Tracy Lawrence in the song "If I Don't Make It Back" appeals to listeners through the three rhetorical appeals being ethos, pathos, and logos which makes it such a great song. Pathos is established when he sings about his dear friend not making it back from being in the army. He shows credibility with ethos because that's his actual friend that he's singing about, he isn't just singing a song about someone random that didn't make back, it is his actual friend. The logical appeal is when he brings up the moments he has with his friend before he leaves so that it shows how close they are and how meaningful this song actually is. Using all three rhetorical appeals you're able to feel what Mr. Lawrence feels during this time of his life when his friend passes, as a musician that all you want out of your music. Tracy Lawrence ties ethos, pathos, and logos together so well so that it became a story within a 3 minute song like all music should be. .
Pathos is established throughout the entire song when Tracy Lawrence talks about his dearest friend not coming back from the war. In the first verse of the song he says "We went out for beers and a couple of laughs Knowin' full well that every bad joke that Jimmy told Might be his last". That line alone grabs at people's emotions, having to sit there not knowing if that will be your last time sitting along the side with one of your friends. The kind of mental strength you need to go through that and act like everything is okay so you can enjoy the moment that could possibly be the last moment you have with them. In the fifth verse "If the good Lord calls me home I'd like to think my friends Will think about me when I'm gone" he changes the point of view from his own to his friend Jimmy's. Jimmy himself knows that the time they're spending together at that moment could be their last. The amount of pathos in this song is enormous, one friend losing another to his death in the war is unbearably emotional for Tracy Lawrence and anyone that understands this song.