Life Is A Highway: Song Analysis

The first song chosen is Rascal Flatts’s “Life is a Highway”. With this song, there is the theme of family sticking together. The Walls family runs into many conflicts regarding money, law enforcement, and even each other. Because of these conflicts the family is “one day here and the next day gone”. Although their family troubles were stressful and often hard to believe, they stuck together. This song manly focuses on the characterization of Rex Walls, pin pointing his heavy-drinking, wannabe superhero dad stereotype. In this song, the line “There’s no load that I can’t hold” perfectly depicts Rex’s over confident ego; that he can do it all.
In the second song, Kelly Clarkson’s “Breakaway”, Lori and Jeanette, the two eldest daughters, make-a plan to “breakaway” from their parent’s unruly attitude to move to New York. As sung in the song “[They’ll] make a wish, take a chance, make a change, and breakaway”. Finally having enough (of their lifestyle) the two girls devised a plan to save all their money, send Lori to New York and after Jeanette finishes school she would follow. This symbolizes the girl’s growth and yearning to get out from under a bad at home life. Although their plan quickly fell apart due to Rex stealing their money, Jeanette sacrificed her summer time job so Lori could make it out of Welch
for good.
In the song “Welcome to New York” written by Taylor Swift, she uses her lyrics to describe the inspiring city of New York.
Lyrics such as “the lights are so bright”, “you can want who you want” and “it’s a new soundtrack I could dance to this beat” this song perfectly describes the arrival of Lori and Jeanette. With a theme of new beginnings, they get an apartment steady jobs, and basically get into a new groove of things. Bringing out their siblings, Brian and Maureen, they seem like a normal family, until their parents come around looking for a place to live. This song helps bring out the traits of patience, hard-working, and with Jeanette her hard-core
side.
Using Carrie Underwood’s song “Temporary Home”, it focuses on the life and death of Rex Walls. In this song, it’s explained what Rex wanted out life, his hopes and dreams, and his failures. When he was a teenager he wanted to get out of Welch because “it’s not where [he] belong[s]”. Rex shows his softer, more hopeful side during this song. Having of theme of family and endings, Rex dies peacefully in a hospital around his loved ones. Welch was his “temporary home” and he knew it’s not where he belonged.
In Avril Lavigne’s “When You’re Gone” the theme of loneliness is addressed. After her father’s death Jeanette feels a sort of loneliness inside like the “pieces of [her] heart [is] missing [Rex]”. Constantly wanting to be somewhere other than where she was, she took up ice skating as a distraction. Still depressed, she realizes everything in her life needs to be revaluated. Jeanette decides to leave her husband and move into a smaller apartment. Still missing her father, she feels as though she can breathe again.