Burns and Watson, Subjective Perspectives

The Dixie Chicks were at the fore of the feminist movement in countrymusic, catalysts for change within a predominantly conservative andmale-dominated genre. They were defiant and rebellious, ‘dazzled

MSMI 4:1 Spring 10 3doi:10.3828/msmi.2010.1

The research for thispaper was funded bythe Social Sciences andHumanities ResearchCouncil of Canada,through a standardresearch grant (2007–10)with co-investigatorsLori Burns and MarcLafrance. A version ofthe paper was presentedat the annual conferenceof the Society for MusicTheory in Nashville inNovember 2008.

Subjective Perspectivesthrough Word, Imageand SoundTemporality, narrative agency andembodiment in the Dixie Chicks’ video‘Top of the World’

LORI BURNS AND JADA WATSON

The Dixie Chicks have claimed a prominent place in country musicvideo while at the same time confronting the normative values of thetraditional country music genre. Their 2003 collaboration with videodirector Sophie Muller set aside the sense of youthful liberationevident in their earlier videos, adopting more sophisticated editingtechniques to take a critical stance on serious social issues. The videofor ‘Top of the World’ addresses the cyclic generational effects ofdomestic abuse, using montage editing and image superimposition toconvey a complex multi-generational narrative structure. This paperanalyses the lyrics, images, and music of ‘Top of the World’, as they areintegrated into a video form that accommodates multiple subjectpositions in a narrative of domestic abuse. The gendered and subjec-tive perspectives of the story reveal both the origins and consequencesof abuse through three generations of one family. In the domain ofimages these perspectives are suggested through characterisation andaction, while in the domain of vocal and musical presentation the DixieChicks develop a musical ‘voice’ that accommodates a narrative ofmultiple agencies. In order to explore the ways in which words,images, and music are combined to communicate these, we draw uponthe scholarship of literary, music, and film theorists. The analysisfocuses on three interpretive perspectives: temporality, narrativeagency, and embodiment.

audiences with their instrumental virtuosity’ (Bufwack & Oermann 2003:473), resisted genre conventions and continually fought for fairtreatment and artistic freedom. This musical and professional stancegave voice to the movement for female empowerment within a genre thathad been firmly rooted in traditional values. The Dixie Chicks crackedopen and examined these traditions to reveal the potential for abuse thatcan hide under the cover of traditional institutions or family values. Thesong we analyse here offers such a critique, specifically on the theme offamily relations and domestic abuse. The ‘Top of the World’ video accom-modates multiple subject positions in a multi-generational narrative thatreveals both the origins and the consequences of the abuse. While in thedomain of images, these perspectives are suggested through characteri-sation and action, in the domain of vocal and instrumental presentation,the Dixie Chicks develop a number of musical strategies to accommodatea narrative of multiple agencies.

This paper begins with an examination of the contexts thatsurrounded the Dixie Chicks’ artistic interpretation of ‘Top of theWorld’, and then offers an analytic reading of the music video. The goalof the analysis is to explore the multiple subject perspectives that aredeveloped in the video across three distinct temporal periods and toreveal how the characters’ actions and motivations are advanced in anarrative that takes shape through the intersection of lyrics, imagesand music.

The Album ‘Home’

When the Dixie Chicks entered the studio in 2001 to record their thirdalbum, Home, they were in the middle of a contract dispute with Sony.The band had approached Sony regarding accounting procedures,claiming that Sony had withheld at least 4.1 million dollars in unpaidroyalties on their two previous albums (Wide Open Spaces 1998, Fly 1999).After a long legal battle, the Dixie Chicks settled with Sony in private andwere awarded their own label imprint, Open Wide, with Sony stillholding responsibility for marketing and distribution of their albums(Hollywood Upclose.com 2008).

Believing they no longer had a label to answer to when they enteredthe studio, the Dixie Chicks experienced their first taste of artisticfreedom. At the same time, they were unsure of the future for therecording project. Natalie Maines stated:

Thank God we didn’t have a label at the time, because we would havesecond-thought the first single, second-thought the length of the songs,

4 4:1 Spring 10 MSMI

Subjective Perspectives in the Dixie Chicks’ ‘Top of the World’

second-thought there being no drums. We never once questionedourselves, ever – because we never thought it was going to get played onradio. We didn’t even think it was going to be sold in retail stores.

(Willman 2005: 22)1

The result of this studio time was an acoustic record that drew on manymusical influences, from folk-inspired bluegrass lyrics to finger pickingand fiddle riffs to classical orchestration, proving, once again, theirinstrumental virtuosity as well as their musical diversity. The Dixie Chicksalso took an active role in the production of this album, co-producingHome with Natalie Maines’ father Lloyd Maines (Dixie Chicks 2002b).The album, recorded in Austin and released on 27 August 2002, was thefirst to be issued on their Sony imprint Open Wide, and distributed byMonument Records (Thompson 2002). It peaked at number 1 on boththe Billboard 200 and Top Country Albums charts in 2002, and certifiedplatinum and two times multi-platinum within one month of its release.2

Despite their instant success with Home, the Dixie Chicks dropped offthe charts by the end of March 2003 after Maines made an anti-Bushstatement from the concert stage on the first leg of their ‘Top of theWorld’ tour in London, England.3 The same week that Maines made thiscomment, Home had been certified at six times multi-platinum on theRIAA chart and has, to this day, not exceeded this certification (a signifi-cant drop from both Wide Open Spaces and Fly’s certifications, which sold12 and 10 million respectively).4 Their hit single ‘Travelin’ Soldier’ disap-peared from country charts and all subsequent singles failed to chart.Country music radio boycotted their music, former fans protested attheir concerts, CDs and memorabilia were destroyed at ‘anti-Chicks’rallies, Robison’s ranch was vandalised, Maines received a death threat,and metal detectors and bomb-sniffing dogs were brought into someAmerican concert venues (Dixie Chicks 2006).

Home marks a significant change not only in musical sound and style,but also in lyrical content. With this album, the Dixie Chicks tackle a widerange of themes including coming of age (‘Landslide’), the commerciali-sation of country music (‘Long Time Gone’), domestic abuse (‘Top of theWorld’), wartime heartache (‘Travelin’ Soldier’), and freedom of speech(‘Truth No. 2’). Each of these songs explores a challenge within a socialstructure that is traditionally bound to and inscribed with powerrelations that constrain women. The Dixie Chicks mobilise and deploythese themes in order to forge new conceptions of the social structuresthat give voice to female experience.

The theme that pervades this album, however, is one suggested by thetitle: Home. Themes of family and motherhood emerge as central to the

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1 Ironically, the trio’spremonition came trueseven months after thealbum’s release: itssingles were indeed notplayed on country radiofollowing the nowinfamous anti-Bushstatement in March2003.

2 Statistics found onthe Recording IndustryAssociation of American(RIAA) website. Homestatistics:www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH_RESULTS3 We examine theeffects of this anti-Bushstatement in anotherpaper (Watson & Burns,forthcoming), andanalyse the song that wasreleased in response tothis incident and theconsequences that theDixie Chicks experi-enced in their careerand personal lives.4 In a recent interview,Lloyd Maines states thatHome has sold over sevenmillion albums, but theRIAA certification charthas not documented anew level of certifica-tion and the DixieChicks website(www.dixiechicks.com)has not indicated achange either.

albums’ songs and music videos. These themes were fitting for the trio atthis time in their personal lives; in the time between their second andthird albums, each member had been married, Maines had given birth toher first child (Jackson Slade), and Robison was expecting her first child(Charles Augustus).5 The Dixie Chicks wrote a raucous hoedown called‘White Trash Wedding’ for the album, satirising Maguire’s 2001 weddingto Irish actor Gareth Maguire.6 Family and home are foundationalthemes in Darrell Scott’s ‘Long Time Gone’, and the new mother Mainesmust have felt a connection to Radney Foster’s touching lullaby in‘Godspeed (Sweet Dreams)’. The album also featured an instrumentalbluegrass breakdown named after Maines’ son, ‘Lil’ Jack Slade’. Inaddition to the video for ‘Top of the World’, motherhood is stronglyrepresented in the Dixie Chicks’ video for ‘Landslide’, featuring Robisonaffectionately caressing her pregnant belly.

The song that we study here, ‘Top of the World,’ was written by PattyGriffin for her unreleased Silver Bell album. Griffin opened for the DixieChicks on their 1999 Fly Tour, and shared her unreleased tracks with thetrio, who then recorded ‘Top of the World’ for the Home album.7 Itexplores the serious issue of domestic abuse, contributing in a uniqueway to the social messaging of the trio’s album. Griffin’s lyrics are writtenfrom the perspective of a man who is reflecting on his life, and feelingregret for his emotional distance from his wife and daughter. In hisassessment of the album, country music journalist Chris Willman wroteof this track that it ‘could send a chill down even a seasoned spine afterrepeat listens’ (2005: 23).

The group drew on a combination of traditional country-bluegrassfinger picking and classical instrumentation to tell this story. The instru-mental texture features Robison finger-picking her Papoose guitar in theintroduction and climax, and Maguire’s soaring violin solo in the finalinstrumental section. The Dixie Chicks were awarded a 2005 Grammyfor ‘best country performance by a duo or group with vocal’ for ‘Top ofthe World’.

The ‘Top of the World’ Video

To address the challenging social theme of domestic abuse, the DixieChicks enlisted music video director Sophie Muller (Dixie Chicks 2003).She later directed a second video for the trio, ‘Not Ready to Make Nice’.In a VH1 spotlight special, Robison revealed that they asked Mullerbecause they were influenced by her previous work: ‘We’ve been fans ofSophie’s for a long time, through her work with No Doubt. Also the Pinkvideo she just did [‘Family Portrait’] is incredible’ (VH1 2003). The video



5 Robison marriedsinger-songwriterCharlie Robison in 1999,Maines married actorAdrian Pasdar in 2000,and Maguire marriedIrish actor GarethMaguire in 2001.6 In interview Maguiresaid that her then fiancéhad to play blackjack inLas Vegas to make themoney to buy herengagement ring, andthat the priest at thelocal Catholic church inAustin, Texas said thatshe was a heathen andcould not be married inhis church, as this washer second marriage(Dixie Chicks 2002a).These two eventsprovided the song’sopening lines andrefrain: ‘you can’t affordno ring… I shouldn’t bewearing white and youcan’t afford no ring’.7 The Dixie Chicks alsorecorded ‘Truth’ fromSilver Bell, renamed as‘Truth No. 2’; it becametheir anthem for freespeech after the politicalbacklash. Griffin hassince released recordingsof these songs on her2004 album ImpossibleDream.

was premiered on VH1 on 22 September 2003. While the lyrics of ‘Top of the World’ express a male narrator’s feelings

of regret for his actions as a negligent father and husband, the DixieChicks use the visual medium to show a multi-generational narrative thatincludes his mother, his wife and daughter, and then his granddaughter.In a distant past, Emily Robison plays the young boy’s mother (a cold,emotionally and physically abusive woman). In a more recent past,Martie Maguire plays the man’s wife (kind-hearted, sensitive andforgiving), and Natalie Maines plays his daughter in a present-daynarrative. The broadened narrative reveals that the male subject hadsuffered neglect and abuse from his mother, which he then repeats withhis own wife and daughter. The daughter’s perspective emerges ascrucial to the message of the song, as she is the one who must moveforward from the cycle of abuse and guard her own daughter fromperpetuating it. Her mother’s voice also emerges as one that contributedto positive change in the culture of this family. The source of the abuse isidentified as the mother of the male subject; consequently his regret isunderstood to be deeply rooted not only in how he treated his family, butalso in how he was himself treated. The video thus examines the cycle ofabuse, extending the theme so that we understand its origins and conse-quences. The expansion of the narrative to include multiple agentsallows these perspectives to be revealed.

Although family and home are common lyrical themes in countrymusic, the theme of domestic abuse (whether physical or emotional) isone that many female artists have been reluctant to address. MartinaMcBride made significant strides when she released ‘Independence Day’(1994) and ‘Broken Wing’ (1997). In both of these songs, the femalecharacter escapes an oppressive relationship; the heroine of‘Independence Day’ burns down the family home to escape her marriageto an alcoholic wife beater, and ‘Broken Wing’ tells the story of a womanwho escapes an oppressive relationship by climbing out of her bedroomwindow.8 Radio programmers, according to Keel, ‘initially resistedplaying “Independence Day” because the song depicted a murderousresponse to an abusive husband’ (2004: 176).9 Since McBride’s contribu-tion, other women have addressed domestic abuse through their music.Mary Chapin Carpenter sang about a dysfunctional family situation in‘House of Cards’ (1994), while more recently Jessica Andrews proclaimed‘There’s More to Me than You’ (2003), in which she leaves her emotion-ally abusive and controlling partner. Kellie Pickler told her story of childabandonment in a personal message to her mother in ‘I Wonder’ (2006),and Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson explored the fate of a womanwho remains with her abusive husband in ‘Because of You’ (2007).10 Like



8 Interestingly, theconclusion of the‘Broken Wing’ videoleaves the audiencewondering if the leadfemale escapes herhusband or commitssuicide, as we do notactually see her fateafter climbing out ofthe window.9 This information wasrevealed when Keelconducted a survey offifteen radio stationsregarding country musiclyrics; ironically, shepoints out that thesesame radio program-mers had no issues withplaying Garth Brooks’hit ‘Papa Loved Mama’,a song in which ahusband kills hischeating wife.10 Clarkson originallywrote ‘Because of You’about her childhood,complementing the lyricswith a video treatmentthat revealed howcertain domestic situa-tions are passedthrough generations.

McBride, the Dixie Chicks also ruffled feathers of radio programmerswith their 1999 hit ‘Goodbye Earl’, using black comedy and musicalparody to tell a story of two friends who murder an abusive husband byfeeding him poisoned black-eyed peas. ‘Goodbye Earl’ was removedfrom many radio playlists. Lon Helton of Radio & Records said 20 of the149 reporting radio stations banned the song outright (Keel 2004: 177).In ‘Top of the World’, the Dixie Chicks chose a more serious musical andvideo setting, but ultimately present an outcome for the characters thatis positive and forward-looking.

The casting of the artists as characters in the storyline is worthy ofattention, especially in connection with the musical performance of thesong. In both ‘Independence Day’ and ‘Broken Wing’, Martina McBrideparticipates as a narrator outside the story’s action, as does Mary ChapinCarpenter in ‘House of Cards’.11 In these examples, the singers are seento be singing, thus delivering a narrator’s commentary. Similarly, in‘Goodbye Earl’, the Dixie Chicks are story narrators or commentators,and the video is cast with two female actresses who stand up to andmurder Earl. In ‘Top of the World,’ the Dixie Chicks do not feature asobjective narrator or storyteller; the narration comes to us from beyondthe grave through a disembodied subject who communicates his storythrough the voice of his daughter as we observe memories from threestages of his life. As an important strategy for communicating themultiple subjective perspectives of this story, and for incorporating themusic within the story, Muller and the Dixie Chicks integrate musicperformance (singing and playing) into the storyline, adding emphasis toactions and situating the musical expression within the subjective agencyof the story.

Intersections of Lyrics, Images, Music

The events and actions in a given timeline are shown to have conse-quences for the subjective agents in the narrative. It unfolds through thedynamic shaping of images, lyrics and music to accommodate themultiple subject positions, to underscore dramatic events, and to effectthe narrative of conflict and resolution. The analytic tools that we will useinclude the mapping of events in the temporal narrative of each domain(images, words, music), the charting of character perspectives within themontage editing style, and the analysis of diegetic sound function. Theresults from this approach serve as a foundation for the interpretation ofthe musical gestures (events articulated in time) in relation to image editsand lyric presentation.



11 In ‘IndependenceDay’ McBride tells her(fictitious) mother’s story.In the video, then,McBride acts asnarrator of a story thatshe was part of in heryouth.

Temporal Narratives

Country music lyrics often draw upon a chronological narrativestructure. Jocelyn Neal (2007) refers to this as the time-shift narrativeparadigm, a structure that allows for the chronological unfolding of astoryline that occurs over a defined period of time (a day, a week, a year,a life, or even multiple generations). Although not unique to countrymusic, this narrative structure is common in country music lyrics. Thelyrics for ‘Top of the World’ do not explicitly reveal a chronologicallyunfolding storyline, but the passing of time is implicit in the verb tensesused: our subject is reflecting on his past from a present-day stance.12

The verses reflect his regret for past actions, while the chorus suggeststhat these actions will have an effect on the future.

The video transcends the timeline of the original lyrics in a number ofways. It elaborates details of the past that the subject regrets, not onlyfrom the time when he was neglectful of his family, but further back,when he was abused by his mother. It also looks to the future, expandingthe notion of the chorus lyric, ‘She’s never going to fly to the top of theworld right now’. This concept of hopelessness is supplanted by a morepositive view: the video not only takes the negative images and showstheir consequences, but also reveals positive elements from the past,leading towards a healthy future.13

Montage and Narrative Form

In referring to this video as a narrative, it is important to define what wemean by that term. David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson definenarrative form as ‘A type of filmic organization in which the parts relate toone another through a series of causally related events taking place intime and space’ (1996: 480). In her study of music videos, Carol Vernallisdraws on Aristotle’s definition of narrative in order to discuss narrativestructures in music video: ‘narrative occurs when characters with definedpersonality traits, goals, and a sense of agency encounter obstacles andare changed by them’ (2004: 117). These definitions capture effectivelythe features of narrative that we observe in ‘Top of the World’, wherestrongly defined characters from three distinct temporal periods are seenin domestic actions that have both immediate short-term consequenceson family members and longer-term generational consequences. Theeffect of action and consequence across a generational path is conveyedthrough careful editing techniques, featuring the fragmentation andrepetition of images, as well as the juxtaposition and superposition ofimages from different temporal periods. The montage editing technique



12 The lyrics can beaccessed on the DixieChicks Henhousewebsite,http://chickoholic.tripod.com/DixieChicks/id49.html.

13 The video can beaccessed atwww.youtube.com/watch?v=yrNkuQUhh3A. It is important inrelation to this analysisto be familiar with thedistinctive editing styleand narrative layers.

is a significant vehicle for the successful communication of the socialmessage (the cycle of domestic abuse through actions that are passed onfrom generation to generation).

Montage editing originated in the 1920s with Soviet directors LevKuleshov and Sergei Eisenstein (see Eisenstein 1991). These filmdirectors believed that editing ‘could actually create meaning in situa-tions where the shots could not themselves provide one’ (Vernallis 2007:130). For these directors, meanings were derived from the juxtapositionof two or more images with both close and distant relation; these pairedshots could convey new and even multiple meanings. In ‘Top of theWorld’, montage-style editing allows for movement between parallelstory lines, between the narrator and the story, and even between thehistorical past and immediate present.

The length of shot (the number of frames that present an image) isalso crucial; the visual rhythm created by varying lengths of shots canwork both with and against the musical rhythm and can underscoresignificant events as well as underlying meanings and emotions.

In ‘Top of the World’, director Muller draws on techniques ofmontage-style editing to relay the multi-generational story behind thelyrics. Her treatment of the video establishes three narrative layers, eachtelling the story of one generation from this family’s history. She cutsfrom one timeline to another at a fast editing pace, revealing events fromone timeline in immediate juxtaposition with events in an earlier or laterone. This technique allows the audience to understand the relationshipsbetween and among the characters, and the personality traits and char-acteristics that are transferred from generation to generation. Theaudience observes the short- and long-term consequences to the charac-ters’ actions. Muller draws on two styles of image cutting to reveal themulti-generational relationships, using a combination of ‘clean’ and‘overlapping’ montage images.

When making a clean cut from one image to the next, Muller brings intorelief the parallel events in the temporally distinct storylines. For example,in the first chorus, Muller cuts between two dinner scenes in the family’shistory to show how certain actions become engrained as habits: themother does not eat dinner with her son, and when he grows up he doesnot eat dinner with his family. Other domestic actions that carry throughfrom one timeline to another include a parent in bed, pretending to sleepin order to reject the family, a child colouring and sharing the work withthe parent, and the women making tea. To illustrate the effect of themontage editing, Figure 1 reproduces several stills from the end of the firstverse and the beginning of the chorus, showing the time marker for eachstill and identifying the context of the scene in the narrative timeline.



Muller uses the technique of overlapping or superimposing images tocreate a memory ‘flash’ effect. For the duration of two or three frames(approximately one tenth of a second) two images are superimposed.However, in real time observation the audience does not fully realise thatthe two images are superimposed. The resulting effect gives the impres-sion of a memory flash, as if the character is seeing the image in his orher mind’s eye. This is illustrated in Figure 2 (page 12), where the father,in the present, looks back to his own childhood. The stills here show theoriginal image, the superimposition, and the emerging image.14

Through these montage techniques, Muller juxtaposes images toreveal not only the multi-generational history of abuse in this family, butalso parallels between the generations, and how ultimately one personcan break the cycle.

Another editing technique that Muller deploys to great effect in this



14 Timings are listed inthe following format:1:20.40. Timecodes (thereference to the videoframes) are listed in theformat 1:20 (12) or1:20.40 (12). The 12indicates that it is the13th frame that happenswithin that second(counting from 0 to 29in the 30 frames-per-second format). The12th frame coincideswith the timing mark1:20.4.

Figure 1 Montage of dinner scene

0:43 (21)PresentDaughter feeding father

0:43 (22)Past 2Daughter at kitchen table

0:49 (20)Past 2Image zooms to family

0:49 (21)Past 1Son at table

video is the superimposition of bodies within the same background settingand physical space. The merged images of the daughter and fatherrepresent the internal struggle that each experiences in relation to theother: the father struggles to forgive himself for the past, and the daughterstruggles to forgive him so that she can break the cycle of abuse. Figure 3reproduces a still from a sequence that features the merged bodies.



Figure 2 Superimposition of images

0:06 (23) 0:06 (24)

Figure 3 Merging of father and daughter’s bodies

1:31 (17)

0:06 (27)

The setting in which this struggle takes place is visually significant.The green armchair is a common link from generation to generation, asthe chair the mother occupies when she punishes her son, the chair theadult man occupies when he neglects his own family, the chair heoccupies when he is ageing and needing assistance from his growndaughter, but also the chair that sometimes receives a parent and child infamily interaction. It is a site in which emotionally abusive actions occurin the past, and where they are corrected in the present.

Diegetic performance as narrative function

The ‘Top of the World’ video incorporates musical performance into thestoryline, but does not feature the artists as performing musicians outsidethe story. Vernallis observes that ‘most [music videos] tend to be non-narrative’ and ‘the small percentage of videos that do tell stories do so byspecific means that must be placed in context with techniques drawnfrom other, particularly musical and visual, realms’ (2007: 113). In ‘Topof the World’, Natalie Maines sings and Martie Maguire plays her violin,but these musical activities are built into the narrative and have diegeticfunctions within that narrative.

The first use of diegetic singing is at a dramatic moment in the film,when the daughter’s body is superimposed or ‘merged’ with her father’sin the chair. The merged bodies sing the lyrics of verse 2 and part of thechorus. Verse 2 is the moment in the lyrics when the subject reveals hispast behaviour: ‘I don’t have to answer any of these questions …’ As theselyrics are enacted, the daughter sits in her father’s chair and appropriateshis voice. As she sings the word ‘answer’, the image of her father’s bodymerges with hers. The diegetic function of the sound is amplified by theimage of the merged bodies, each appearing to sing the lyrics, presentingthe perspective on the past and struggling with that experience.

As the daughter presents her father’s experience through the vehicle ofher own voice, the expression is inflected with a dialogic function. MikhailBakhtin’s conception of dialogic discourse is particularly pertinent here,as the daughter’s process of coming to terms with her father’s influence isapparent in her exploration of his words. In addressing the power ofanother’s influence upon a subject, Bakhtin explains,

The importance of struggling with another’s discourse, its influence in thehistory of an individual’s coming to ideological consciousness, is enormous.One’s own discourse and one’s own voice, although born of another ordynamically stimulated by another, will sooner or later begin to liberatethemselves from the authority of the other’s discourse.

(1981: 348)



The path toward liberation that Bakhtin describes is enacted in thenarrative of this video. The use of diegetic singing at this point enhancesthe struggle of the subjects. Natalie Maines adjusts her vocal quality toeffect a ‘male’ voice, and the musical gestures are modified to support theeffect that this is his voice, through her body. The act of singing, the actof voicing his thoughts, is then seen to lead the character into someunderstanding and resolve.

The next step in the process of resolution occurs in verse 3, when thedaughter sits next to the now empty chair – her father has passed away –and struggles with her effort to understand and move forward. The linesshe sings are significant, as they express the father’s recognition that hewas unable to be open and generous with his family: ‘I wish I’d shownyou’. As the daughter sings these lines (and again we take note of thediegetic function of the singing), they resonate not only as his regret, butalso as hers. The dialogic function also continues here: she is the vehiclefor his expression, so it is his language that she speaks, but at the sametime she is giving voice to her own experience. She wishes she had knownhim better – it is not only he who feels regret. She begins to seize the expe-rience and appropriate his responsibility. Similarly, in the chorus, thebeginning of the modified line ‘’Cause everyone’s singing’ is presented asdiegetic and dialogic: the collective voice here assumes responsibility,claims ownership of the past and points to forward resolution.

The remaining case of diegetic and dialogic singing takes place in thefinal chorus breakdown. This section of the text is visually presentedonce again as a merging of bodies, but this time it is of the four bodiesthat are key to the generational story: the father and the daughter, butalso his mother and his wife. As we see these merged bodies singing theline ‘To the top of the world’ we witness the struggle of the four charac-ters who have participated in the conflict. The daughter’s presentation ofthis line illustrates her final coming to terms with the conflictingemotions and memories of her family’s history. Maines’ voice is ethereal,distant – an effect achieved through an increased level of reverberation.

There is one additional use of performance as diegetic sound in thisvideo – again, a significant moment in the narrative. During the instru-mental section that follows the final chorus, the images feature all threewomen individually making tea: a purposeful series of images showingthe mother in her self-absorbed actions, the wife making tea but alsotaking time out to teach her daughter the violin, and the grown daughterremembering this moment with fondness and a sense of resolve toemulate the kind actions of her mother rather than the coldness of hergrandmother. During the violin lesson, Martie Maguire’s violin solo isheard, with moments of carefully crafted diegetic sound in relation to the



images. The voice of the gentle mother emerges in a way that transcendsthe limitations of the lyrics and the constraints of the father’s regret.

Temporal Narratives: Mapping Song Form andContent

Diagram 1 (overleaf, pages 16–17) charts the form of the song and itscontent in the domains of images, lyrics, and music. The top part of thediagram charts the relative dynamic amplitude from the beginning to theend of the song, with amplitude on the vertical axis and linear time onthe horizontal axis.15 The events in the amplitude graph are aligned withthe section markers in the form chart below it. This summarises activityin the individual domains (visual, lyrical, musical), in a format that allowsthe interpreter to explore notable points of intersection between andamong these domains.

Over the course of the song, dynamic intensity is used as a strategy offormal development. The amplitude diagram reveals how the songbuilds from a low level of intensity through verse 1 to the middle of thechorus, where an increase in amplitude is followed by a fade-out tosilence. This occurs at the close of the phrase ‘disappearing every daywithout so much as a word somehow’. (Above the amplitude graph,arrows indicate when the words ‘somehow’ and ‘now’ occur.) The soundresumes at a higher dynamic level than the opening, and builds to thefinal word of the phrase ‘she’s never going to fly to the top of the worldright now’. At the goal of this phrase, the amplitude does not fall back,but pushes through verse 2 until it reaches a new peak of intensity inchorus 2 at the climax (‘somehow’), and subsequently an even greaterlevel of intensity at the close of chorus 2 (‘now’). Verse 3 brings us backto the low dynamic level of the opening, but builds to a yet higher levelof dynamic intensity in chorus 3. The final section of the song, the instru-mental section and chorus breakdown, builds from a very low level to amaximum range of amplitude that is sustained over an extended periodbefore fading away at the end of the song.

The mapping of events in the lower part of Diagram 1 allows thereader to interpret the meanings that result from the coordination oflyrics, images, and music. On the following two pages (18–19), based onthe formal presentation of the chart, is a summary of the notable pointsof intersection between and among the events in lyrics, images, andmusic. This analysis follows the order of events, and brings together thesalient narrative features.



15 This chart is extractedfrom music-editingsoftware, PEAK LE 6.



Diagram 1 Amplitude, form, and narrative content in visual, lyrical and musical domains‘somehow’

Amplitude(stereo channels)

Time (minutes)

Visual narrative

Lyrical narrative

Musical narrative

‘now’

0 1 2

‘somehow’‘now’

Verse 100:00

Chorus 10:44.5

Verse 21:20.1

Chorus 22:02.8

Present: father in chair,daughter feeding him.Past 1: son ignored bymotherPast 2: husband in chair,ignoring his wife

Present: daughterfeeding her fatherPast 1: mother servingson at the table andwalking away Past 2: husband, wifeand daughter atdinner table; fatherleaves to eat in chair

Present: merged bodiesof father with daughter Past 1: son in chair,mother at her vanityPast 2: wife sits alone onher bed

Present: daughterdiscovers that fatherhas passed away Past 1: son drawing;mother lying in bedPast 2: father rejectsyoung daughter’sdrawing

Present: Subject feelsregret for past, describeshow he felt using pasttense. He expresses regretfor choices in relationships.Time has run out (‘it won’thappen now’)

Present: Subjectreflects on conse-quences for hisactions. He feelsregret for preventinghap piness in another(‘songbird’) overwhom he had power(‘I broke the wings’)

Past: Subject now situatedin past, to reveal thebehaviours/ feelings thathe later regrets. Hisexpressions demonstrateinability to relate, refusalto participate in family

Present: (as inprevious chorus)

Voice low register; richand thick, clear, forwardElectric bass (fretless)tenor range in counter-point with voice; round,fluid, centredAcoustic guitar onmelodic pattern that turnsinto continuous arpeggia-tion (R)Papoose quiet strummedchords (L)

E majorI – V – vi – IVI – V – vi – IV – I - V

Generally a smooth, silkysound, reverb on voiceand instruments; counter-point balanced in stereo]

Voice higher range,intensified rhythmicactivity, climb to highsustained G♯(‘somehow’) Papoose andacoustic guitarstrummed chords andarpeggiated patterns;second guitar enterswith chords. Electric bass morerhythmic and percus-sive.Back-up vocals enteron ‘never going to fly’and sing a 3rd abovethe primary vocal

E majorIV – V – vi – IV – Irepeat

Voice heavy dark quality;melodic phrase isdelivered in syncopatedrhythms; use of chestvoice and more pushedeffectBack-up vocals enter forcertain lines, split L andR, filling space aroundvocal

Cessation of contrapuntalimitation between vocalmelody and electric bass.Harmonic presentation ismore ‘square’ and direct

The build-up to thehigh G♯ occurs againat 2:13.5, andrepeated at 2:29.2,holding for 4seconds, and thenfading to silence



3 4 5 6

‘somehow’‘now’

Verse 32:38.37

Chorus 33:21.8

Instrumental Break3:53.04

Chorus Breakdown4:33.5

Present: daughter sits ontable next to chairPast 1: son colouring;mother pretends to sleepand ignores son’s affectionPast 2: daughter drawing;father pretends to sleepand ignores his wife’saffection (as youngdaughter watches on)

Present: daughterreflecting, sittingon coffee tablePast 1: sonbrushes hismother’s hair,mother pusheshim away andgoes to make teaPast 2: youngdaughter combsher father’s hair

Present: daughterprepares tea in kitchen ofher parent’s home, useswhite teapotPast 1: mother makes teain white teapotPast 2: wife makes tea,teaches young daughterhow to play violin

Present: merged bodies of the man, his daughter, hismother, and wife

Sequence of children running: daughter bends downwith open arms, followed by flashes of young daughter,the son and finally daughter’s own daughter runningforward to be embraced

Breakdown of images/actions from previous points ofthe video as daughter colours with her daughter, sits inthe chair with her daughter, and plays peek-a-boo inbed with her daughter

Present: Subject feelsregret for inability tocommunicate true natureto loved ones (‘I wish I’dshown you’), and recog-nises that past behaviourled to distance from family

Present: collectivesubjectivity (‘’Causeeveryone’s singing’)signifies multiplesubjects.Prepared-ness to expressfeelings and tocorrect past (‘Takeher for a ride tothe top of theworld right now’)

Contrapuntal relationshipbetween voice and bassresumesBack-up vocals on certainlines, a third higher tobegin, but at line 7, theharmony fills out tobecome 3-part vocalharmony, including theprimary vocal

High G♯ reachedat 3:31.7; then at3:47.5 it issustained for fourseconds and thenfades to silence

Begins with quiet acousticguitars in simple arpeg-giated chordal patternsStrings enter and arerounded, but still individ-ualized; dark qualitySolo violin line in coun-terpoint with electric bassand solo celloPattern of steady chordalattacks on each beatbegins at 4:13.9.

Harmony: oscillationbetween C♯7 and A major

C♯ as pedal

Violin 2 enters in counterpoint with first violin at 4:36as violin moves into a high descant melodic pattern

Vocal ‘oh’ introduces the breakdown sequence;repeated statements of ‘to the top of the world’ havegreater depth and distance due to heavier reverb andslightly non-centred placement of the voice (more tothe R); ethereal quality; holds the final E from 5:02 to5:12

All instruments active in this section. The acousticguitars stop the gentle arpeggiated pattern that wasestablished at the beginning of the instrumentalsection, and now participate in the rhythmic chordalattacks

Cello takes a prominent line at 5:17 in counterpointwith the high descant violin 1 and the mid-rangeviolin 2

Summary of narrative combining lyrics, images and music

Verse 1: as the lyrics express the subject’s regret, the images feature thefather’s reflection on the past as well as his present experience of beingcared for by his daughter. The voice is low, rich and very present, and issupported by a quiet contrapuntal texture, with the fretless electric bassfollowing from the vocal phrases with melodic gestures that resolve disso-nance.

Chorus 1: the subject feels regret that he cut off the happiness of a little‘songbird’, while the image that appears for this lyric is that of the youngdaughter, at the table with her mother and father; the father leaves thetable to eat in his chair. In the Present timeline, the daughter is feedingher father, and in Past 1, the mother is serving her son, but leaving himto eat alone. The juxtaposition of these images suggests the causal linkbetween actions in the past and present. Musically, the voice moves to ahigher range in the chorus, climaxing in a higher register, followed by afade to silence. As the voice leads into the higher register, the electric bassbecomes more rhythmic and percussive, and back-up vocals enter for thelast line of the chorus (‘take her for a ride to the top of the world rightnow’).

Verse 2: the bodies of the grown daughter and the father are merged torepresent the struggle that each is experiencing. Here the lyrics take usback to the past, where the subject illustrates the behaviours and beliefsthat he later regrets. The musical setting features a darker vocal quality,as the daughter envoices her father’s experience; the contrapuntalimitation between voice and bass ceases, and is replaced by a squareharmonic function for the bass. There are two significant interpretivefunctions to this section: 1) the dialogic function of the daughterpresenting her father’s language; 2) the diegetic function of the musicalpresentation as the merged bodies sing, giving voice to the experience.

Chorus 2: the daughter discovers her father has passed away. Themerged bodies of father and daughter return to present the text ‘There’sa whole lot of singing that’s never gonna be heard, disappearing everyday without so much as a word’. The children are seen being punishedduring the text ‘think I broke the wings off that little songbird / she’snever gonna fly to the top of the world right now’. Following the climacticcadence, there are several seconds of silence.



Verse 3: the daughter is seen in a serious moment of reflection; thedialogic and diegetic functions continue. The recognition that takes placein the text ‘I wish I’d shown you’ follows his passing – her active singingof this line signifies that she is recognising his experience, envoicing hisexperience. The contrapuntal texture returns, the back-up vocalsincrease in harmonic activity.

Chorus 3: the chorus lyrics now reveal a collective subjectivity throughthe modified text ‘everyone’s singing’. In the images, the daughtercontinues her reflection; the children are seen showing affection(brushing their parents’ hair). The second half of the chorus lyricsdemonstrate the active desire to change: ‘wanna grab a hold of that littlesongbird’. This section is no longer diegetic – the voice is heard over theimages of the daughter, the mother, and the wife in solitary reflection.The modification of the lyrics and the visual focus on the three womenmark this moment in the song as the beginning of the conflict resolution.

Instrumental Bridge: the daughter in the Present, the subject’s motherin Past 1, and his wife in Past 2 are all featured making tea in the kitchen.Against these simple actions, the music offers a major affective shift, andbecomes a powerful force in the overall video expression. There is a shiftin harmonic emphasis from E major progressions involving I, IV, V andvi, to a static harmonic emphasis on C♯7 and A9, with a C♯ pedal. Thetexture begins quietly with acoustic guitars, but builds to include a fullstring sound. A solo violin is incorporated into the images as a diegeticsound. The texture develops contrapuntally with the addition of bassand cello. A striking pattern of steady chordal attacks on each beat beginsat 4:13, and drives the momentum for the rest of the song.

Chorus breakdown: the video focuses on the mother, wife, daughter andfather in a remarkable superimposition of all four bodies in the chair,singing the chorus line ‘to the top of the world’ in repetition (in diegeticpresentation). The image of the merged bodies is juxtaposed with imagesof the children from the different temporal periods running towards anembrace. The embrace is realised in the Present, with the daughterembracing her own daughter. Maines’ voice has an ethereal quality dueto the increased reverb effect, creating a sense of greater depth anddistance. A second violin enters in counterpoint with the first, whichmoves into a high descant melody. The complexity of the musical texturecomplements an increased rate of image montage.



Diagram 2, opposite, offers a further reduction of the narrativecontent presented in Diagram 1. It outlines the principal features of bothcontent and form, in simple descriptive statements that facilitate theinterpretation of the narrative.

A discussion of the different subject perspectives follows on page 22.



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Subjective Perspectives in the Dixie C

hicks’ ‘Top of the World’

Diagram 2 Reduction of narrative content

Music

Lyrics

Images

Verse 100:00

Chorus0:44.5

Verse 21:20.1

Chorus2:02.8

Verse 32:38.37

Chorus3:21.8

Instrumental 3:53.04

Chorusbreakdown4:33.5

FatherDaughter

Familyneglected

Father Daughter

Childrenrejected(dinner)

Merged bodies

Dialogic

Merged bodies

Childrenpunished

Dialogic

Daughter

Children rejected(drawing/sleeping)

Dialogic

Daughter

Children (hair)

Women reflect

Women (tea,violin)

Merged bodies(4)

Children(embrace)

Dialogic

Subject’s regret Cause andeffect

‘broke the wings... never fly’

Past behaviour

‘I don’t have toanswer’

Diegetic

Cause andeffect

‘broke wings…never fly’

Diegetic

Recognition

‘I wish I’d shownyou’

Diegetic

Collective

‘everyone’ssinging’

Prepared‘wanna grab ahold’

Mystical

Diegetic

Dark voicefretless bass

contrapuntalsparse

Higher voice

directional

Heavy voiceback-up vocals

homophonic

Higher voice

directional

Gentle voicerich back-upvocals

counterpointresumes

back-up vocals(1st half)

Acoustic guitarssolo violin

StringcounterpointRhythmicchordal attacks

Ethereal voicefull string texture

active,contrapuntal

Charting Subject Perspectives

We are particularly interested in the subject perspectives that emergethrough the montage editing of images from the three temporalperiods. In a given temporal period, the perspective can shift betweenthe father and his daughter and granddaughter (Present), the husbandand his wife (Past 2), or the son and his mother (Past 1). Diagram 3(starting overleaf on pages 24–25 and continuing onto 26–27) charts theduration of each edited shot within the three temporal narratives andindicates the character whose perspective is featured. Timings (inseconds) run along the top of each line. The diagram reveals the fastrate of editing in this video, with many shots lasting for less than onesecond. The solid cells indicate the male character throughout, andstriped cells indicate the female characters in each timeline. The arrowsbelow the chart mark the superimposed images. To illustrate how thechart can be read, we will describe briefly the first six seconds of thevideo and how it is represented diagrammatically.

The video begins with the elderly father in his chair. His perspective isrepresented by the solid grey cell running from 0:00 (0) to 0:03.5 (15).There is no interruption to this shot, so the grey block runs without abreak. The next scene shows the man as a baby, crying alone on a bed,followed by a shot of him as a young boy. These images of the boy (solidblack cells) last until 0:04 (20), at which point there is an edit and themother appears as the primary image (black striped cells). At timecode0:06 (09) the image of the father returns, indicated by the solid grey cellsin the top line of the chart. At 0:06 (24–26), the image of his face is super-imposed with the image of himself as a boy. The arrow indicates thatthere is a superimposition of images at this point. The solid black cell thatrepresents the perspective of the young boy begins when the superim-position of frames gives way to the single image of the boy at 0:06 (27).

A number of interpretive results can be brought forward using thismethod of charting the images according to character perspectives. Wecan consider the emphasis that is given to the temporal narrative withina section of the song. For instance, in verse 1, the Present is predominantfrom the beginning through to the end of the verse. Flashbacks occur tothe distant Past 1 at the very opening of the verse and then once againtowards the end. A flashback to the more immediate Past 2 occurs from00:12 to 00:22 (the medium grey cells), though this is interrupted twicewith brief shots of the father’s face in the Present, at 0:17 (00) and thenat 0:20 (12).

We can also consider shifts in subject perspectives. As verse 1continues, the daughter’s perspective emerges (the grey striped lines in



the Present row) as she is shown in longer-lasting shots, tending to herfather’s needs.

We can also consider the continuity of a given timeline. Each linearrow tracks only one temporal period, allowing reflection on the contentof the images in that one period. Although the video disrupts temporalcontinuity with images from other timelines, Diagram 3 tracks theactivity to show where characters and actions are interrupted but thenpicked up again.

The perspective charts also reveal the visual rhythm in the image edits,which can then be compared to the musical rhythm and form. A goodexample of the complexity of the visual/musical polyrhythm can be foundin the instrumental section of the song, to which we will turn presently.

Analytic Illustrations

The analysis offered after Diagram 3, starting on page 28, puts into playthe factors that have been emphasised in our discussion: characterperspectives through montage editing, diegetic and dialogic expression,and the timing of these effects in relation to musical and lyrical events.We will examine three sections of the song: the opening verse, thechorus, and the final instrumental sequence.



Diagram 3



Key

Verse 1

Chorus 1

Verse 2

Chorus 1

Break



Diagram 3 (cont.)



Verse 3

Chorus 3

Instrumental bridge

Chorus breakdown



Verse 1, lines 1–4 (Diagram 4)Diagram 4 (opposite, page 29) aligns the events in images, lyrics andmusic for the first four lines of the song. This illustration includes theperspectives chart from 0:00 to 0:23, the amplitude diagram, a musicaltranscription that analyses the melodic and harmonic events in reductivevoice-leading analysis, and the four lyric lines.

At the beginning of the first verse, the video features the father’s face ina reflective expression. The perspectives chart in Diagram 4 marks thereturn of his image at the following three timecodes: 0:06.3 (09), 0:11.5(15), and 0:17.00 (00).16 These three scenes include superimposed imagesthat are tightly synchronised with the first words of the following lines:

line 2: ‘I wished I was stronger’ – first word at 0:06.94 (27)line 3: ‘I wished I loved Jesus’ – first word at 0:12.2 (06)line 4: ‘The way my wife does’ – first word at 0:17.7 (21)

The superimposed images amplify the impression that these are hismemories, bound to the sentiments expressed in the text.

A number of musical elements contribute to the visual effect of thesuperimposed images. First, these moments coincide with the peakdynamic points in Maines’ musical phrasing. The amplitude part ofDiagram 4 demonstrates the dynamic shape of each musical phrase, andshows a higher degree of dynamic intensity for the first word of each oflines 3 and 4.

The voice leading also contributes to the sentimental moment ofmemory flashback. At the beginning of line 2, the vocal G♯ is stable withtonic support, but then is taken up by the bass and becomes the 6th in a6–5 suspension over the dominant. In lines 3 and 4, the voice begins onthe highest notes of the phrase, and these pitches are dissonant with theharmony. For line 3 (‘I wished I loved Jesus’) the opening note is thefourth (F ♯) over C♯ harmony, and in line 4 (‘The way my wife does’) thehigh F ♯ is now the sixth in the A major harmony. The harmonies of vi(C♯) and IV (A), emphasised in these two sub-phrases, are significant asharmonies that represent the subdominant region of the mode, and areapproached from V as a deceptive movement (I – V – vi – IV). Themelodic gestures for lines 3 and 4 both lead to C♯, which carries themelodic function of 6 in the scale, and is sustained as an upper neighbourto 5 as part of a large-scale 6–5 resolution. As the first verse continues(not shown in Diagram 4), this poignant scale degree 6 is also emphasisedin line 7 (‘I wish I could have stood’), as the moment when the young boylooks up at his mother while she serves him dinner (voice on 6, harmonyon vi), and then on the last word of line 7 (‘where you would have beenproud’), as the moment when the elderly father looks at the daughter asshe feeds him in the chair (voice on 6, harmony on IV).



16 The timings providedhere give both the timingmark to the hundredthof a second and thetimecode (framereference).

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Diagram 4Graphic representation of perspectives, amplitude, and counterpoint in the first half of verse 1 (0:00–0:23)

Vocal line sounds one octave lowerI wished I was smarter I wished I was stronger I wished I’d loved Jesus The way my wife does

&

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####

####

œ œ œ œ œ Œ

œ œ

3̂

I

œ œœœ

œ œœ œ

5̂

V

œ œ œœ

œœ jœœ œœœ œ

6̂

vi

œ œ œ

œ

œ jœœ œœœ œ

IV

Chorus 1 (Diagram 5)During the first chorus, the video features the children in Past 1 and Past2 being neglected at their respective dinner tables. As in verse 1, themusical cues are carefully coordinated with the lyrical and visualgestures. During the line ‘Disappearing every day without so much as aword’, the mother in Past 1 serves her son and walks away, and the fatherin Past 2 leaves the family table. The final syllable of the climactic word‘somehow’ (0:55.3) is synchronised with four shots: the son pushing hisplate away, the mother sitting in her chair, the son placing his head onthe table, and the mother turning her head. The musical rhythm istightly coordinated with the visual rhythm in this scene: the climactic‘how’ arrives on the downbeat, and these four actions occur on beats 1and 3 of the two bars that sustain this lyric.

Diagram 5 charts subject perspectives, the amplitude diagram, lyricsand voice leading for the second half of the chorus. The voice-leadingsketch illustrates the melodic climb to a higher range, with the voiceclimaxing on the high G♯. As the voice arrives on G♯ with the word ‘now’(1:10.8 (24)), the image of the young daughter at the table is superim-posed with the grown daughter in the Present; as ‘now’ is sustained, thegrown daughter’s face is held, until we see her face then superimposedwith her father’s hand (1:11.8 (24)). The superimposed images connecther memory of sitting at the table, holding her father’s hand, to thepresent moment of looking at his hand on the chair. The combination ofimages, lyrics, and music convey that the current regret (‘now’) is notonly experienced by the father, but also by the daughter, as her perspec-tive and her memories emerge.

The Instrumental Bridge (Diagram 6, page 33)The instrumental bridge leads to the climax of the song and advances avery important part of the narrative. Following the passing of her father,the daughter works toward a resolution of the conflict. Throughout thevideo, the memory flashbacks have illustrated abusive actions and theireffects. By contrast, the instrumental section begins with a sequence ofimages that shows each of the three main female figures – the mother, thewife, and the daughter – quietly making tea. The wife is shown in a verypositive interaction with the young daughter, as she teaches her how toplay the violin. The significance of the tea scene for each individualcharacter is perceived in relation to that character’s role in the story: themother’s ominous force remains, and we know from the images in thattimeline that she is neglecting her son while taking her tea break; thewife, however, is seen as the nurturing one, as she takes the time to sharethe musical experience with her daughter; the present-day daughter is



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Diagram 5Graphic representation of perspectives, amplitude, and counterpoint in the second phrase of the chorus (1:00–1:18)

Vocal line sounds one octave lowerThink wings songbird fly top now

&?

####

####

œ œ œ

œIV

œ œ œ

œV

œ œ

œvi

œ œ œ œ

œIV

œ

œI

recalling this relationship, and carrying the positive memory into herown actions. By featuring a positive example of motherhood in theclimactic moment of the song (the bridge), the Dixie Chicks elaborate astory that values nurturing, ultimately reversing the isolating behavioursof past generations.

As the daughter responds to her father’s death, she must come to gripswith the forceful characters of her father and his mother, as well asbalance those relationships with the one she has with her own mother.This reflection is represented in the final section of the song, the chorusbreakdown, which features the daughter, father, his mother and hermother superimposed in the chair. Following this climactic section, asequence of images features the children who have been in the storyrunning forward to be embraced – the father as a boy, the daughter as ayoung girl, and the daughter of the daughter. The embrace that thelatter receives is a physical manifestation of the resolution that is soughtand found for the other generations as well.

The harmonic structure of the music has a significant role in this reso-lution. The song has followed the same harmonic scheme throughout thethree statements of the verse-chorus structure. The harmonic patterningexplores tonic-dominant relationships in E major, but also features theharmonies of vi (C♯ minor) and IV (A major) as important to the form.The strong leaning on C♯ and A in the verse structure reveals the fatherto be searching for what he believed to be his sincere self: ‘I wished Iloved Jesus’, ‘Don’t have no God to teach me no lessons’, and ‘All of thethings I was on the inside’. The vi and IV harmonies also emerge assupport for the references to the ‘little songbird’.

The harmonies of A and C♯ govern the instrumental bridge andchorus breakdown. This section of the song is based on the oscillationfrom C♯7 to A9. Whereas earlier in the song these harmonies were asso-ciated with the subject’s desire to explore his spiritual self, later they arefeatured in a nuanced contrapuntal context that might be understood asthe realisation of that longing for self. The C♯7 and A harmonies in thefinal instrumental sequence are simple in the sense that no otherharmonic contrast comes into play, but they are complex in their contra-puntal development and thus have the power to convey a story. Thismusical storytelling happens in close synchronisation with the images, sowe will proceed here to account for the harmonic and contrapuntaldevelopment in relation to the dynamic visual narrative. For thefollowing analytic discussion, Diagram 6 offers the graphic representa-tion of the perspectives chart, the amplitude diagram, and a transcrip-tion of the string lines during the tea sequence (4:03 to 4:32).



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Diagram 6Graphic representation of perspectives, amplitude, and counterpoint in the instrumental bridge (4:03–4:32)

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####

44

44

44

w

w!

˙ ˙

œ œ ˙!

w

jœ ww

w

w˙ œ œ œ œ

w

ww

˙ ˙

œ œ œ œ œ˙ ˙

w

˙ ˙w

ww

˙ œ œ œ œ

ww

w

˙ ˙œ œ œ œ

w

w

˙ ˙

w

ww

!

The tea sequence begins with a simple harmonic pattern from C♯ to Ain the acoustic guitars: one guitar outlines the seventh from C♯ to B whilethe other arpeggiates an E major chord, with C♯ in the bass; this C♯harmony moves to one that places A in the bass, and replaces the G♯ in thearpeggiation with an A. The texture is very simple, and the effect gentleand peaceful. During this section, the women begin to make their tea.

The violin (the middle line in the musical transcription of Diagram6) enters with a simple melodic gesture from C♯ (4:03.4 (00)) to G♯(4:07.4 (12)), resolving up to A (4:08.7 (21)). At the moment that the G♯is sounded (4:07.4 (12)), the mother pulls her bow and plays for herdaughter. This is a moment of high coordination between music andimages, and of diegetic function for the music. The images that arecoordinated with the opening phrase of the violin melody (C ♯ – G♯ – A)include only the daughter in the present and her memories of herviolin lesson.

As the violin finishes that line, the mother from the past reappears (sheis represented by the black striped cells in the perspectives chart), andthe music becomes more restless and energetic. The diagrams inDiagram 6 reveal the increased rhythmic activity in the images andmusic. The melody moves back to the G♯ (4:13.9), which becomes the firstnote in a rising and more intense melodic pattern that moves through C♯and E up to the higher octave A. The final image of the mother in the teasequence happens just before the violin leaps up to the high E, whicharrives precisely as the image shifts to the merged bodies in the chair(4:32.2 (06)) for the chorus breakdown.

It is worth noting the compositional significance of the counterpointin this passage. When the G♯ moves to A, the A sounds as a 6th in a 5–6contrapuntal gesture over the C♯ harmony. The C♯ might be ascribed thelocal function of tonic, and the A as its sixth degree. In another hearingof this gesture, one could interpret the A as stable, since the bass simul-taneously moves from E in a descending fifth progression to A. There isa dynamic tension between the harmonies of C♯ and A in this section thatcreates an ambiguity of tonal function. When the violin melody movesfrom G♯ to A, is it as stable note to dissonant note, or as dissonant noteto stable note? In either interpretation, both are coloured by thedissonant B in the acoustic guitar pattern – as the 7th of C♯ and as alingering 9th of A.

The images contribute to our experience of these musical gestures.The mother’s role (Past 1) in this scene is particularly striking in relationto the musical activity. The mother appears (4:02.3 (9)) just before theviolin melody begins to sound, and returns after the violin’s G♯ – Agesture. At the tail end of the sustained A, the mother replaces the teapot



lid (4:12.7 (21)) just before we see the daughter putting a lid on the sameteapot in the later timeline (4:13.5 (15)). This gesture coincides with theintroduction of a more intense rhythmic pulsing pattern in the strings(4:13.9). The music becomes more restless and energetic here. Themelody returns to G♯ (4:13.9), which is the first note in a rising and moreintense melodic pattern that moves through C♯ and E up to high A. Thepattern from C♯ to E is heard (4:19.2) as the images move from the wifeand daughter at the violin to the father’s face, and back to the violin. Theviolin reaches the high A as the image shifts to the daughter in thepresent timeline with her tea.

During this sequence, the re-introduction of the father’s face creates asense of tension. The calm scene of tea-making is disrupted when he isbrought back into view. The daughter has been remembering hermother and the violin lesson, and now his image returns. In the perspec-tives chart in Diagram 6, the father’s presence is apparent: the instru-mental bridge features only female characters (striped cells in the table),until his image reappears between two images of the daughter and hermother sharing the violin lesson. Soon, the mother of Past 1 returns aswell, when the melody returns from the high A to the G♯.

The musical interpretation of the instrumental section must be read inthe larger harmonic and contrapuntal context of the song. After threeverses and choruses in E major, with contrapuntal development of the viand IV harmonies, the song closes with these harmonies in an ambiguousoscillation between the two. The turn to the subdominant and subme-diant harmonies is suggestive in relation to the music-lyric associationsthroughout the song. These harmonies are linked with the line in eachverse that reflects the subject’s internal or spiritual reflection. It is signif-icant that the song closes with this harmonic content – the spiritual andreflective side emerges powerfully in the tea sequence and the violinteaching, and is affirmed by the ‘softer’ side of the harmonic spectrum.

Conclusions

This is my favorite video we’ve ever done. Videos are a storyline to yourcareer and we want this to be a part of our memories.

(Maines on ‘Top of the World’, VH 1 2003)

Home marked a number of crucial changes for the Dixie Chicks; they stilldazzle their audiences with instrumental virtuosity, but the intimatesettings of voice and acoustic instruments – there is not a drum to beheard on the album – create a quieter and more reflective setting. As newwives and mothers, the trio set out to address a variety of social themes:



politics, free speech, commercialisation of country music, and, mostimportantly, family, home, and motherhood – all of which emerge intheir touching rendition of Griffin’s ‘Top of the World’. Through tradi-tional bluegrass finger picking and classical instrumentation, combinedwith Maines’ darker vocal quality, the trio envoices the guilt and regret ofthe male subject’s experiences. The video setting allows the Dixie Chicksand director Sophie Muller to elaborate a multi-generational cycle ofdomestic abuse through sophisticated editing techniques.

The objective of this analysis has been to explore the development ofdifferent perspectives through the intersection of lyrics, images, andsound in the Dixie Chicks’ music video for ‘Top of the World’. Manyperspectives emerge: the father, in his elderly state, but also as a youngchild and then as a husband and father; the daughter, not only in herpresent role as a caregiver to her father and as a mother herself, but alsoas a young child whose experience is dependent upon her family; themother of the subject, who is seen to initiate the family behaviours, butwho would have her own story to tell; and the wife of the subject who isa strong agent for change in the culture of this family, as she nurtures herdaughter and offers a strong role model. We witness the experiences ofthe children and are aware of parallels and divergences in their experi-ences. We are also made aware of the experiences of the three mothersin the story, as their situations are exposed. Although the mothers fromthe past are not evident in the lyrics, their perspectives do emerge in themusic video, especially that of the mother who uses the violin as a positiveforce for change.

In our analytic approach, we have paid attention to the details of eventarticulation and coordination within a multimedia form. By identifyinghow the image edits relate to the musical gestures, the analyst isrewarded by a more refined understanding of the layers of meaning inthis song. We have traced a number of threads from the musical, lyrical,and visual fabric that form this artistic expression, to explore intersec-tions of meaning between and among these domains, and to reflect onthe emergent narrative of a multi-generational cycle of domestic abuse.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

References

Bakhtin, Mikhail (1981) The Dialogic Imagination, ed. Michael Holquist, trans. Caryl Emerson & Michael Holquist, Texas: University of Texas Press

Bordwell, David & Thompson, Kristin (1996) Film Art: An Introduction,New York: McGraw-Hill



Bufwack, Mary A. & Oermann, Robert K. (2003) Finding her Voice: Women inCountry Music, 1800–2000, Nashville, TN: Country Music Foundation Press,Vanderbilt University Press

CMT.com (2008) ‘Dixie Chicks Biography’,http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/dixie_chicks/bio.jhtml accessed August 2008

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Burns and Watson, Subjective Perspectives