"Don't Take the Girl" by Tim McGraw

Tim McGraw born Samuel Timothy McGraw on May 1, 1967 in the small country town of Dehli, Louisiana. But in his life his accomplishments were certainly not small like his town. McGraw played a lot of competitive sports when he was in school and he was ecstatic when he got news of getting a full scholarship to college. But little did he know that was not the biggest accomplishment he would be making. In 1989 when McGraw’s musical hero died, Keith Whitely, he dropped out of community college and headed for Nashville to prove his talent to everyone. He signed his first record deal with Curb Records in 1990. He has released around ten albums including, Live Like Your Were Dying, Southern Voice, Everywhere and Let it Go. He has won over fifty awards for his heart warming narrative songs. McGraw has worked amazingly talented other artists like Faith Hill. In this song “Don’t Take the Girl”, McGraw uses several literary devices to help transfer the meaning behind the whole story. This song is an impeccable example of a true country narrative. McGraw accomplishes telling this motivating, heart warming and tragic story by using imagery in almost every stanza to paint the perfect picture of two people in love and alliteration to capture the listener’s ear into further listening.
In the song “Don’t Take the Girl”, McGraw uses imagery perfectly to allow the listener to paint the mental image each step through the song. Three lines into the song McGraw says, “A little girl came through the front gate holdin’ a fishing pole/ His dad looked down and smiled, said we can’t leave her behind”. This line right off the bat assists the listener in picturing the setting of the story. Further within the song McGraw states, ‘He held her tight and kissed her lips/ In front of the picture show/ Stranger came and pulled a gun/ Grabbed her by the arm said "If you do what I tell you to, there won't be any harm" ‘. The imagery that he uses portrays a perfect picture of what if occurring to them at that point in time. When he says, “Grabbed her by the arm,” this almost allows the listener to feel the fear that the girl must feel. One of his final uses of imagery shows the listener how much the man actually loves this girl and doesn’t want her to die. McGraw says, “Cause his momma's fading fast and Johnny hit his knees and there he prayed”. The quote allows the audience to feel the emotion and picture the scenery of his love being expressed to her while she is not doing well. McGraw’s use of captivating imagery makes his songs above all others because you can feel and picture the same emotions and sights that the characters feel.
McGraw uses alliterations in the song “Don’t Take the Girl” multiple times to capture the audience’s attention and to keep them wanting more. Right within the couple first lines McGraw names off a few of his friends with tongue twisting titles that capture the listener’s attention, ‘ "Take Jimmy Johnson, take Tommy Thompson, take my best friend Bo” ‘. The rhyming and alliteration is a fun way to switch things up and allow the listener to keep interested in what they are listening to. Now in the chorus McGraw repetitively says, “Same old boy/ Same sweet girl”. Like the first set of alliterations this one is to with hold the audience’s attention as well, and because this alliteration is in the chorus it repeats making the song captivating. McGraw does not use that much alliteration as most artist do but when and where he does is what matters; for the little that he uses he still captures the audience’s attention.

McGraw’s country talent speaks through every song he writes, and the literary devices he uses just makes his songs ten times stronger. His use of alliterations and imagery makes his impression so much more powerful. “Don’t Take the Girl” is just one of the many pieces of art Tim McGraw has created; and just one of the many heart warming, compelling narratives he has created as well.