Question about the song?

Question

please answer question by reading this song

"Business Goes on As Usual"

Business goes on as usual
the corn and the profits are high
and TVs boom in every living room
they tell us what deodorants to buy
Business goes on as usual
except that my brother is dead
he was 25 and very much alive
but the dreams have all been blasted
from his head
In a far off land,
with a gun in his hand
he died in a war
he did not understand
while business goes on
as usual
there's plenty to choose from the racks
but rumor goes that the latest thing in clothes
the latest thing in clothes will be black
but business goes on as usual
as usual
as usual
1. what does she mean that the latest thing in clothes is black? what does the color black symbolize in this song?
2. how does song and story effect your understanding of war? does it broaden your understanding? does it change your feeling about war? if so, in what way?
3. what is the overall tone of "business goes on as usual"?

Answer 1

black = mourning
it says nothing that hasn;t already been said
its an anti war song - it says this war is going on and everyone is ignoring it and getting on with their lives as usual.

Answer 2

The latest thing in clothes will be black because there will be much death.
The author feels the brother died in a war that should not have been. I do not agree. If it is the Iraq war, I feel it is necessary to fight the terrorists over there or else, we will be fighting them on our own land. Yes, our young men and women will die, and that is tragic, but since 9/11, we are fighting in a different world. We are fighting evil as we have never seen it before.
Business as usual means that even with the death of our young people, the world goes on with everyday living.

Answer 3

1) I'm not saying this is what the author is saying, but the traditional color of mourning is black, so if you're grieving you'll be fashionable. Also see the picture in part 3 of the article below... again, not saying this is what the author implies. So there are 2 possible interpretations among many.
2)No, my understanding and feeling about war haven't changed through reading these lyrics. War isn't a good thing. Neither is oppression. Neither ever have been. Americans have gone to intervene and help several places and times in our history, fighting and dying in places where we're trying to help. And when the war is "over" and we turn our efforts to stabilizing the country, the losers call us evil, they point to our "war crimes" and not the murders they perpetrated on innocents, and try to make us feel bad about what we have done and to make us leave... but oddly enough they still want our aid money.
3) does war really change anything? and if war is not fought on our own soil, do we really see our own lives changing, or our own "pursuit of happiness" shifting focus?

Answer 4

I think the point the song writer is trying to get across is that we (americans) are at war, and have been. We lose soldiers everyday but for some reason we are not impacted by it at all. Our world keeps turning the same way it always has. We go to movies we are obsessed with celebrities and their lives, and no one seems to notice that there is a war going on at all. Because as long as the soldiers dying aren't related to us it doesn't effect us. The song writer is trying to make us aware of the fact that nothing has changed and never will

Answer 5

This is how liberal teachers spread their political opinions and make kids think that they have to agree with them.

Well, anyway....

1. the color black symbolizes death, because widows have traditionally worn black

2. This is where you tell the teacher what she wants to hear.... that war is terrible, and that most people don't even care about the dying soldiers, etc.

3. business goes on as usual just means that the author of the song feels that war is good for business... companies get to sell guns and ammo and other such things

Answer 6

the song it's meaningless only to the writer means something !

Answer 7

It's good doing what your good at keep up the great work.