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Essay / Analysis of the song "Rocky Mountain High" by John Denver
After listening and reading this speech several times, I think I understand what John Denver is trying to say. At first I thought he was agreeing and advocating for censorship of music, but after thinking about it I changed my thinking and figured he was advocating against censorship of drugs and alcohol. alcohol as well as explicit lyrics in music. The speech begins with John Denver explaining how honored and privileged he feels to appear before the chairman and committee; also expressing how in this society he is able to speak his mind and express his own opinions in public. Some obstacles John mentioned he encountered early on were censorship of his own music. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay His song “Rocky Mountain High” was once censored and banned from many radio stations because it was a “drug” reference. The people who censored this song didn't really understand the true meaning of what Denver was singing. The main story of the song is about the experience of being in the Rocky Mountains and seeing the view from the peaks; the stars at night and seeing the asteroids pass by; nothing about being “high” on drugs. John points out some benefits of not having censorship in music. He explained that when something is denied or hidden from people, it becomes the most interesting. A quote from the speech itself is: “What is denied becomes what is most desired, and what is hidden becomes what is most interesting.” » If we continue to spend a lot of time and energy censoring speech aimed at children, we are only making what we censor more interesting to people who can't hear it. If they just hear it, they may not be as interested and will lose attention or interest in that topic. After a brief introduction, Denver dives directly into the main topic of the speech and introduces some proposals or solutions to the problem. John begins by suggesting that explicit lyrics and graphic videos aren't that far removed from what we see on television day and night. He believes that blaming the recording industry for explicit language while watching the same thing on national television is absurd and makes no sense because the same children watching these shows are listening to explicit language or references to drugs in music are everywhere on television. He believes that the real solution will come when parents start taking responsibility for the education of their own children. They must pay attention to their interests and needs, as well as understand that parents themselves have a greater influence on our children and each other than anything else, including the music in which they accuse. Some Evidence John Uses To support these claims are the people he had the opportunity to speak with. He has spoken with people like troubled children and what they have expressed to him is a lot of frustration in their lives that comes from a lack of ability to communicate with their parents. “These children are growing up with an inability to understand or imagine a possible future because of the nuclear threat” are the exact words he uses to describe their situation. They don't see anything improving; they cannot imagine a financially better future for the small entrepreneur or the small farmer. All of this is somehow related to the main topic he addresses at the beginning of his speech. This is not.