Assignment 1-3

I chose the Journal Article "Back in My Day, Son": Dialogical Constructions of the Cowboy Code of Justice because I found the song interesting and was curious to see how it would be analyzed as a form of popular culture.
This article is written for a well educated audience interested in analyses of popular culture. Phrases such as “These words, when performed, dialogue with other texts; the song thus constructs discursive texts” (Jensen, 2009, p. 91) are complex and take time to interpret and understand. Words like “semiotically”and “discursive” (2009, p. 95) are not words that are usually known or understood by an average high school graduate. A basic familiarity with the concept of imagery is assumed as well as familiarity with historically popular cowboy films such as High Noon (2009, p. 92) and The Virginian (2009, p. 93).
The article opens by saying that, although cowboys have done little directly for country music, the popular image of the cowboy has been highly successfully adopted by country music artists. The popularity of the song Beer for My Horses is not due to a literal interpretion of the lyrics so much as it's due to the “...narrative intertexts invoking a heroic image of the Wild West,” according to the article (Jensen, 2009, p. 91). Jensen explains that the lyrics to a song cannot be studied in isolation. The lyrics to a song must be studied in context with the cultural background present in the performance. In the case of Beer for My Horses the lyrics must be studied with an understanding of the popular image of the cowboy.
Much of the context for the song comes from films like those mentioned earlier (High Noon and The Virginian) where the cowboy is presented as a heroic figure that will do what is “right” even without the (democratic or lawful) support of the people he is protecting. According to Jensen, the songwriter and director have purposefully taken the image of the cowboy and used it to support the implicit approval of “provigilante justice” present in the song Beer for My Horses (2009, p. 93). More popular culture examples of support for the vigilante cowboy as a good thing are covered in the following pages of the article. Jensen states that the cowboy as we know it today is not the historical cowboy but the “...mythic film counterpart” (2009, p. 95).
According to Jensen the song Beer for My Horses “...intentionally manipulates the song’s text and contexts to dialogue with the cowboy’s mythic West” (2009, p. 95). The opening lyrics imply that modern law enforcement isn't up to the task and the independent justice of the cowboy where justice is black and white and there is not middle ground is how it should be. Jensen goes on to explain that “'the long arm of the law' for the cowboy sheriff serves to compare modern slackness with the old fashioned cowboy values...” (2009, p. 96). The song then espouses the moral values of the cowboy and celebrates justice done cowboy style. Jensen notes that, although the word cowboy is never used anywhere in the lyrics, the popular concept of the cowboy is so embodied by the lyrics that it obviously the intended interpretation.
The video presents the older man (Willie Nelson) as a cowboy, and a young man (local cop) as a representative of modern society. Nelson lives in the country, wide open spaces with horses and wears a “cowboy” hat. He also has pistols, a tin star, and pictures of cowboys. According to Jensen, Nelson himself “evokes the cultural cowboy” and “the song – video presentation engages in an ongoing dialogue of new country versus old country” (2009, p. 99)
“The recognition of the duet by the country music community parallels the recognition of the aging marshal’s expert abilities in the video” (Jensen, 2009, p. 99). In the article Nelson both represents and is the older generation that has wisdom the younger generation should learn from. The whiskey symbolizes the younger generation learning to respect and appreciate the older generation. In the beginning the young man “can't hold his whiskey” and by the end of the video he has both learned respect for his elders and to drink his whiskey. Also noted is the fact that the characters in the video are given no name “a fact that reinforces each character’s iconic and symbolic function” (2009, p. 100).
Jensen finishes the article by arguing that the song and the artist have a mutually supportive relationship. Toby Keith was already well known as a heroic figure from prior songs and football and Ford advertising campaigns, the song both builds on and supports this heroic cowboy image. According to Jensen, the fact that the combination of the heroic country singer (Keith) and the cowboy implying song (Beer for My Horses) can make an idea like lynching socially acceptable in a popular song “shows the power of the dialogical texts in popular culture” (2009, p. 101).
After taking the time to read through the article and think about what the author was trying to convey the article was fairly interesting. To summarize the article in a sentence: the song Beer for My Horses is an excellent example of the power popular culture imagery has when presenting controversial ideas, exemplified by the popular image of the cowboy and “strong justice.” The article was not easy to read due to the complex phrasing and extend vocabulary noted at the beginning of this paper, but was well organized and transitions between sections were well handled.
References
Jensen, K. (2009). “Back in My Day, Son”: Dialogical Constructions of the Cowboy Code of Justice. The Journal of Popular Culture, 42(1), 90-102.