Lyrics; Song choice "Joey" by Sugarland.

"JOEY"

‘JOEY’ was written by Sugarland’s “Jennifer Nettles”, Kristian Bush and the Legendary “Bill Anderson”. Sugarland has gained world wide notoriety and fame with the stories behind their music, they’re well admired in the country music industry and well admired by me. The reason why I chose to do my analysis on the song “Joey”, is do too the sadness that is felt when you listen to it. The lyrics of the song and the strumming patterns of the guitar gives the blending of the instruments and the voice a deep feel of sadness and remembrance of a bad experience in one’s life.

Joey is a song about a teen tragedy that most people can relate too, whether it be the loss of a loved one, an ended relationship, or just a wrong choice that effected someone’s life forever. Every time I plug my ipod on my docking station, or hear it on the radio, this song gives me instant chills and an immediate sense of sadness. The sadness is brought up by the several tragedies that I have experienced in my life. I have loss many friends to gang violence, in battle during war times, and tragic traffic accidents. From all the loses, the one that brings back memories is when I was a teenager and one of my good friends and his girlfriend had just left a house party in Fullerton, only to be crushed and killed by a speeding train. After leaving the party and after consuming several alcohol beverages, they drove off and headed down Raymond Ave. As they attempted to cross the railroads off Raymond Ave, between commonwealth and Orangethorpe Ave in city of Fullerton, state of California, they were struck and killed by the powerful speeding train instantly. The scene still hunts my mind till this day.

Sugarland sings this song to inform the listeners that tragedies can happen in a blink of an eye. In the lyrics, “What if I" is what this song really means. What if I said NO, or what if I said YES, would the out come had been differently? This song gives you that feeling, the feel and the sense of sadness because of the choice’s made that would ultimately change your life. In this song, she addressed the issue of taking the keys of the teen driver, but made the choice of not do so, which the outcome of her choice was the loss of a friend in a driving accident. The lyric’s stated that if she would of spoke up by saying, “NO” and not allowed the teen to drive, would the tragedy still occurred?

Out of all the songs that Sugarland has recorded, this particular song is my favorite. The instruments that are used in this song are simple. Drums, classical guitar, and an electric 5 string guitar all accompanied with her beautiful voice, creates a soft tone and a sad feel. The song is nearly 4 and half minutes long and while listening to it, you can hear the changes in up tone and the changes of the soft tone. The up tone blends well with the instruments, which shows the true anger she had for the loss of the friend. The sadness of the soft tone you can hear, shows her remorse for the choice she made, by not taking the keys and allowing her friend to drive off from the party.

The writing of lyrics can be a difficult task, reason being is that when you write a song, your goal is to express your feelings, thoughts, and emotions thru the song. All these factors have to be perfect so others can relate to it. In the song,“Joey”Sugarland blends everything together to show feeling, awareness, and emotion, she does such an awesome job by it, that I don’t think anyone can change her lyrics to make it a better song.

                                                                Lyrics by Sugarland:

                                                                       Lyrics to Joey :

What if I said yes?
What if I'd gone out that night?
What if you turned left, and everything would of turned out alright.
What if I spoke up?
What if I took the keys?
What if I would of tried a little harder, instead of always trying to please.

[Chorus]

Joey, I'm so sorry.
Oh can you hear me?
Joey, I'm so sorry.

What if I said no?
What if we never fell in love?
What if we'd gone slow, or a little faster and broken up.
Would I know this hurt?
Would I feel this pain?
Do you know with all I have left in my very last breath will call your name?

[Chorus]

Joey, I'm so sorry.
Oh can you hear me?
Joey, I'm so sorry.

Were you sad, were you scared, did you whisper a prayer to be free?
Was it quiet and cold was it light or too dark to see?
And did you reach for me?

Joey, I'm so sorry.
Oh can you hear me?
Joey, I'm so sorry.
Oh can you hear me?
Joey, I'm sooooooooo- Joey, I'm soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry.

Lyrics by me; Song,”Joey”

what if I said No?

what if you haven’t gone out that night?

what if you stayed home with me that night?

would you love me more instead of always trying to leave?

what if we spoke more?

what if we tried alittle harder, instead of always trying to please

[ Chorus ]

Joey, I don’t want to be sorry

So you can stay with me tonight

Joey, I don’t want to be sorry

What if I said YES?

what if you haven’t gone out that night?

what if you turned left, and everything would of turned out alright

what if I spoke up?

what if I took the keys?

what if I tried alittle harder,instead of always trying to please

[Chorus]

　

Critical Thinker: Ron Thompson is a 53 year old white male that resides in Placentia, Ca near Cal State Fullerton. Ron Thompson was my assistant football coach when I was 12 years old and have always kept family like relations. I've been in Ron's life for over 25 years now and consider him like a father and mentor. Ron is of mix race,  "White and Hispanic" but has no Hispanic features to notice. So he considers himself a Full white male. He is a father of 3 girls and 2 grand children. Ron recently lost his wife to a heart attack in 2009 and remained single. Ron works as an equipment manager at Esperanza High school in the city of Anaheim and is very much involved in the students scholastic high school careers. Ron watches a lot of CNN and enjoys Greg Becks debates.
Some people would think as Greg Beck as an overly right wing thinker, ( Right Wing- Political activist/In politics, the Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for social order and social hierarchy, justified by an appeal to natural law or tradition. If it was up to Greg, be would keep schools, politics, and social classes separate and controlled by the upper rich white radials. I've listen to Beck several times while in the presence of Coach Ron, and let me tell you, we've had some deep debates on Beck's thinking. Even though I agree with some of Gregs views, I also disagree with MOST of his radical thinking. I consider Ron Thompson as a critical thinker for the reason that he overly analyzes individuals when they debate or spread their rhetoric. Example; In today's day and age with the internet being in most homes thru out the world, Ron states that the Internet should be censored and maintained by the government.  I disagree with his thinking, 80% of the time, but 20% of the time I agree with his thinking, whether pursed or not. Reason being, is that I cant say that the internet should be governed or not. He grew up in a different time and sees our country going to shambles because of it, so he says! I agree in a sense, because I didn't grow up in his time, so I would not know. I only know what I read and see on the History channel. He speaks of over populated neighborhoods, an over abundance of ethnic groups, crime, crime that has exploded nearly 1000%, according to Ron and he blames the internet for it in the last 15 years. The internet can be a gateway to evil, but it shouldn't be controlled or governed by an entity or individual, what so ever. Its free for all, and should always be kept that way regardless of what many may use the internet for whether for good or bad. I grew up 15 years ago and know that crime hasn't increased do to the net, if anything is has prevented curtain crimes. Ron to me is considered being a critical thinker and has in a way enhanced and transformed me to also be a critical thinker. To me, someone that is a critical thinker is always thinking of a way to not be harmed or taken advantage of by another, whether being something as simple as how one drives to something so drastic as to what will affect our nation next.