“Anything Goes” critiques the immorality of the Roaring Twenties. Similar to Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, by Jonathan Edwards, “Anything Goes” comments on the shockingly immoral ways of the people. Describing the sinfulness and “wickedness” (Edwards) of the Puritan people, …show more content…
When Porter’s laments that “black’s white today, and day’s night today” he conveys his frustration about the unrecognizable world he perceives. A jeremiad that embodies similar points from Anything Goes, is Ronald Reagan’s Farewell Address. Reagan’s speech explores how America has lost its deep feeling of patriotism just before entering the nineties. Reagan declares, “If we forget what we did, we won’t know who we are.” Porter’s song corresponds with Reagan’s speech, because both writers desire a happier time: in Porter’s case, the transformative time of the twenties was a time when “the world has gone mad and good’s bad.” Porter contributes the Great Depression to the American feeling of hesitancy and skepticism, which is manifested through Porter’s description of a poor man who “once had several chateaux”, but is now begging for money due to the economic crash. The feeling of uncertainty in the American public demonstrates how hectic the twenties truly