The music is emotionally disarming. It sets a mood that is innocent and lighthearted, reinforcing all that you are saying in the ad. I added the music for precisely the same reason that every movie you’ve ever seen has a musical score. Music speaks to the unconscious mind.

When words and music are delivered together and the message of the music contradicts the words, your feeling about the song will more often be controlled by the music than the words.

Tim, our core message is, “You might have to kill someone some day, and you never know when you’re going to meet a person that needs to be killed, so you really ought to buy a handgun and get licensed to carry it.”

We need to do everything we can to take the razor’s edge off that message. 

Remember: when words and music are combined, the emotions of the listener are often more affected by the music than by the words. Music speaks to the heart, not the mind.

The day after the 9/11 attack, the most requested song on every radio station in America was “Born in the USA” by Bruce Springsteen. That song has been considered the patriotic anthem of Rock and Roll America since 1984. 
Listen to it one more time at the bottom of this page.

These are the lyrics:

Born down in a dead man’s town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground 
You end up like a dog that’s been beat too much 
‘Til you spend half your life just covering up 

Born in the U.S.A. 
I was Born in the U.S.A. 
I was Born in the U.S.A. 
Born in the U.S.A. 

Got in a little hometown jam
So they put a rifle in my hands 
Sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man 

Born in the U.S.A. 
I was Born in the U.S.A. 
I was Born in the U.S.A. 
I was Born in the U.S.A. 

Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man says “Son, if it was up to me…” 
Went down to see the V.A. man
He said “Son, don’t you understand?” 

I had a brother at Khe Sahn 
Fighting off the Viet Cong 
They’re still there, he’s all gone. 
He had a woman he loved in Saigon. 
I got a picture of him in her arms.

Down in the shadow of the penitentiary 
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I’m ten years burning down the road
Nowhere to run, ain’t got nowhere to go 

Born in the U.S.A. 
I was Born in the U.S.A. 
Born in the U.S.A. 
I’m a long gone Daddy in the U.S.A.