over seas risking their lives for the American people. They are over there trying to protect us.
Is this a moral, ethical, economical, political issue? This issue is both economical and political.
Is there any one in control of the issue, or who has strong influence over the issue? I think the president has control of this issue. If he wanted to, he could pull the troops out right now, but so far he hasn't. He says that he will in 2011, I guess we'll have to see if that happens.

Is the issue being resolved or becoming more controversial? This issue seems to be a little more resolved, the topic doesn't come up so frequently in the news and such, but it is still a big deal. People are over there dying, at a rapid rate.

Did you find information in your research that supported the artist’s point of view? Identify parts of the artist’s opinion that were supported by your research and explain how they were supported using the information from your research.
Well the artist doesn't straight up come out and say his point of view or opinion in the song. He is just talking about a soldier losing his life, and that is most definitely happening in the war looking at the casualties occurring.
Identify parts of the artist’s opinion that were not supported by your research and explain how your research opposed the artist’s view.
The economical part of this issue was not addressed in the song, but a lot of things from doing research would not oppose or agree with this song. The song is just telling about a young man's life being cut short because of the war.
Do you share the artist’s opinion on this issue? Why or why not? Support your arguments with your research.
Well like I said before, the artist doesn't really have an opinion in the song. He just talks about something that is happening over there. But my personal opinion on the war in Iraq is, we should not be over there. We started to pick a fight with them just because of suspicion that they would initiate another terrorist attack. There are a lot of elements about the war that I am not aware of, but I don't think that we should be over there, costing soldiers their lives.

RESOURCES

http://www.thenation.com/sections/iraq_war

http://usliberals.about.com/od/homelandsecurit1/a/IraqNumbers.htm

http://www.lyrics.com/two-weeks-from-twenty-lyrics-yellowcard.html