Holiday!

Paper #4
Kinley Perno

The song “Holiday” by Green Day is a song that cries out about the American government. It talks about the modern-day problems dealing with Bush, the Iraq War, oil, and environmental issues. It is easy to tell it is a political song because it includes words such as, “Armageddon”, “company”, “war”, “protester”, “flag”, “monument”, “bombs”, “kill”, “government”, “Eiffel towers”, and “trials”. Green Day is singing about how they are “outlaws”, and they are trying to gain support and get the rest of the American people to join them in the fight against the government. This song has been the center of much conversation regarding the war and the feelings of the American people.

Green Day is speaking to the young and middle-age voting American public. They want the people who are making the decisions to be informed of all the things they believe the American government is doing wrong since September 11. They are hoping to change the minds of the American people so they will become outraged like them, and want to do something to change things. They use the word, “Hey!” at the end of some of the lines as a way to get people pumped up and agree about what they are talking about. They say things like:

Hear the sound of the falling rain
Coming down like an Armageddon flame (Hey!)
The shame
The ones who died without a name

They are talking about everything bad that has happened since September 11. The government is sending so many troops into Iraq that no one even knows who they are and they don’t get credit for what they are doing. The song also says, “And bleed, the company lost the war today”, which means that there are men over in Iraq, but they are losing the war. The chorus says:

I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
On holiday

This means they are taking a stand against all the empty lies the government is telling the American people. The second line is the crying out of the people that if something isn’t done now against the government then nothing will ever change or improve. “Hear the drum pounding out of time”, also reinforces this idea. In the lines that say, “Another protester has crossed the line (Hey!) To find, the money's on the other side” Green Day is saying that the people who are trying to make a difference just find that the government and people with money control everything, so all their efforts are pointless. They show that people support them and their opinions by singing:

Can I get another Amen? (Amen!)
There's a flag wrapped around a score of men (Hey!)
A gag, a plastic bag on a monument

This shows they believe that many men have died for this country, but the American people sometimes think of it as a joke or don’t take it seriously. They don’t understand how seriously it really is. They sing the next part of the song as if it is a representative from California is talking to a group of people. The representative is talking about what they are going to do to the people who do not agree and deserve the punishment. He is saying they are going to bomb the enemies when he says, “Bombs away is your punishment!” They are also going to “Pulverize the Eiffel Towers” because they “Criticize your government!” They are also going to punish the other governments who do not agree with them. They are also going to, “Kill all the fags that don’t agree!” This means that the government does not really care about the opinions of the American people, and they will do whatever they want to anyone who doesn’t agree with what they have to say.

“Holiday” by Green Day is a song that represents all three of the ideas of pathos, ethos, and logos. Pathos is the idea that is most present in this song. The idea of pathos is represented in this song because they use examples that are intended to produce a reaction or shock out of the people they are singing this song to. This is seen in examples such as, “The shame, the ones who died without a name”, “And bleed, the company lost the war today”, “There's a flag wrapped around a score of men”, “A gag, A plastic bag on a monument”, “Bombs away is your punishment!”, and “Kill all the fags that don't agree!”. All of these phrases are meant shock people and spark a reaction so that something will be done to stop what the government is doing with the war. The singers of Green Day also portray the idea of ethos because when they say, “The representative from California now has the floor…”, it makes it sound like it is a credible source who is talking about all the concrete details. The fact that the band is singing things like, “And bleed, the company lost the war today”, “Another protester has crossed the line (Hey!)To find, the money's on the other side”, and “There's a flag wrapped around a score of men (Hey!)A gag, a plastic bag on a monument”, gives concrete details about why they are mad about what is going on, which are examples of logos.

Green Day was very effective in portraying the idea of pathos. Many of the lines they sing are meant to get people fired up about supporting their case. They scream the word, “Hey!” and “Amen” to get people pumped. The phrases they use show emotion and the examples can be personal to the audience, but they are definitely not over the top. The ethos that is present in the song is not as effective. They sound like they know what they are talking about, but the only real credible source in the song would be the representative from California. The fact that it is a representative might make people take what they are saying in that part of the song seriously. Logos isn’t a real effective part of the song either because they gave examples of why they are rebelling, but they never use real numbers or facts.

Overall, “Holiday” is very effective in sounding like a credible political song by the use of pathos, ethos, and logos. Green Day does a good job clearly stating their thoughts and opinions. They also do a good job getting people pumped up and excited about the song and what they are talking about by adding the “Hey!” and “Amen” phrases throughout the song.