Radio Broadcaster Paul Harvey
_ Why was/is the speech important to society?
Made at the Future Farmers of America Convention in 1978, and was used in a Dodge trucks commerical during the XLVII Super Bowl. Dodge agreed to donate $1,000,000 made from its Youtube views.
_ Why do you feel it is important or interesting?
Its a very heartfelt speech about some of the hardest working men and women in the United States. Farmers are an integreral part of our society, and they really do so much and are expected to be morally upright people who put in a hard day's work everyday with no compliant.
_ What is the emotion, mood, tone, personality, feeling of the speech?
Heartfelt, rugged, honest, straight to the point, intense, serious.
_ What is intonation, emphasis, what is loud, stressed, or soft. Where are there pauses...
Influction on "8th" day... "Eighth" is drawn out.
Paused after "planned paradise."
"School board" has a finailty to it. It seems like emphasis is slightly placed upon it.
"Wake up before dawn > milk cows > ... > ... > milk cows again" sounds and feels like a cycle. (Repetition)
"Plow deep and straight" emphasis on "deep" and "straight".
"Not. Cut. Corners." choppy
"Seed, weed, breed, rake, disc, plow, plant, tie-the-fleece, strain-the-milk, replenish-the-self feeder" is very intensly and quickly listed. Great part of the speech!
Pauses and catches breath after the word "self feeder"
"Five mile drive to church" slows speech speed way down from previous listing
Almost all three of the "So God made a farmer"'s that i'm going to use (and throughout the whole speech) are said at the same speed and with the same influction - which I think is cool.
_ What do you FEEL should be loud or soft, long pause or rushed?
"8th" should be loud
"So God made a farmer" should be soft the first time, medium the second time, and loud the final time. OR soft every time. OR loud everytime. Its the major line in the speech, its the whole point of the speech, and its said very strongly but his voice is softer and more controlled every time he says it than during other parts of the speech... so it might always make a bigger impact if it is soft every time.
_ Is there a call to action? When listening to it what are key/emphasized words?
"So God Made a Farmer" is repeated a lot.
_ How does it make you feel?
Inspired by and thankful for farmers. Thankful to have been brought up in a small town where farming was a real way of life for many people.
_ How do imagine that the audience felt?
Emotionally moved. Appreciated. Honored. Thankful. I remember when it came on during the Super Bowl commerical, Paul Harvey's voice is so strong and unique and captivating that the whole room got quick and serious and everyone watched the entire commercial without saying anything and it even felt like people take a deep breath at the end, like they had sort of been holding their breath through the whole thing - that's how clearly I remember it.
_ Could there be another interpretation of the speech?
Farmers deserve more thanks than they are given - rather than the idea that farmers are incredible people that don't care whether or not they get any thanks.
_ Write/find a short bio, of the person giving the speech.
"American radio commentator Paul Harvey delivered conservative broadcasts on current events, reaching, at his peak, 24 million people daily. His career started at the Chicago radio station WENR with Paul Harvey News and Comment quickly gained national syndication. Although he was friendly with many prominent figures of the American right, he was adamant about retaining his own ideological core."
"Harvey's "So God Made a Farmer" speech was characterized, according to The Atlantic, by its "folksy timbre".[3] The New York Times spoke further on elements of his speaking style in its 2009 obituary: "his style was stop-and-go, with superb pacing and silences that rivaled Jack Benny’s. He spoke directly to the listener, with punchy sentences, occasional exclamations of “Good heavens!” or “Oh, my goodness!” and pauses that squeezed out the last drop of suspense: the radio broadcaster’s equivalent of the raised eyebrow or the knowing grin."[4] Bob Greene described the opening phrase of the speech as "seemingly simple, and devastatingly direct".[5]"
I will be using the following part of the speech:
"And on the 8th day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, “I need a caretaker”
-- so God made a Farmer.
God said, “I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper, then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board”
-- so God made a Farmer.
It had to be somebody who’d plow deep and straight and not cut corners; somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk and replenish the self-feeder and finish a hard week’s work with a five-mile drive to church
-- so God made a Farmer."
