The song, "Woman in the White House," by Sheryl Crow is riddled with juxtapositions. And based off of the CD cover image and the lyrics themselves, it is quite apparent that this was the intended purpose. The first of the many juxtapositions at play here is the overall feeling of the song and the actual message of it. From simply hearing the song, one can recognize that it is somewhat of an upbeat country song; something that would not feel out of place if it were played at some kind of party. Upon actually listening to the song, the message that is trying to get out is that change is needed because the way the country is being run now and in the past has been nothing short of sub-par. Not just any kind of change is acceptable, however. As Sheryl has said, she wants a female president to be elected as president of the United States. This would be quite a monumental moment for American history and would even do great things for female empowerment. Which is another feeling that I believe this song is playing on, especially because of the line, "Girls, how 'bout you?" as well as the entire message itself.
I feel that, while the song potentially does good for Crow's "Girls," it fails to really get the right message across. No mention is made of any of the recent potential presidential candidates that were female, such as Hilary Clinton. Since this is a song that is meant to entertain (due to the tone of it), the solid details would be out of place. If Crow were to go into detail of why it would be a good idea to elect a particular candidate, the song would start to feel more like an ad for a future campaign. I can only imagine how hard it would be to make a good song with a line like, "And if I'm elected, I'll reduce funding to this and increase benefits to that!" The lyrics are not the only thing holding the true message back, however. The CD cover itself does very little in explaining anything, to be frank. A picture of some legs with high heels standing either over or very far in-front of the White House (depending on the intended purpose) does not really tell me as a listener why it would be a good idea to elect a female president. Maybe if Crow were to go back and try to make the CD cover and lyrics a bit more meaningful than, "Elect a female president for the novelty of it," her message might be able to be taken more seriously. Don't get me wrong, if there was a female candidate that had great policies and so on I'd be all for her election. But I'm not going to elect someone just for the simple fact that it's not yet been done.
-Matthew S.
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I agree with most everything you wrote, Matthew. The song and the album cover both seem out of place with the message of the song. I agree with your analogy that this song would likely be played at a party, and therefore would likely be intended to be written for the party atmosphere (I mean that the lyrics of the song would be more geared toward having fun rather than changing the course of American history). I also agree that her choice in lyrics seems to create the idea that her purpose was simply to create a fun song rather than a legitimate persuasive piece. I also agree that the president should be determined based on the issues instead of the revolutionary aspect of a candidate who was never elected before. If the message of the song was intended to be taken seriously, I agree that Crow should have referenced some of the revolutionary female politicians. Overall, I think Crow did a poor job at attempting to make a serious issue into a popular culture song.
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