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Oliveri, Protest Songs
On Strike: The Rhetorical Anatomy of a Contemporary Protest
Song
Joseph D. Oliveri
Introduction
The study of music’s rhetorical or persuasive properties occupies a
unique space in the field of communication research. Distinct from music’s
nature as a means of communication is the way in which it transcends the
modes of transfer and perception common among other media such as
literature, film, or television. Popular song form is (though not exclusively) a
composite of abstract language (the lyrics) and sensory (auditory) stimuli
devoid of an inherent visual component. This has led communication
professionals to approach the study of songs in a communication context to
draw on several analytic strategies in order to determine how music as a
means of communication should be studied, as well as how and when the
results of such research should be applied. Music’s pervasive role in modern
mass culture has, like other forms of art and media, allowed it to assume a
significant presence in dissident political and social movements throughout
the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Songs of this nature—with
contextually specific narratives—were written, composed, and performed with
varying but unifying rhetorical strategies and persuasive methods.
Communication scholars Richard Gregg and Charles Stewart used earlier
rhetorical studies to develop analytical criterion specifically for this,
describing it as the ego-function and self-persuasion, respectively. While
many of these songs are now somewhat regarded as cultural artifacts due to
their association with opposition to norms now seen as antiquated, they have
retained a certain degree of relevance due to the enduring legacy of structural
forms of oppression. As such, the purpose of this study is to apply these and
other modes of analysis to determine the function of self-persuasion as it
pertains to a contemporary example of dissident protest behavior in the form
of a protest song.
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Historically, labor strikes have, not unlike other dissident movements,
employed song in order to reinforce an atmosphere of solidarity among
intergroup members. In keeping with this trend, a review of literature has
proven that in protest music studied in communication as an academic
discipline, a sort of self-persuasion prevails as the primary behavioral
dynamic in the power construct-protestor dynamic. In light of the recent
United Auto Worker’s strike against General Motors in October of 2019 on
behalf of temporary and part-time employees, Detroit-based rapper and
former auto worker GmacCash released a track, “On Strike.” The music video
has recently reached nearly 30,000 views on YouTube. Despite being a brief,
three-verse song, liberally employing vernacular pejoratives, “On Strike” is
nonetheless a declaration of solidarity with the nearly 50,000 UAW workers
on strike demanding a fairer salary for starting employees, demanding GM
expedite the eight-year period it takes for new hires to reach the maximum
$13 an hour. Therefore, the analysis here aims to take the discursive and nondiscursive attributes of the rap (its lyrics and beat, respectively) into account
and will assess how the attempts at self-persuasion might be characterized
and what that implies.
A synthesis of foundational communication theses regarding
persuasive strategies and the communicative values of protest music reveals
that selected literature details the framework on rhetoric and persuasion,
along with the uses and gratifications perspective on the motives for seeking
out particular mediums of media in order to justify this particular theoretical
context. In what follows, I will use that theoretical foundation to provide a
close textual analysis of the lyrics of protest music. Finally, communication
research focused specifically protest music is included to detail the ways in
which these analyses are combined and applied.
Foundational Framework: Rhetoric and Persuasion
As the means by which groups or individuals are persuaded, it is
necessary to understand the concept of the rhetorical situation, the
circumstances which allow for the process of persuasion to occur at all.
Because this study will seek to understand the persuasive rhetorical nature of
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a contemporary protest song, an overview of this concept, which undergirds
the analysis is included. Contributions by rhetoricians Lloyd Bitzer and
Richard Vatz established that rhetorical devices and modes of analysis can
contextualize the concept of rhetoric and persuasion in the communication
field and represent opposing interpretations, while some reconciliation
between the two is not impossible. Both, however, deal with the “situation”
phenomenon. Bitzer characterizes the rhetorical situation as defined by
circumstances unrelated to the rhetoric itself. When persuasive behavior or
speech does take place, it is stipulated under the influence of the specific
situation, or “exigence.”1 Therefore, rhetoric is deployed as an agent of change
in response to a situation so that the conditions brought on by the situation
can changed or used in some way. Some rhetorical behaviors are impeded by
the interference of “constraints;” other people or other circumstances which
the rhetor can sometimes to circumvent either by in order to persuade.2 These
rhetorical situations are “real.”3 Vatz’s refutation of Bitzer posits that rhetoric
itself stipulates Bitzer’s exigences, claiming that the former perspective
absolves the rhetor of their moral agency4. The rhetorical situation is not just
defined but created by rhetoric by assigning “salience” to specific variables
within social environments, thereby allowing the rhetor to manipulate their
audience’s attention and perception one way or the other.5
The Ego-Function
According to Richard Gregg, the normative “rhetorical transaction”
takes place when speakers and listeners are both consensually engaged in
“psychological interdependence” wherein the speaker assumes a listener’s
ability to comprehend messages.6 For protestors, the phrase ego-function
refers to the opposite dynamic. First, the rhetor’s audience is the rhetor
Lloyd Bitzer. (1968). “The Rhetorical Situation.” Philosophy and Rhetoric 1, no. 1 (1968): 5
Bitzer, 9.
3 Bitzer, 11.
4 Richard Vatz. (1973). “The Myth of the Rhetorical Situation.” Philosophy and Rhetoric, 6,
no. 3 (1973): 158.
5 Vatz, 157.
6 Richard B. Gregg, “The Ego-Function of the Rhetoric of Protest.” Philosophy & Rhetoric, 4,
no. 2 (1971): 72.
1
2
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themselves and those who share their beliefs and goals, i.e., fellow protestors.
Second, rhetoric in the ego-function is “establishing, defining, and affirming
one’s self-hood.”7 Personhood is contingent on the ego, which, in the
perspective of protestors versus aggressors, is “ignored, or damaged, or
disenfranchised” in various contexts of oppression. Concurrent among protest
movements is rhetoric that seeks to either expunge or correct “intense feelings
of self-deprecation and ego-deprivation.”8 The construction of archetypal
characters (protestors and their “enemies”) is also necessary in understanding
how to ego-function works; identifying who a movement is up against allows
the rhetor and their allies to “ego-affirm" easily.9 Implicit in this analysis and
the establishment of this criteria is the premise that the central function of the
rhetorically creating or identifying these “characters” or “actors” (whether it is
done by means of aesthetic or linguistic design) is to reduce more complex
and abstract figures or structures down to the qualities which solidify its
relationship to other actors. Overall, the “symbolic control” the ego-function
equips the protest-rhetor with allows some degree of persuasive advantage.10
Intergroup Communication
A communication perspective on music necessitates scholarly
justification for its relevance in the field. The dynamic between protest
movements and their targets can be categorized as an intergroup relationship.
Gallois, Giles and Watson define intergroup communication as the
interactions between two or more groups which may be opposed in some way,
and that historically this has been the most prominent in social and cultural
movements.11 Similarly, research by Jake Harwood explains music’s role as
intergroup communication, which is defined by contact which occurs when
the member of a group “encounters an outgroup member.” 12 Gallois, Giles
and Watson termed members of two different groups which are adversarial to
Gregg, 74.
Gregg, 81.
9 Gregg, 84.
10 Gregg, 87.
11 Cindy Gallois, Howard Giles, B.M. Watson, “Intergroup Communication: Identities and
Effective Interactions.” Journal of Communication 68, no. 2 (2018): 311.
12 Jake Harwood, “Music and Intergroup Communication.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of
Communication. (2017): 8.
7
8
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each other as “interlocutors” with whom communication can be a source of
conflict because the communication can takes place can be conducted by one
or the other to subvert the opposing group in some way.13 Harwood
purported that music is a form of communication because like both verbal and
non-verbal communication, it is received via stimulatory reception.14
Additionally, because “lyrics imply language,” lyrics can “be categorized into
language groups.”15 When the mode of communication is music, Harwood
argued, a “humanizing effect” can occur where the preconceptions between
the in and out group members can be reconciled.16
Music Consumption
James Belcher and Paul Haridakis identify four “background
characteristics” used to explain the music preferences of people within certain
groups using the uses and gratifications theory as a theoretical touchstone.
First, “Opinion Leadership” is used to describe how people tend to be drawn
to peers who display easily notable opinions within their own social group.
They seek their media out more frequently than non-leaders, and about
“topics of personal interest.”17 “Involvement” describes the nature in which
people with shared media tastes discuss and build interpersonal connections
with peers around this mutuality.18 “Music training,” (whether or not
individuals can actually play musical instruments themselves) is less
significant, but the perception of peers’ musical interests are also taken into
account.
Uses and Gratifications Theory
Gallois, Giles and Watson, 313.
Harwood, 3.
15 Harwood, 4.
16 Harwood, 10.
17 James D. Belcher, Paul Haridakis, “The Role of Background Characteristics, MusicListening Motives, and Music Selection on Music Discussion.” Communication Quarterly 61,
no. 4 (2013): 377.
13
14
18
Belcher, Haridakis, 378.
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Jay G. Blumler and Elihu Katz wrote that one particular kind of media
can serve “a multiplicity” of needs or wants.19 Their study questioned existing
uses and gratifications material to interrogate whether the type of media
affected how or why it was consumed. In their critique, they detail the concern
that that media studies were confined to the belief that media only served
people’s unconscious desires or vicarious activities and solely driven on what
an audience or consumer wants.
Methodologies Developed for Analyzing Music
The following contributions to the communication field concerning
music are characterized by attempts to join the auditory stimuli and written
diction of song lyrics. Walter Kirkpatrick and James Irvine distinguished
“rhetorical” (written lyrics) and “expressive” (instrumental, sonic) properties
of music but directly drew from Bitzer’s perspective about the rhetorical
situation.20 They named the audience as tacit judges of a song’s true effect and
meaning. They posited that for authors of songs, the act of composition and
an audience’s reaction both measure the impact of music but the
performative aspect and the content itself are distinguished by “interaction
function through familiar and/or unfamiliar variables.”21 Pretexts like the
shared or individual experiences, preferences, and/or biases of the listener(s)
determine real meaning. Irvine and Kirkpatrick acknowledge instruments
have an effect also, but argue it is not worth discussing what effect they might
have unless you differentiate what kind of instrument, because the specific
sound implies a certain potential perception; for example, electric versus
acoustic instruments, etc.22 G.P. Mohrmann and Eugene F. Scott provided an
early example of a model for quantitatively studying music in a
communication context specifically using songs in an analysis of popular
songs during World War II meant to reinforce popular opinion about the
United States’ role. However, they admitted that they “refer to the restricted
Jay G. Blumler, Elihu Katz, Elihu. “Uses and Gratifications Research.” The Public Opinion
Quarterly 37, no. 4 (1974): 517.
20 Walter G. Kirkpatrick, James R. Irvine, “The Musical Form in Rhetorical Exchange:
Theoretical Considerations.” Quarterly Journal of Speech, 58, no. 3 (1972): 274.
21 Kirkpatrick, Irvine, 276.
22 Kirkpatrick, Irvine,
19
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discursive potential of the popular song,” leading them to inaccurately
characterize the songs as “an unsuitable medium for complex persuasive
appeals.”23
Analytical approaches and nomenclature developed by Deanna and
Thomas Sellnow were inspired by Kirkpatrick and Irvine and demonstrate
justifications for categorizing music as communication and continue to build
from the rhetorical research analysis framework. They treated lyrics and
sound somewhat more equally than Kirkpatrick and Irvine and characterize
the two variables as a “dynamic interaction.”24 They referred to the
instrumental, non-discursive makeup as “aesthetic symbolism.”25 Music is
meant to emulate abstractions like human emotions, their byproducts and/or
expressions how they are expressed. Kirkpatrick and Irvine write that these
are conveyed through “intensity-release patterns,” and “tragic” and “comic”
rhythms; abstract portrayals of emotion.26 Therefore, the symbolic functions
of each both contribute to how the message of a song is perceived; in terms of
non-discursive rhetoric, rhetorical meaning is felt instead of understood.
Kirkpatrick and Irvine make a point to say that effects of both lyrical
(“linguistic”) and sonic (“aesthetic”) characteristics must be interrogated for
comprehensive rhetorical analysis to be credible and holistic.27 With both of
these facets taken into account, the authors characterized music as a “virtual
experience” that creates the “illusion of life,” (implicitly proving that music is
a media medium in the sense of the uses and gratifications perspective offered
by Blumler and Katz), accounting for people’s attraction to it as a means of
catharsis. 28
Alex Bailey synthesized Kirkpatrick and Irvine, the Sellnows, and
Stewart’s work (exercising it in an analysis of “Victory Day,” a song by a now
defunct white nationalist band composed of preteen twin girls, Prussian
G.P. Mohrmann, Eugene. F. Scott, “Popular Music and World War II: The Rhetoric of
Continuation,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 62 (1976): 146.
24 Deanna Sellnow and Timothy Sellnow. “The ‘Illusion of Life’ Rhetorical Perspective: An
Integrated Approach to the Study of Music as Communication.” Critical Studies in Media
Communication 18, no. 4, (2001): 396.
25 Sellnow, Sellnow, 398.
26 Sellnow, Sellnow, 398.
27 Sellnow, Sellnow, 398.
28 Sellnow, Sellnow, 407.
23
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Blue), but most closely aligned with Vatz regarding rhetoric. Bailey’s work is
congruent with Irvine and Kirkpatrick’s assertion that instrumentation and
lyrics do not always share the same denotative meaning.29 Juxtaposing the
song lyrics, (which discursively extol the efforts of impending ethnic cleansing
by the Aryan artists) with the aesthetic-symbolic effect of the seemingly
precocious children’s amateurish and endearing sound is meant to deflect
attention from the lyrics’ otherwise deeply offensive implications.30
Applications to Activist Music
Stephen Kosokoff and Carl Carmichael (1970) hypothesized that
protest songs produce “attitude change,” and predicted that, coupled with
other forms of activist behavior such as speeches, protest music would
reinforce the efficacy of a group’s intended messages.31 They monitored the
attitude changes of 97 students based on listening to original songs composed
for the experiment about the Vietnam War, and whether they would cohere
with the students’ perceptions of spoken speeches which shared essentially
the same diction. Kosokoff and Carmichael’s contribution is unique in that it
quantified the persuasive effects of the song lyrics in varying contexts; the
most significant changes in opinion occurred due to the juxtaposition of songs
and speeches. They concluded that “songs can add to the attitude change
resulting from a speech of social action.”32 Identifying a relationship between
discursion and the creation of an attitude reinforces the maxim that songs are
an important component of an overall movement. They are auxiliary means of
galvanizing solidarity contingent on the preexisting foundation of collective
acknowledgment of a specific ideological premise.
Like Kosokoff and Carmichael, Charles J. Stewart focused solely on
discursive persuasion, and applied the ego-function perspective to analyze
protest songs and extracted “five points of contrast” that refer to the method
of characterization protestors rely on which Gregg previously described. These
Alex Bailey, “The Rhetoric of Music: A Theoretical Synthesis. Rocky Mountain
Communication Review 3, no. 1 (2006). 1-12.
30 Bailey, 12.
31 Steven Kossokoff, and Carl W. Carmichael, “The Rhetoric of Protest: Song, Speech, and
Attitude Change.” The Southern Speech Journal 35:4 (1970): 298.
32 Kossokoff, Carmichael, 301.
29
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include “innocent versus wicked victimizer,” “powerful and brave versus
separate and divided,” “important and valuable versus unimportant and
worthless,” and “Virtuous and moral versus sinful and immoral.”33 In a
qualitative study focusing strictly on the discursive-symbolic component,
Stewart performed a comprehensive rhetorical analysis of 705 songs from
dissident political and social movements and documented how many times
these archetypal dynamics occurred, and which were the most characteristic
of which songs.34 Sixty-nine percent of songs portrayed protestors as victims
to some degree. Fifty-three percent referred “explicitly” to an archetypal
“villain” character in the person of the oppressor.35 While the prominence in
lyrical representation of the other archetypes varied by movement, Stewart
noted that, despite the variations, overwhelmingly, “The self appears to be the
primary audience of protest music,” objectively upholding Gregg’s egofunction.36
The following scholarly discussion of communication and rhetoric in
activist music suggest two dominant forms of persuasion exist. In addition to
the traditional rhetor-audience dynamic of Bitzer and Vatz, Gregg and
Stewart’s self-persuasion is also identified and examined, and the nondiscursive/aesthetic value of instrumental sound is more liberally explored as
a legitimate rhetorical property. Kerran Sanger (in 1995 and in 1997) and
Robert Francesconi, in the context of American slavery and the civil rights
movement respectively, dealt with “rhetorical self-definition” rather than
strictly persuading an audience. In both instances, Sanger categorized civil
rights songs and slave spirituals as not only historical relatives, but
transcendent of self-expression. In both periods, the performers of the songs
sought to persuade themselves of their own humanity in order to
psychologically escape the dehumanized identity their material conditions
had constructed for them.37
Charles J. Stewart, “The Ego Function of Protest Songs: An Application of Gregg's Theory of
Protest Rhetoric.” Communication Studies, 42, no. 3 (1991): 241.
34 Stewart, 242.
35 Stewart, 243.
36 Stewart, 252.
37 Kerran L. Sanger, “Slave Resistance and Rhetorical Self-Definition: Spirituals as Strategy.”
Western Journal of Communication 59, (1995): 179.
33
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Sanger’s 1997 study of music’s role in the civil rights movement largely
dealt with individual activists’ perspectives on the role that singing songs like
“We Shall Overcome” had on their morale personally and collectively.38
Sanger’s study aggregated written interviews and accounts with former civil
rights activists, and wrote that the majority of them seemed to recount that
singing in public during demonstrations and protests allowed for “generating
positive emotional support for the movement,” helped “manage negative
emotions” and imbued them with a “sense of spiritual commitment” to the
movement. Troy Murphy’s analysis of “We Shall Overcome’s” transformation
from a slave song to the more well-known civil rights anthem concluded that
the vocabulary of the lyrics changed from an individual to a more collective
perspective throughout the century. For example, the word “Shall” replaced
“Will” over time, because it was a more open, easier sound to sing, which
made it more appealing to larger groups.39
Considering Francesconi’s study of the free jazz movement (all African
American artists) in the context of the civil rights movement, Bitzer would
agree that the rhetorical situation of the dominant white culture having a
monopoly of sorts on musical expression created the boundaries that free jazz
artists sought to breach. Francesconi’s broader findings established that as a
social phenomenon, free jazz was also an attempt to (through the aesthetic or
non-discursive symbolism per Kirkpatrick and Irvine) actively disavow white
and European influences of preceding trends of bebop and swing.
Rhetorically, free jazz musicians embraced a more decidedly African identity
marked by the instruments and a sonic approach to improvising, an
uncontrolled approach to harmonic systems as opposed to Western music.40
Without coincidence, Sanger notes that slaves used spirituals to establish an
“alternative definition of self that challenged white claims.”41 In both
examples of identity, ego-function's role and self-persuasion is the dominant
conceptual parallel.42
Sanger, 181.
Troy A. Murphy. “Rhetorical Invention and the Transformation of We Shall Overcome.”
Qualitative Research Reports in Communication 4, (2003): 4.
40 Francesconi, 47.
41 Sanger, 179.
42 Gregg, 74.
38
39
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Sheryl Hurner applied the Sellnows’ discursive versus aesthetic
symbolism methodology for rhetorical analysis of 31 songs associated with the
women’s suffrage movement in the United States. According to Hurner,
suffragists actually catered to preexisting cultural notions about women to
persuade.43 This aligns with Bitzer’s perspective on rhetoric, and Kirkpatrick
and Irvine’s as well. Hurner inferred that with the interests of the audience in
mind, the songs would be the most effective. In this case, that audience
context happened to be the gender logos within a patriarchal era. Hurner’s
analysis included a uniquely Vatz-esque characteristic of suffrage music:
many songs’ lyrics and instrumental components were meant to convey that a
militant-like “victory” was near, which framed the situation to the preference
of the suffragists themselves.44
Songs Specific to Class Struggle
David Carter identified two central “themes”: “separation and
oppression.”45 Rhetorically framing for the Industrial Workers of the World ’s
project was crucial. The Wobblies strove to erect their public image as saviors
of society, not unlike the suffragists. The IWW’s rhetorical approach also
hinged upon their appeal; unlike the American Federation of Labor, they
sought to organize both skilled and unskilled laborers.46 The IWW’s songs
were designed to both portray worker’s lives as accurately as possible, but also
parody charity organizations such as the Salvation Army as not necessarily
antagonistic, but inadequately aligned ideologically with the labor movement.
“Solidarity Forever” was melodically adapted from “The Battle Hymn of The
Republic” to portray the proletariat as responsible for the creation of wealth
and the backbone of the U.S. economy. This is not unlike how Hurner
discussed the way the suffragists characterized themselves through songs as
being responsible for raising the men that made the U.S. a great nation in the
Sheryl Hurner. “Discursive Identity Formation of Suffrage Women: Reframing the Cult of
True Womanhood Through Song.” Western Journal of Communication 70, no. 3 (2006):
248.
44 Hurner, 250.
45 Carter, David. A. “The Industrial Workers of the World and the Rhetoric of Song.” The
Quarterly Journal of Speech, 66. (1980): 369.
46 Carter, 368.
43
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first place, or as good Americans who were being denied the agency to fulfill
their nationalistic potential.47 Identifying an easily identifiable, archetypal
“enemy” (the capitalist), however, was unique to the IWW’s songs,
highlighting the distinction between the IWW’s aspiration to reclaim the
means of production from their enemy and the suffragists’ demands to be
treated as equals within the framework of the Constitution.
Ralph E. Knupp examined the “patterns of thematic choice-making" in
protest songs focused on a “macroscopic” overview of protest music.48
Knupp’s content analysis also focused on the tendency of protest songs,
particularly those from the labor movement, to forgo language concerning the
concept of the past. Instead, all issues and aspirations are portrayed as
ongoing struggles, fortifying a sense immediacy in an effort to maintain
relevance in addition to boosting morale and solidarity.49 In the same sense,
Kunpp characterized the lyrics as sharing a predisposition to active rather
than passive behavior. Instead of simply representing an ideology, songs
detailed actions. Songs identified specific solutions to presented problems.50
Throughout a mostly qualitative selection, the literature selection is
marked by the prevailing facets of communicative relationships between
diametrically opposed groups. The confluence of music and lyrics (sonic and
discursive symbolism, respectively) is shared and draws from a diverse
spectrum of historical and socio-political contexts united by the power
structure-dissident relationship. In terms of rhetoric, concurrence of selfpersuasion through the ego-function is equally represented in the specific
examples. The literature suggests that the rhetorical framework proposed by
Bitzer and Vatz are not mutually exclusive. Scholarly material on protest
music implies that while the agenda-setting perspective of the latter can
illustrate how situations are manipulated to support or confront a particular
means to an end, the aspect of power dynamics and structure do not confine
the rhetorical situation to that interpretation.
Hurner, 249.
Ralph E, Knupp, “A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven: Rhetorical Dimensions of
Protest Music.” Southern Speech Communication Journal, 46, no. 4 (2009): 379.
49 Knupp, 385.
50 Knupp, 387.
47
48
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Methods
A qualitative research approach that scrutinized both the and nondiscursive attributes of the rap (its lyrics and beat, respectively) was used to
determine how the attempts at self-persuasion might be characterized. In
practice, the following sequence of analyses was performed by listening to “On
Strike,” then reading its lyrics, listening to the song again while reading the
lyrics, and finally using the lyrics to extract information.
RQ1: “Which self-persuasion techniques are the most prevalent in
GmacCash’s song ‘On Strike’?”
Discursive Elements
This reading of the lyrics was done in order to pinpoint the
establishment of “characters” to create a narrative. This was performed by
employing criteria present in studies such as those by Hurner and Stewart
,who looked specifically at who the rhetor was talking to and/or about.
Stewart specifically noted the use of adjectives and figurative language that
compared the subjects of songs to archetypal “villains” and/or “heroes,” per
Knupp. I identified the number of “actors” in the hypothetical “story” (in
Hurner’s terminology, “the illusion of life”) the song sets up for the listener. I
employed Kupp’s practice of examining “Temporal Orientation,” and counted
“references to past, present, or future actions or events.” This method was
included in order to assess Cash’s outlook on the strike itself in terms of
urgency and mission, questioning the reality of an explicit victory or
consequence.
In order to do this, I looked at pronouns; who was being talked about,
in what context, and what adjectives or actions they were coupled with. Along
with this, I sought to apply Hurner’s assessment of how the broader
movement was characterized by the rhetor or the performer singing the song.
What responsibilities or duties does the rhetor (Cash, the rapper) identify that
the strikers have as a part of the conflict with their employer? In this context,
that broader movement is the conceptual archetype of the worker against the
employer.
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Non-discursive Elements
I then assessed whether, per Irvine and Kirkpatrick, the lyrics and
instrumentation of the song could be characterized as congruent, meaning
that cohesion between them is such that the “intensity-release pattern” that is
created is one that either punctuates or distracts from the symbolic value of
the lyrics.
Results & Discussion
Song Structure and Pronoun Choice
A distinct structural pattern built upon the “actors” in the song’s
narrative is established. The pronouns used in the song have meanings
specific to their context: the word “they” is used a total of 8 times, “we,” 4
times, and “you,” once. Notably, while a refrain of “We goin’ on strike” is used
a total of 6 times to preface the first verse of the song, the title— “On Strike”—
of the song itself neglects to point any fingers at a particular “actor.”
Nonetheless, the narrative scheme of the song points to a stylistic strategy
meant to characterize the strike itself as broadly as possible: as a multifaceted movement with a range of causes, dynamics, and implications. The
first verse of the rap refers to the strike primarily using the pronoun “we,”
twice: “We goin’ on strike so you better listen/We ain’t bout to keep workin’
under these conditions.”
In the second verse of the rap, the focus shifts. Cash uses “they” to
speak about the temps, whose cause the UAW strikers are fighting on behalf
of, and calls out plant supervisors specifically for exploiting underpaid temp
labor as a means to reach sales goals. The third and final verse of the rap,
while using the pronoun “they” twice, does so in effect to detail the collective,
metaphysical nature of the strike as a movement and a concept as opposed to
a literal struggle or embattlement, as it does in the previous two verses where
“we” and “they” are deployed as signifiers. The verse begins with the lines,
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“The union gotta stick together/Do this for each other.” This has a peculiar
effect in that the first phrase refers to the union as being detached from any
kind of personal or humanizing qualities, but as an object that needs to retain
its status as a monad. Juxtaposing it with the following line, however, gives
the union a transcendental, suddenly human nature. Cash’s rapping assigns
the union both human and non-human qualities, but whose non-human
qualities are contingent on the cohesion and solidarity that underpin its
human ones. As such, the last line of the verse implies a sense of urgency, but
also one of responsibility: “We need a change right now or we ain’t goin’
further.” This implies, (but takes care not to overemphasize) the importance
of the success of the strike, invoking visions of a future in which the higher
wages for temps is not achieved.
In summary, this discursive approach gives the song a nuanced
foresight and consciousness about the importance and relevance of the UAWGeneral Motors conflict. It acknowledges the structural roles of the
corporation and the bargaining power of the union, while pinpointing the
specific, smaller alliance and representative responsibility for which the UAW
workers are tasked.
Archetypal “Actors:” Familial Metaphor
While “On Strike” has two main “actors” in the narrative its lyrics
create, the song’s discursive value is more accurately qualified by the
relationships it portrays: the adversarial relationship between the UAW
strikers and General Motors and the relationship between the strikers and
each other. The primary contrast can be categorized as the difference between
being a part of “the family” or not being a part, in Cash’s own “illusion of life.”
General Motors, as an “actor” in the song’s narrative, is mentioned
indirectly three separate times. The company is never mentioned by name,
and instead Cash relies on characterizing the dynamic both literally and
metaphorically. In the first time in the first verse, Cash raps: “Working in a
hot plant with no air conditioning/ And they got the nerve to tell us that
there’s fair conditions.” The second mention comes in the second verse: “The
supervisor don’t care if they get tired/They just trying to make sure them sales
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get higher.” Lastly, in the third verse, Cash says, “Do this one for all my
sisters, for my brothers/Cause they tryna treat us wrong but they say they love
us.” The initial two references invoke the imagery of unfair working
conditions, but they are only a literal description of what goes on day-to-day
while working at the plant. The final mention, however, re-introduces the
concept of familial love, and it is here that Carter’s mention of separation and
oppression can be identified. This is a figurative rhetorical stylistic choice
Cash uses in order to emphasize the emotional and empathic degree of
“separation” between GM and the UAW strikers. The temps—who are their
own separate actors in Cash’s illusion and who the strikers are seeking to
protect and fight on behalf of—and the union members are characterized as a
family. The phrase “they tryna treat us wrong but they say they love us,”
invokes the image of a gaslighting or abusive “family” member; a deceitful
fraud whose superficial gestures mask cynical ulterior goals. Cash’s use of an
accessible, easy-to-relate to abstraction illustrates the “oppression” the strike
is happening in response to.
The use of ad-libbed lyrics which complement Cash’s rapped verses is a
distinct feature of the song, used at specific junctures. Much like the repeated
refrain of “We goin’ on strike,” in the beginning of the song, this is done to
serve as a rallying cry and capitalize on the collective, familial nature of the
strike that Cash seeks to establish in the song. It allows the rap to take the
form of an imagined conversation, echoing the call-and-response form of
former iterations of protest music. The initial refrain is met with disembodied
exclamations of “Yeah!” and “For real!” This can be interpreted as an effort by
Cash to imbue the song with a collaborative authorship. In effect, he is not the
only rhetor in this rhetorical setup. Rather, true to self-persuasion fashion,
the communal group of the strikers themselves share the rhetor status.
Tense: Temporal Orientation
“On Strike” overwhelmingly relies on the present tense and current,
ongoing actions or events. Cash relies on specific, declarative phrases in
reference to very specific actions, and the present tense is used a total of 15
times. As Knupp established, this creates a sense of urgency and immediacy,
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rather than seeking to simply tell or recount. The manner in which these
actions are phrased (“We goin on strike,” “The union gotta stick together,”
“Do this for each other,”) allow the listener to immediately and
indiscriminately associate what they are hearing with the actions Cash is
describing; the act of striking and the sudden scrutiny and vulnerability to
which you become subject. The verses are terse and punctuated by
exclamatory, direct diction. A future event is only implied once, at the closing
of the song with the final line, “We need a change right now or we ain’t goin’
further.” However, this dissents slightly from the categorization provided by
Knupp, as it refers to no specific outcome or goal. Instead, the demands are
made implicitly, through the conversation Cash is initiating by rapping to
other strikers. This “conversation” is less of an exchange between the rhetor
and the audience in the traditional sense and supports the in-group focus
characteristic of self-persuasion analysis.
Non-Discursive Elements: Intensity-Release Pattern
Juxtaposition of the sonic and “On Strike” lyrical elements denotes an
obvious congruity between the two. The lyrics of “On Strike” are rapped over a
mid-tempo yet upbeat synthetic instrumental track. The beat is a typical trapstyle midi hi-hat percussive sound, and has a repetitive, hypnotic meter that is
significantly subdued beneath Cash’s rapping. This allows the listener’s
primary focus to be the lyrics and Cash’s delivery. His tone is equally
measured but noticeably louder in volume, just behind the beat of the song. A
simple 6-note synthetic piano hook is used throughout the verses. The hook is
also softer in volume, subdued behind the beat and Cash’s voice. However, the
beat fades out when Cash begins the second verse: “If they don’t work their
ass off, they’re gonna get fired/Temps workin’ like slaves and don’t get hired.”
The subtle, yet abrupt change in the non-discursive makeup draws immediate
attention to the verse: the listener is left hearing the soft, high-pitched,
simplistic piano hook as Cash raps. Then, the beat suddenly comes back in
when the chorus of “We goin’ on strike” resumes before the next verse.
Implicitly, this is Cash’s way of exploiting Irvine & Kirkpatrick’s concept of the
intensity-release pattern. He emphasizes the meaning of that specific verse by
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coupling it with an arresting sonic quality. This in turn, highlights the
discursive value the aforementioned familial role of the temps occupy in the
rhetorical dynamic Cash uses to illustrate the struggle.
Conclusion
Primarily, the analysis established that rhetorical strategies found form
the bedrock of the discursive strategy Gmac Cash used in composing and
performing “On Strike.” An overarching summary of the rhetorical makeup
apparent in “On Strike” can be framed using Knupp’s criterion for the
qualities shared by the majority of labor songs: they are “(1) reactive (2)
simplistic (2) expressive [sic].” Interestingly, in line with Knupp’s analysis, is
the “goals” of the song and the strike are the extent to which self-persuasion is
apparent in the “Simplistic portrayal of the world for rhetorical advantage,”
but arguably, Cash’s song cannot be described as “simplistic” alone. Despite
the song’s brevity and relatively simple diction, the preceding analysis proves
that “On Strike” is an exercise in the potency of language and its ability to
function outside traditional conceptions of “sophisticated” language; therein
lies the key to Cash’s rhetorical efficacy of self-persuasion. The song manages
to capture the broad, structural significance of a labor strike and the power of
a union, demonstrating an acute awareness regarding the value and social
capital feelings of solidarity depend on, and acknowledge the success of the
strike
It can be argued that the analysis is limited by some aspects of this
paper’s design. Notably, a more nuanced and comprehensive study would
require a wider variety of songs, and perhaps abide by a more rigidly
structured set of criteria for analysis (although “On Strike” is unique in being
a semi-high profile labor strike related song in the 21st century). While this
study focused on a qualitative, rhetorical analysis, many previous
communication studies interrogated their song lyric data quantitatively in
order to more precisely identify trends, frequencies, and develop more
concrete, informed conclusions. With regard to the non-discursive aspects of
“On Strike,” musical professionals or those versed in independent music
production should probably be counseled in order to provide a more informed
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judgement on the value and rhetorical effects of the stylistic choices the artists
make. Hurner, for example, relied on transcriptions of suffrage songs by a
professional musician, and had songs too old to have been recorded
performed and taped in order to analyze them.
The performance of future analyses related to the topic of selfpersuasion are incumbent on the resurgence of material like “On Strike,”
which in turn depend on the socio-economic contexts which allow them to
develop. In the event that such material maintains relevance, its standing in
the field of communication will demand thorough attention.
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