In the spirit of St. Patrick's Day, I am going to explain the rhetoric of one of my favorite Irish-American rock songs, Devil's Dance Floor by Flogging Molly. The band uses traditional Irish sounds and instruments, lyrics, and religious themes to express it's Irish roots and traditional Irish ideas.
The use of Irish sounds and instruments help to set up the Irish aura that the band is trying to get the listener to feel. The song incorporates the use of traditional Irish instruments including the tin whistle, bagpipe, accordion, and other percussion instruments that are used in most traditional Irish music. Furthermore, the band makes use of traditional Irish melodic patterns. With the incorporation of these things, the listener feels as if they are actually listening to Irish music, not the alternative rock that breaks out shortly into the song.
The song's lyrics and themes, particularly its religious themes, also create the Irish image that Flogging Molly tries to employ. The band uses lyrics such as "We are all just dancers on the devil's dance floor", and "The apple now is sweet, so much sweeter than it ought to be, another little bite, I don't think there is much hope for me" to create the traditional Irish-Catholic image. Christianity plays an extremely important role in Irish culture, and references to the traditional biblical stories about the devil and the apple from the tree of knowledge strengthen this theme of Irish culture. It is clear that Flogging Molly employs Irish cultural themes to create an Irish image.
After listening to "Devil's Dance Floor", the listener can surely understand the Irish image that Flogging Molly tries to create. The use of traditional Irish instruments and melodies clearly contribute to this theme. Furthermore, the use of Irish cultural references, particularly references to Christianity, also create an Irish-sounding environment. "Devil's Dance Floor" clearly attempts to allude to Ireland through its rhetorical usage, and successfully does so.
I'm a big Flogging Molly fan! I definitely agree that unlike many Irish-ish band, Flogging Molly is more traditional with their instruments and references. I also think the fact that they do that makes them somewhat unique in the today's music industry.
ReplyDelete