B.Y.O.B (Bring your own bombs) Revised

System of a Down’s, B.Y.O.B, is an anti-war song filled with shots at the government. The song is broken into two different arguments both covering the war. It questions our motive for fighting and uses various subtle and complicated allusions to make its point. These allusion are sometimes so complicated that it hurts the argument because the average listener might not understand them. The band also points out that the upper class never participates in the violence; they leave the lower class to do all the dirty work for a cause that they either do not know or understand. The title, B.Y.O.B, is a play on words. Instead of bring your own beer, it stands for bring your own bombs. This states that the people who benefit from the war should help in fighting the war. Hence the point bring your own bombs. The band’s persona believes no one should get a free pass from war no matter how famous the individual. They are also very angry, shown in their sarcastic and stinging lyrics, and use that anger to help further develop their argument.
Beginning with a thunderous guitar solo and a slight growl, the singer screams “Why do they always send the poor?” The text demonstrates this emotional outburst by having it capitalized. This is the audience’s first impression of the artist’s persona of a very upset American citizen. It also plays into the ethos because his anger is helping fuel the audience. The singer then questions why President Bush and the United States government do not fight in the war. After the screaming question, the first stanza forms a complicated metaphor comparing that is comparing President Bush to a barbarian. “Barbarisms by Barbaras/ with pointed heels” is referring to Dofia Barbara’s a ruthless Latin American barbarian. While a good use of logos, the common listener might not necessarily understand this reference. “Victorious victories kneel/For brand new spankin' deals” creates an illusion to a king giving away property after receiving land in a great battle. Again the band is using a complicated metaphor that might not be understood by your average Joe. It is a combination of both logos and pathos. Historically, knights would kneel to the king and receive their reward. By comparing President Bush to a king giving away gifts, it furthers the audience’s anger at the President for giving gifts that is understood to be oil filled land; it is questioning our motives. “Marching forward hypocritic and/Hypnotic computers”, the reader now refers the to poor soldiers as brain washed computers. As proven in the line “You depend on our protection/Yet you feed us lies from the tablecloth”, the poor people are mislead into believing they are protecting our freedom, but they are only being told lies from the government. The first stanza is one giant metaphor that uses logos and pathos to persuade the audience to the artist’s anti-war persona.
Following the first stanza, the chorus begins. The chorus fills in a lot of blanks in the song and sets a definite setting when it refers to “Dancing in the desert, Iraq. “Everybody's going to the party have a real good time” implies that the war is the party and it will be safe and fun. A testament to the artist’s sarcastic persona. This is a complete contradiction to the actual experience. The “blowing up the sunshine” are the bombs that we are dropping in Iraq. “Kneeling roses disappearing into/Moses' dry mouth/Breaking into Fort Knox stealing/Our intentions”. The first part is another logos based complicated metaphor that even I could not decipher. “Breaking into Fort Knox to steal our plans” is a great allusion to finding the real reason we are fighting this war. The artist again questions our motives by stating that we are using freedom as our excuse to get a bunch of oil. This is proven by mentioning the “Hangers sitting dripped in oil/Crying freedom”. The chorus elaborates on questioning the motives for war that began to form in the first stanza and helps focus it more on the fact that we are going to war for oil.
The next part of the song repeats phrases several times. One example is “Blast off/It's party time/And we don't live in a fascist nation”. Fascism is the ideal that the interests of the state outweighs the interest of the individual and are ruled by dictator. Another example of logos. So, living in a fascist nation perfectly fits his argument because throughout the song he has been explaining that President Bush is trying to gain land and oil. “Blast off its party time” alludes to the blowing up Iraqi buildings. Another example of repetition to help prove there point is “And where the f*** are you?” This demonstrates not only there angry persona, but also it wonders why the poor fight. As proven in there next two lines where they ask, “Why don't presidents fight the war?/Why do they always send the poor?” System of a Down is sending a clear message by sending the poor uneducated men and women over to Iraq to fight in the war; they will not ask as many questions.
This essay has various positive and negative qualities. The persona of an angry, subtle and sarcastic American citizen fits the topic perfectly. The complicated metaphors, on the other hand, serve as both positive and negative. From a negative standpoint, the average reader might not comprehend some of the complicated metaphors that are not common knowledge. It takes a lot more time and even research to appreciate the song and its full potential. However, it also can be a positive and intrigue an audience that enjoys more thought provoking lyrics. Its use of pathos to anger the audience and persuade them is another positive method of rhetoric. Yet on a broader scale, I would have to say that this essay is not effective due to the complicated poetic language it incorporates. It detracts too much from making a thorough point; the metaphors hurts the song’s mass appeal. To the appropriate audience, the song would be a perfect fit, but this audience would have to be very knowledgeable or inspired enough to put in a little extra effort. For a majority, that extra effort would not be put in and the purpose of the song would only be partial attained.