Irony Post

 

Irony is a very common element to draw focus to a specific idea or point in an entertaining way. The song “Great Nations of Europe” by Randy Newman is a great example of irony. During the entire song irony is used to criticize the colonizing nations of Europe during the XV and XVI centuries mostly.

The tone of the song is very ironic compared with the lyrics. The song is-given that the author is the creator of the Toy Story soundtrack-extremely cheerful and cozy. The lyrics however, refer to a massacres, and betrayal and slavery. When the song mentions that “the great nations of Europe were quite holy in their way” in reference to the massacre of some Indians-in the hands of Spaniard conquistador Balboa- who were allegedly gay. This irony is clear because there is nothing holy in killing someone due to their religious or sexual orientation. The fact that they “had them torn apart by dogs on religious grounds” is even more ironic; they are killing someone and justifying it with religion, which is obviously absurd. The chorus of the song is full of irony, it says “hide your wives and daughter; hide the groceries too. The Great Nations of Europe coming’ through.” There is nothing great about a nation that rapes women and steals food. Great has a connotation of good doing. The author is being sarcastic because he knows that the nations were thought of as great in their time but they were really tyrants.