1. SHORT TEXTLevel 2 Short Text Song Lyrics Theme: rebellion, protest

2. Structured like a letter. Formal, respectful.Something you do when you want to think Because were not Dear Mr. President, Come take a walk with me. Lets pretend were just two people and Youre not better than me. Id like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly.He thinks he is Because normally hed lie 3. What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street?Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep?What do you feel when you look in the mirror?Are you proud? 4. How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?How do you walk with your head held high?Can you even look me in the eyeAnd tell me why? 5. Dear Mr. President,Were you a lonely boy?Are you a lonely boy?Are you a lonely boy?How can you sayNo child is left behind?Were not dumb and were not blind.Theyre all sitting in your cellsWhile you pave the road to hell.Sending America to hell 6. What kind of father would take his own daughters rights away?And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?I can only imagine what the first lady has to sayYouve come a long way from whiskey and cocaine.This is the person tellingUS what to do? How tolive? What is right? 7. How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?How do you dream when a mother has no chance to saygoodbye?How do you walk with your head held high?Can you even look me in the eye? How = repetition Now questioning his response to the world he created Were back to honesty again just like at the beginning 8. Let me tell you bout hard workThis stanza has a differentMinimum wage with a baby on the shape/formatway No more questions shes telling himLet me tell you bout hard work nowRebuilding your house after the The government keeps minimumbombs took them awaywage minimal. Between $6.20 andLet me tell you bout hard work 8.00/hr, except for Wyoming, whichpays 5.15 unless you make tips too,Building a bed out of a cardboard in which case your employer canbox legally pay you $2.23/hr!Let me tell you bout hard work(NB The min. wage was $3.25/anHard work hour when I was your age in 1983.Hard work Thats over 25 years ago.You dont know nothing bout hardBombs Iraq/AfghanistanworkHard work Cardboard box = homelessHard workSpoilt, privileged childOh 9. How do you sleep at night?How do you walk with your head held high?Dear Mr. President,Youd never take a walk with me.Would you?In the beginning, she opens adialogue. In the end, sherealises that its pointless.Hed never listen. All of ourwords fall on deaf ears. 10. Repetition AdjectiveAllusion: from the Pledge of Allegiance: onenation, under god, indivisible, with liberty andjustice for all.Dont want to be an American idiot.Dont want a nation under the new mediaAnd can you hear the sound of hysteria?The subliminal mind fuck America.FOX. Media by definition is supposed Chaos caused by fearto report facts in a fair, impartialmanner. FOX, owned by RupertMurdoch, is salacious gossip.Covert, under the radar Inflammatory vocab; emotive language 11. Positive connotation, sarcasmAnxiety, worriesForeign, connotes fear illegal alien alliterationWelcome to a new kind of tension.All across the alien nation.Where everything isnt meant to be okay.Television dreams of tomorrow.Were not the ones whore meant to follow.For thats enough to argue.?? They WANT us to be unsettled? YES - warVerb since the talking heads are runningthe nation, every day is a good day. Theycant wait to tell new lies. 12. Inflammatory, emotive language again. IfQualifieryoure not one of the rednecks, youre clearly a fag Well maybe Im the faggot America. Im not a part of a redneck agenda. Now everybody do the propaganda. And sing along to the age of paranoia.redneck is a pejorative term for lower middleclass, uneducated, stereotypical southern whites.The are conservative and fundamentally religious.Popular song line. Propaganda = Weve had the age ofmainstream media exploits our enlightenment, also calledfears the age of reason. But now 13. Welcome to a new kind of tension.All across the alien nation.Where everything isnt meant to be okay.Television dreams of tomorrow.Were not the ones whore meant to follow.For thats enough to argue. 14. Rebelling against societyThe media controls us not ourselves. We are pawnsRepetition of PledgeDont want to be an American idiot.One nation controlled by the media.Information age of hysteria.Its calling out to idiot America. Juxtaposition - Not the information age age of hysteria, panic, not thinking (but yet join us, join us) Adjective/emotive lang. Change of position! The rest of the country have all succumbed; they are brain dead. 15. Welcome to a new kind of tension.All across the alien nation.Where everything isnt meant to be okay.Television dreams of tomorrow.Were not the ones whore meant to follow.For thats enough to argue. 16. How can we connect P!nk and Green Day? 17. Both are: modern songs of protest are critical of thepresidency/Bushadministration created to make audiencethink, consider, question anti-war? 18. American Idiot is againstthe fear of terrorism beinginstilled in the public inorder to bring aboutagreement on thecontinued war in Iraq. It isloud and in-your-face.(The ultimate goal of theRepublican party is to bringcapitalism to the world[which means we arebringing them the freedomto buy our stuff].) 19. Dear Mr President is a morepersonal lament about domesticproblems that continue as aresult of the war: the billionsgoing to the military takefunding away from socialprogrammes that would helpeducate, house, feed thecitizens. It is respectful andconsidered.