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Tiffany Shiverdecker

Professor Johnson

English 1201

4 October 2020

Rhetorical Analysis of “Life Is a Highway”

Song by Tom Cochrane and Rascal Flatts

The original song “Life Is a Highway” by Tom Cochrane was released in 1991. The

setting of his music video is in the country with him and another couple being the main

characters. Rascal Flatts cover of the song was released in 2006. The setting of their music video

is an outdoor drive-in movie theater and the main characters are the Rascal Flatts band. The

band's cover of Cochranes’s song was recorded for the Pixar animated film “Cars.” However,

even though the cover of the song “Life Is a Highway” by Rascal Flatts appeals to kids, the

original song by Cochrane and Flatts newer version still seem to appeal to the same audience of

adults. These two songs also have the same theme as to describe life as a highway, a long

winding road with ups and downs yet we just want to drive it, meaning life, for as long as we can

with the person we love right beside us.

In the original song, Tom is shown first playing a harmonica in the middle of nowhere.

Nothing is around him but fields and a highway. Then the couple, a man and a woman, is shown

driving on the highway in a 1965 Chevy Impala. As Tom starts to sing the first verse of the song

he switches to playing an electric guitar. Then he sings the lyrics,

Through all these cities and all these towns.

It's in my blood and it's all around.

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as the couple in the car drive by houses with people outside of them, a farm, and a church. They

even stop to change a tire on the side of the highway and at a gas station. Towards the end of the

video the couple decides to stop driving and pull off to the side of the highway to get out of the

car and dance to Tom Cochrane’s song. Ultimatley, the audience for this song is not very specific

but it is mainly for adults or anyone that likes to listen to country music.

In the cover song, the Rascal Flatts band is shown pulling up to the drive-in movie theater

in old cars to watch the movie “Cars.” When the song starts they are then shown playing their

instruments and performing on top of a building where the projectors are to project the movie

onto the big screen. The movie is playing on the big screen behind them and clips of the movie

are shown during different frames of the music video as well. Some frames of the video are also

of the band sitting in the old cars watching the movie themselves. However, the audience for this

song is not very specific either but it could be for adults and kids, considering the movie it was

recorded for was an animated kid movie.

The relationship between these two songs is that they both use pathos to make the listener

feel a sense of emotion toward the song. The song explains how life is like a highway, a long

road to get where we're going. Cochrane and Flatts sing,

Life's like a road that you travel on.

When there's one day here and the next day gone.

meaning that life is short and you never know when it may end, also like a highway perhaps.

Cochrane and Flatts then sing,

Knock me down and back up again.

You're in my blood, I'm not a lonely man.

There's no load I can't hold.

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A road so rough this I know.

I'll be there when the light comes in.

Tell 'em we're survivors.

Life is a highway.

I wanna ride it all night long.

If you're going my way.

I wanna drive it all night long.

which means that although life may get rough at times, we still want to live or as the lyrics

mention, “drive” for as long as we can with the person we love beside us the whole way.

In conclusion, there is actually no huge difference between the two songs. The lyrics and

even the tone of each song remains exactly the same. The only difference was the videos

themselves. Both songs did extremely well when they were released as well. Tom Cochrane’s

song reached number one on the Canadian charts and reached number six in 1992 in the United

States. It is his only US Top-40 hit. The movie “Cars” was released on June 9, 2006 and shortly

after the cover of the song by Rascal Flatts sold in large quantities of digital downloads, leading

to a top ten peak on the Billboard Hot 100. Their version also won the “Favorite Song from a

Movie” award at the 33rd People’s Choice Awards.

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Works Cited

Flatts, Rascal. Life Is A Highway. Youtube, 23 January 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=5tXh_MfrMe0. Accessed 27 September 2020.

Cochrane, Tom. Life Is A Highway. Youtube, 23 February 2009,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3sMjm9Eloo. Accessed 27 September 2020.