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Mary Grace Heustess

1/22/15
Eng 1030-19

Sailboat
Have you ever felt like a sailboat- small in a vast world around you? Like you do not
know where you are going or lonely with no one around? After listening to Ben Rectors song
Sailboat, those exact feelings may be relatable. Ben Rector is an author as well as a
composer of music. Some define author as someone who writes books, newspaper articles,
poems, or standard forms of literature, but author can also be defined as someone who creates
things- video games, music, billboards, advertisements and so on. All of these authors are
masters of rhetoric, making you feel and believe whatever they want. Rectors appeal to
emotions and engaging with the listener with his lyrics, pathos, the musical composition itself,
and his background, in other words his ethos, are all ways he uses rhetoric to draw the
audience into the song; making them listen to it over and over again.
Humans are emotional beings. We cry, we laugh, we have good days, we have awful
days, we get stressed out, we get lonely, we love, we hate, all these and many more shape the
person we are. When we feel a certain way, we look for someone to empathize with which is
exactly what Rectors song, Sailboat, does. Lyrics like I dont know where Im headed
(Rector, Sailboat) and Ive been lost and found but mostly Ive been waiting (Rector,
Sailboat) are examples of empathizing with individuals who are lost and do not know exactly
what life has ahead of them; waiting for their chance to do or be something. The lyrical choices
of the words lost and found but mostly Ive been waiting display the ups and downs in life
(Rector, Sailboat). A wide range of individuals can relate to the song- college kids to adults
going through a midlife crisis. Those moments refer to the lost in the song. The found hits on
those moments, continuing with the examples above, when you graduate from college or you
share the stories of your life with your friends and family, realizing you would not change the life

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you have lived thus far for anything. The waiting part of that phrase is a feeling a lot of people
can relate to. The lost is the valley, the found is the mountain top, and the waiting is the
climbing and descending in between. The climbing wait could be looking for a job, or starting out
your career. The descending wait could be the expectant death of a loved one or the parent who
has a child that has been in a behavioral down spiral. These are just some examples but it
shows the many ways those specific lyrics could relate to any person in any walk of life. While
the song creates many mixed feelings, it also encompases one of the strongest feelings an
individual can have: hope.

But Im not giving up.

Oh I will move on forward.
Im gonna raise my sail.
God knows what Im headed towards.(Rector, Sailboat)

The song switches to uplifting, hopeful lyrics that make the listener realize that this loneliness
and uncertainty is just temporary; your life is not pointless and you are headed somewhere.
People love hope. As said in the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collinsthe only thing stronger
than fear is hope (Ross). Hope is what has driven all revolutions and wars in the world. Rector
recognizes this human infatuation with hope and uses it to make his song that much more
desirable to listen to. His rhetorical use of emotions and relatableness qualifies him even more
so as an author.
Rhetoric is not only seen in written pieces, but in the color, sounds, and images
associated with it. Just like it is seen in Rectors lyrics, it is also seen in the music composition
as well. The song starts off slow, the tone is a tad melancholy. Technically speaking, the song is
made up of four chords- D, A, E, and F minor. Minor chords have a darker, more serious sound.
Rectors use of the F minor chord along with major chords to give the song a soft sadness; one

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minor chord to three major chords as opposed to three minor chords to one major chord, which
does not make the whole song sound dark. Along with the choice in chords that make up the
song, the volume and speed of the song pick up when reaching the lyrics infused with
hopefulness. The volume goes from mezzo-forte, moderately loud, to fortissimo, very loud. The
time signature of the song is four four, which can be easily manipulated to go faster or slower.
The combination of louder and faster music along with the lyrics helps with the hopeful feeling of
that section in the song. It picks up the listeners heart rate, distracting them from the previous,
more sad, feeling. Just like colors can alert different parts of your brain, chords and sounds can
influence your emotions.
I once heard a speaker say that the audience decides if they are going to listen to what
he has to say within the first seven seconds he is on stage. They inspect him, seeing what he
looks like, what he sounds like, hearing what his topic of discussion is. Just like speakers,
readers do the same with authors. When talking about music, the listeners may see what the
title of the song is, the name of the artist, or the sound of the first five seconds of the tune before
deciding to listen all the way through. One thing Rector is known for is his christian background.
His songs outwardly express his belief in God, making those who share that belief to be more
open to listening to his song. Along with his beliefs, Rectors repertoire is full of light, spirited
music that is fun to listen to. Because of that theme seen throughout his music, the audience
can expect an enjoyable tune to listen to.
Authorship is seen in many different artifacts just like it is seen in Ben Rectors song
Sailboat. If an author can be defined as someone who can create things- paintings,
animations, speeches- then Rector is just as much an author as the guy who can write novels.
His use of emotional appeals and relatableness through his lyrics, construction of the musical
composition, and his background and repertoire are all evidence of his authorship. People on a
daily basis use the same rhetorical appeals seen in Rectors song along with many others work
and do not notice it. The question is asked is everyone an author, and when the rhetorical

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skills displayed by a musician match that of an individual who writes literary works that are read,
then yes, anyone could use those same skills and be considered an author.

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WORKS CITED

Hunger Games. Dir. Gary Ross. Perf. Donald Sutherland. Lionsgate, 2012. Film.
Ben Rector. Sailboat. The Walking In Between. Big Hassle Media, 2013. CD.

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APPENDIX A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mPFdvOeM7M&list=RD3mPFdvOeM7M
Here is a link that takes you to a video of the song Sailboat by Ben Rector. Take a listen to it.