Ayres

Mary Ayres

Professor Porter

English 1201

20 February 2022

“But I’d have to miss the dance,” are lyrics sung by Garth Brooks which

exemplifies his belief that our lives can be can be compared to that of a dance. This

quote sung throughout his song represents the main message that Garth Brooks is

trying to share with his audience. Garth Brooks's song, "The Dance," and Kelly

Clarkson's tribute of Garth's, "The Dance," both had the same overall message but each

version appealed to a different audience and made their own claim. Garth's claim in his

version is that it is best to not know how things will end, because it may prevent you

from getting to experience life. In other words, everything happens for a reason. Kelly's

claim in her tribute to Garth is that things don't always turn out the way you want, like

her divorce, but that doesn't mean it was worthless.

“The Dance,” as sung by both Garth Brooks and Kelly Clarkson displays a similar

message to its audience. The overall message in both versions of, “The Dance,” would

be to live in the moment. When you are in the moment you feel as if you are on top of

the world, as it says in the lyrics, “ For a moment wasn’t I the king.” This quote

represents living out your dream and the high you feel when doing what you love. As we

all know this feeling can change really fast, for example, Martin Luthar King Jr. was

pursuing his passion and sharing it with so many people. His dream was cut short one

day when he was assassinated. If he were to know beforehand that that was the way

his life would end, he “Might have changed it all,” and then he would have missed out
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on pursuing his dream and even our lives may have been severely impacted. This

shows that it is better to not know the ending so that you are living more in the moment

and you are not living in fear. If you were to know about the future and what would

happen, it could lead you to stop pursuing your passions because you are too focused

on what could go wrong. The lyrics in the song, “I could have missed the pain, but I

would have missed the dance” represent this sentiment. What Garth Brooks is trying to

tell us through his lyrics is to not live in fear of what could happen, but to just live life

because, “Our lives are better left to chance” since this is when we are truly living and

enjoying our lives. Kelly expresses this same message as she is singing because to her

the lyrics meant having no regrets. She used this song to help her heal from her divorce

because it helped her realize that even though her divorce was hard and painful, she

wouldn’t have gone back and changed anything that had happened because it has

made her the person that she is today.

Another way in which Garth Brooks’s version of, ”The Dance,” and Kelly

Clarkson’s tribute to Brooks of, “The Dance,” are similar, is the way that both versions

use rhetorical appeals. In both versions of, “The Dance,” the type of rhetorical appeal

that is being used is pathos through the use of causing an emotional reaction with the

audience. Watching both videos of these artists sing this song, the audience is able to

feel the emotions of the singers by the way they portray themselves and through their

body language. While watching Garth Brooks perform his song on stage to a large

audience, you can see the emotions he feels as he is singing the lyrics. In Brooks’s

video, he is standing alone on stage with just himself and his guitar. There is little

background entertainment or visual theatrics. The simplicity of the visual effects lets the
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audience focus on the words and the meaning behind the song. In Kelly’s video, you are

able to see the emotion in her face as she sings Garth’s song to him. Throughout the

video, the camera goes back and forth from focusing on Kelly singing on stage, to Garth

Brooks in the audience watching Kelly perform his song. While Kelly Clarkson is

performing, the video shows Garth Brooks getting very emotional hearing his song

being sung. While Kelly is singing we are able to see how much Garth’s song has

impacted her and how the song is a reflection of her life as she went through a marriage

and divorce. The audience that these videos appeal to are people that are looking for

validation in doing something they want to do even though they may be faced with

obstacles. Although these videos share this same type of audience, Kelly’s version is

targeted more towards people in a relatoionships or going through a divorce. Garth’s

version is targeted more towards people who want to make a change in the world.

In conclusion, through Garth Brooks’s song, “The Dance,” and Kelly Clarkson’s

tribute of Garth’s, “The Dance,” we are able to see how each artist makes their own

claim. Even though the claims were different, they both shared a similar message

about living life to the fullest and having no regrets. They did this through the use of

rhetorical appeals and body language.

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Works Cited:

“Garth Brooks - The Dance.” Youtube, uploaded by Cindy Stoney, 30 March 2020, date

accessed 9 February 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FyouhVf20c

“Kelly Clarkson honors Garth Brooks with her rendition of The Dance | The 43rd

Kennedy Center Honors.” Youtube, uploaded by Max, 9 June 2021, date

accessed 9 February 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=HYakZZqgvaM