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Sam Stegeman

Professor Waggoner

English 1201

14 February 2021

The Offspring and Five Finger Death Punch both do amazing jobs on the song Gone

Away. I love this song and I was very excited to use this in the assignment. “And it feels like

Heaven is so far away”. This quote from the song is very powerful and meaningful. It means that

because you are gone, everything feels wrong without you being there. The original version of

this song was sung by The Offspring in 1997. The updated version was sung by Five Finger

Death Punch in 2017. Five Finger Death Punch cover of “Gone Away” brings back the meaning

of the original song by The Offspring. The new version consists of the same claim that having an

outlet will help you recover from grief and also pursuing in what you love to do.

The idea and meaning of the original version by The Offspring came from the lead singer

and his girlfriend sadly passing away. Not only did he write it because of grief, but he wanted to

share his experience with every listener to give hope and not be in his shoes. The idea and

meaning of the second version by Five Finger Death Punch came from the stories of soldiers in

Iraq. These soldiers would tell their stories of grief and dark times, but ultimately want to share

after the period of grief, and that is growth. Both of these songs revolve around the purpose of

overcoming grief.

In the newer version of the song, the video shows a story of a soldier going back to the

military despite a loss. For example, the friends of the main soldier died in action. Despite his

loss and grief afterward, he went back to the military and continued his passion and love for the
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country. This story from the video shows that having an outlet will help you recover from grief

and loss. In the original version, it shows the singer doing his thing despite losing his girlfriend.

He has something to lean on in desperate times and that is music.

For both videos, the rhetorical appeal is pathos. Losing a loved one is very emotional and

both groups express and show this emotion well. To the point where the listeners can agree and

feel for each other. The audience of these two versions is young to middle-aged adults because

this style of music is not meant for the younger generation. Also, these songs are meant for the

ones with grief or dark experiences in their life.

In conclusion, both videos showed many reasons why the purpose was to make the

listener bounce back from grief and adversity to hope and happiness. Again when “Heaven is so

far away”, do not let this stop you from bigger and better things in the future.

Work Cited

YouTube. “The Offspring Gone Away.” YouTube, 1997,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=40V9_1PMUGM.

YouTube. “Five Finger Death Punch Gone Away.” YouTube, 2017,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIQK4-9YFW0.
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