I started out looking for one to recommend — inspired by a not-too-inspiring playlist we heard last night in a fancy restaurant — but I ended up making a game out of trying to find one that didn't include "Born in the U.S.A." "Born in the U.S.A." is not a 4th of July song! It's completely negative about America. Read the lyrics. From the "dead man's town" to the Vietnam War to joblessness to "shadow of the penitentiary" rhymed with "the gas fires of the refinery" — living in the U.S.A. is darkness and doom.It belongs on an anti-American playlist:
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180 comments:
Almost all of those lists are about "4th of July"
None about "Independence Day"
Or Insurrection Day as I think more appropriate.
Why?
John Henry
"Insurrection Day" because it was only insurrection that got us our independence
John Henry
Schoolhouse Rock - Fireworks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdZYyY7g8g4
Bruce Springsteen sux.
I broke down and purchased one of those Sonos speakers for the TV a few months ago. Sonos has their own music what comes gratis, I guess. Most of their 4th playlists fall into the Springsteen trap (he’s an elite leftie commie) but their ‘4th of July’ mix is very good, new and old, mix of genres. Not overboard with cutsie holiday angles. Joe Walsh, Trisha, Cars, Stones, KC and the Sunshine Band, Chris Staple Gun, Creedence, Willie
With real howitzers!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGhJToar1co&t
As Arthur Fiedler Dedication.
If you listen to the version on Tracks,you can hear that Springsteen meant the song to be darker. The production and arrangement on the Born in the USA album cause lots of people to misread it's intent. I don't think it's anti-American. It criticises where America falls short of its ideals.
Then I'll post this again.
Every July 4th, I watch this. It's my Dad's birthday - he was nothing if not a patriotic American, and it makes me think of him. Unlike his son my Dad was a superb dancer, and this also makes me think of him. This is just so so very good in so many ways.
Any of you in the entertainment business take a look at the craft shown in this piece. We stand on the shoulders of giants, you know. These were geniuses of their art. Happy Fourth of July to all!
God Bless America. We need all the help we can get right now.
I Am That Yankee Doodle Boy
Recession, off-shoring, foreign wars…
Is there any doubt the character depicted in Born in the USA would, if rational, be voting for Trump?
A great July 4 party song is Que Paso? by the Texas Tornadoes. It is pop and danceable and makes for a nice break from typical schlock that mixes Tex and Mex and German ethnic influence.
Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA”
Yes, that was what Springsteen intended. And Sting meant Every Breath You Take to be about a stalker and Paul Simon didn’t mean for Bridge Over Troubled Water to be a religious song. But their right to say what their songs are about dissolves the second it’s released. As listeneres, we can hear whatever we want.
Springsteen does have a song called “Independence Day”. It is about his complicated relationship with his father. It is a great song and one of the few post “Born to Run” songs where he lives up to his hype.
If you were going to have a Springsteen song on your Independence Day playlist you could go with “Born to Run”, “Thunder Road”, or “Rosalita”. While not specifically about America they are hopeful songs about getting to better place.
One song that does need to be on a playlist is “Roadrunner” by the modern lovers. It is an unironic ode to the suburban America. There are three different versions of it but the best one is Roadrunner (twice) as it features future Hall of Famers Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads) and David Robinson (The Cars).
Tweeter was okay but not the Monkeyman. Springsteen and the fraud Little Steven can go fuck themselves!
God Bless America!
"Born in the U.S.A." is not a 4th of July song! It's completely negative about America. Read the lyrics.
Why would we do that? No one else does. It goes against the great old American tradition of spewing expert opinions about something you know nothing about!
Today is the day I watch ,"Team America" and shoot a British soldier.
AA - Correct on "Born in the USA". It definitely focuses on the negative.
Springsteen is as genuine as the New York Dolls were. East coast, wannabe musicians…
Darkness on the Edge of teh Fourth of July!
The pulse and driving rhythms of the music completely overwhelm the sourness of the lyrics. The lyrics indicate that the singer is being fucked over by America, but the music expresses something more pleasurable and consensual. It's a fun ride on a bad road to the orgiastic future.
I think about a woman I knew who often said she loved her mother, but whenever the topic of her mother came up, all she could talk about was the ways she had failed her. Hadn't supported her in this or that during school, her drinking, her accidents, the times she'd had to bail her mother out of one financial problem or another. The times she cheated on her father.
Listening to her talk, it was hard to believe she loved her mom. I mean, sure, her mom had her faults, and some of them were pretty bad; but if all she could focus on were her mom's faults, and never talk about those things that she claimed to love about her mom, it makes me wonder how genuine that love is?
It seemed to me what she really loved was ragging on her mom for not living up to her ideals of what a mom aught to be. Such talk certainly got her a lot of attention and sympathy. Her mom seems like she was a total train wreck, and I thank God every day that my mom was a better sort of woman. But does her behavior show love?
I love my mom, and when I remember her, I don't talk about the one time she forgot to pick me up at the swimming pool, or those times I felt unjustly punished for youthful infractions my brothers had instigated, or any of my other gripes. Mostly, I've forgotten those things. Because love endures in spite of those things, and if I were to only emphasize my gripes, and not her virtues, you could be excused if you doubted the sincerity of my love. If my talk led you only to think badly of my mom, then maybe I'm not behaving in a loving way.
I think about this sort of thing when I hear people say "I love my country, but..." and then go on to list America's many manifest problems, both current and historical. If someone spends all their time talking solely about how shitty their mom was, I don't think they really love her.
People think its Patriotic because its hard to understand the lyrics. Whenever the play the song I remember this:
born in the usa, born in usa.
born in dead mans town.
rrrmmrahhammeramm
born in the usa, born in usa.
Got in a little jam
rrrmmrahhammeramm
To kill the Yellow man
born in the usa, born in usa.
born in the usa, born in usa.
As for patriotic songs, just give me John Philip Sousa and the Boston Pops
‘Sandy’ is one of the best 4th of July songs of all time.
A cheesy 1983 rock song from Night Ranger "You Can Still Rock in America" was not bad. Video had a big U.S. flag.
"Almost all of those lists are about "4th of July"/None about "Independence Day""
As someone born in 1951, my experience is that the name of the holiday is "the 4th of July" (and that's what I call it to this day and therefore how I wrote my Spotify search).
I knew the alternative name for the holiday, "Independence Day," but that has always seemed secondary, like calling Memorial Day "Decoration Day." I think "Independence Day" gained some traction when a movie with that title came out, but to my ear, it lacks the verve of 4th of July. There's "born on the 4th of July" in the song "Yankee Doodle Dandy."
Don Imus of the old “Imus in the morning” program had the best description of Springsteen, “An overgrown bar band on steroids”. Truer words were never spoken. Songs I would add to the list; “Dreams” from Van Halen (watch the original video and you’ll understand why.) I would also add “Gimmie some lovin” from Spencer Davis. Just a great summer song. By law I think “Proud to be an American” should be prohibited from being played until a semblance of freedom is restored in this country. “The flag still stands for freedom and they can’t take that away.” someone hasn’t been paying attention.
A song with a spirit of independence and rebellion that I would add to the list is “Convoy” from C W McCall. “Show mw the way” from Styx is another one. It’s about teaching his son the right path in a world gone mad.
"If you were going to have a Springsteen song on your Independence Day playlist you could go with “Born to Run”, “Thunder Road”, or “Rosalita”..."
I love celebrating a "death trap" and a "suicide rap."
The restaurant's list mixed John Philip Sousa with things like Ray Charles singing "Georgia on my Mind."
Is "Georgia on my Mind" about the state of Georgia or about a woman named Georgia? The songwriter, Hoagy Carmichael, had a sister named Georgia.
Wikipedia: "It has been asserted that Hoagy Carmichael wrote the song about his sister, Georgia. However, Carmichael wrote in his second autobiography Sometimes I Wonder (1976) that saxophonist Frankie Trumbauer told him he should write a song about the state of Georgia. Trumbauer jokingly volunteered the first two words, "Georgia, Georgia...", which Carmichael ended up using while working on the song with his roommate, Stuart Gorrell. Gorrell, who wrote the lyrics, stated he wrote the lyrics about Carmichael’s sister. Gorrell's name was absent from the copyright, but Carmichael sent him royalty checks anyway."
Last night we put on the opening third of "Meet Me In St. Louis". It never mentions the 4th of July, but it's pure Americana, directed by an Italian.
Popular songs about America don’t do it for me. The lyric “to the oceans, white with foam, destroy “God Bless America” for me and the less said about “God Bless the USA”.
Instead one should have a playlist that features American artists performing songs written by Americans that are feel good.
So this play list should include:
Gershwin - anything sung by Ella and “An American in Paris”
Duke Ellington - “Take the A Train”
The Allman Brothers - “Jessica”
Nelson Riddle - the theme from the TV show “Route 66”.
Booker T, & the MGs - “Time is Tight”
Curtis Mayfield/The Impressions - “It’s All Right” and “Move on Upl
The Beach Boys - “California Girls” and “Good Vibrations”
Motown & Stax - Any number of songs from the 60’s.
Linda Ronstadt- “Heatwave”
The Doobie Brothers - “China Grove”
Chicago - “Saturday in the Park”
Earth Wind & Fire - “September”
Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - “Having a Party”
Songs like that.
Hoagy Carmichael — a great Hoosier.
https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/hoagy-carmichaels-legacy-100-years-after-his-birth-in-bloomington
@BUMBLEBEE 07:34: As a young teen I sat there on the grass, by the Charles River, at the Hatch Shell, and watched Fiedler conduct the Pops, playing this. He was in his heyday then. The howitzers were lined up along the Charles. We didn't have a chorus that I remember though, just the instrumentals. But it was glorious nevertheless. Fiedler did a lot to raise interest for classical music in this country, although he was scorned as being too 'old-lady schmaltzy'.
Blogger Ann Althouse said...
"If you were going to have a Springsteen song on your Independence Day playlist you could go with “Born to Run”, “Thunder Road”, or “Rosalita”..."
I love celebrating a "death trap" and a "suicide rap."
7/4/24, 8:37 AM
—————
It’s a song about defying and escaping the “death trap”. The arrangement is exuberant and positive.
Compare this to later Springsteen songs where the protagonist stays and is trapped (“The River” which is a depressing sequel to “Thunder Road”).
Jon Landeau destroyed Springsteen.
"Popular songs about America don’t do it for me. The lyric “to the oceans, white with foam, destroy “God Bless America” for me ..."
David Sedaris in "Theft by Finding": "There’s always a weird mumbling that follows “Stand beside her and guide her,” and lasts until “From the mountains to the prairies.” Then there’s that bit about the oceans white with foam, which is just a strange thing to mention in a patriotic song."
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiWm-3Zb4BYBsdWdy6Wlh4cEluLQNhx2w
Includes:
The National Anthem
Washington Post March
Stars and Stripes Forever
Armed Services Medley
God Bless the USA
"It’s a song about defying and escaping the “death trap”. The arrangement is exuberant and positive."
No, it's about starting down and experiencing a series of additional awful experiences — the Vietnam War, joblessness, and the "shadow of the penitentiary" and "the gas fires of the refinery."
It's true that the chorus proclaiming "Born in the USA" sounds positive, but in context, he's being sarcastic about the bullshit advantage it was supposed to be.
Not a new thought, but: As we drive around today and we see Old Glory displayed on some homes, we know who the homeowner will vote for.
There is one positive thing in the song, which is basically gloating that because the country is so awful, he got to leverage all the bad into a rock star career. In the final chorus, he proclaims himself "a long gone Daddy in the U.S.A. " and then, finally, "I'm a cool rocking Daddy in the U.S.A."
It worked out well for him... though the little people out there in the audience are screwed.
I'm not feeling the 4th of July anymore. I appreciate what the founders did, and the soldiers that fought to end the divine right of kings. The Civil War soldiers were great men. And of course the WWII generation.
But since then, America has killed millions indiscriminately. The more bombs we drop, the more outrageous and ill our society becomes. Now, half of America waves the Ukrainian flag and pretends they are fighting for "democracy", while hundreds of thousands of young Ukrainian men die. All for unnecessary expansion of American influence in other parts of the world. How about we leave them the alone???
So for me, this years 4th of July song is John Prine's "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore."
..."There’s always a weird mumbling that follows “Stand beside her and guide her,” and lasts until “From the mountains to the prairies.”
'through the night, with a light, from above' is weird mumbling'? Is Sedaris an atheist or something?
But, your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more
They're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war
Now, Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more
I wonder if the Brits have any special songs for this day.
What Gusty said.
The worst part of any national holiday is the music.
And as if our own products aren't bad enough, we'll hear truncated versions of Tchaikovsky celebrating Russia's return to serfdom . . .
An American Tune. Seems fitting these days.
Blogger Ann Althouse said...
It worked out well for him... though the little people out there in the audience are screwed.
Springsteen and John Mellencamp are two of the same. Made millions pretending to be voices of the working class, and then flipped to the dark side of the liberal elite. So did a lot of the hippie bands that once considered themselves revolutionaries. They are now just obedient comrades. A cornucopia of rotten fruit.
To celebrate the 4th I still enjoy pulling up on YouTube Judy Garland’s mighty singing of The Battle Hymn of the Republic. She was a JFK fan and got very feisty 3 weeks after Jack slaughtered in Dallas. That song won the War of the Southern Rebellion and thus restarted the USA on a brand new structure.
I wouldn't say Born in the USA is "anti-American" any more than is The Grapes of Wrath or The Wire. Its simply a narrative describing people having a hard time through no fault of their own who deserves better. If it weren't for the bombastic music and production nobody in their right mind would see it as a rah rah anthem.
I would also add “Gimmie some lovin” from Spencer Davis.
This song has nothing to do with July 4, and Spencer Davis is English (Welsh actually).
he’s an elite leftie commie
So which Ivy did he graduate from? What makes him elite, that he worked hard his entire life and made a lot of money? Heck, he lives just a few miles from where he grew up. Granted, Freehold and Colts Neck are worlds apart.
Why do you begrudge him his success?
Didn't Yankee Doodle mean "Yankee shit" and doesn't "Yankee" refer to masturbation? Maybe secondarily, and slyly. Supposedly it came from "Janke" which is Dutch for Johnny, and the Dutch in New York referred to the English this way, the way we might call the Russians "Ivan" or the Germans called the Brits "Tommy." But nobody really knows, these are just theories.
And nobody listens to the words in Born in the USA that hard, something about fighting in Viet Nam and it didn't work out, then "Born in the USA..." So yeah, it's a good patriotic song.
A 4th of July song should have been a hit on a 4th of July.
Didn’t Reagan’s people want to use Born in the USA? Can’t remember the story exactly.
Of course the 4th of July story I think everyone remembers from those days involved the sec of the interior and… it might’ve been Jimmy Buffet, don’t end of quote me on that.
Pious Agnostic, thank you very much for your post. I feel exactly the same about my mom - and my father. My sister has the total opposite view of my mother, disliking (to a terrible period in my mother's life when my sister wrote her a long, nasty letter with every gripe, resentment, and "bad" memory she ever had -- pointing out my mother's faults and then refusing to talk to her -- as my sister has pretty much done to me for a least a decade) most of the things I admired about my mother: her discipline (never hit us, but gave us "the Look"), her Irish pride, her love of family where she put her children first, her husband second (he deserved to be first IMO), her sisters and brothers third (along with the spouses she approved of), and her nieces and nephews fourth. The poor soul who insulted or cast aspersions on any of those family members either felt her wrath or became, in her words, "dead to me".
My mother had her faults. She did utilize "the silent treatment", which I suppose is better or worse than yelling or screaming (which she never did), depending on your perspective. I learned how effective, if childish, that tactic was. So much, that I, as a man of 20 or so, subjected her to it -- and she never used it on me again. She would, in the old-fashioned way of her generation, make reference to the size of her chest. My mother was well-endowed, and being thin in combination, made her very attractive. My sister criticized that. I told her that I overlooked that because, I felt it was her compensating with her being born with buck teeth and never having them replaced -- which she felt distracted from her appearance.
I could go on and on, but as you wrote, many of the actions that I held small or large resentments against my parents for, turned out to not be a big deal -- or a deal at all, when I matured. (My ego did not like getting a generic backpack when I was in the Boy Scouts while all the members of the troop, sans me, had the official one. I was teased by the other boys and hated that. Years later, I realized that both of my parents grew up as children of the depression and were FRUGAL, not cheap (my brother is cheap; his nickname is "the schnorrer; I had to explain to him what that Yiddish term meant as I are not Jewish - and he has embraced it as his). That meant everything we had was "enough" AND we sometimes got "more than enough". But I wasn't grateful for what I had. I understood gratitude when I finally got sober. I loved my parents, warts and all. And, as you pointed out, I love America , warts and all. It is just that the Extreme Leftwingers, Progressives, Liberals, Dems (or whatever term you want to use)have many different views on what those warts are than I do.
And since I went wildly OT, my favorite 4th of July songs to listen to:
"That Yankee Doodle Boy" by George M. Cohan, performed by first-generation Irish (American) James Cagney
"Stars and Stripes Forever" by Sousa, performed by just about any orchestra, but Boston Pops is certainly memorable.
"God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood
Almost any patriotic song. I am a very emotional person yet controlled -- but one of the many times I tear up is when I hear patriotic songs. I actually sang some to myself the other day -- the ones we sang in elementary school. So may God Bless America, Althouse and Meadhouse, and ALL the people who comment here.
"Born in the USA" is an awesome song from one of the best albums ever written and recorded. I understand a lot of people here don't like Springsteen because of his in your face leftist politics but give the man credit for being one of the all-time great songwriters and performers. If I had to pick a Springsteen song for the 4th of July, I would go with "Dancing in the Dark", also from "Born in the USA", and similarly dark and moody despite the up-tempo arrangement- another song you have to listen to the lyrics to understand. Also, was a huge hit on the 4th of July 1984 just a couple of months after I graduated from high school.
"America the Beautiful" as recorded by Ray Charles. America, sweet America.
"With real howitzers!"
Every time I hear the 1812 Overture I experience nothing but regret -- regret for the suffering Russian people, regret for the murdered Imperial family, regret for ever having seen a commercial for the Quaker Oats Company.
lohwoman commented on "The perfect 4th of July playlist."
2 mins ago
"America the Beautiful" as recorded by Ray Charles. America, sweet
x2
Blogger The rule of Lemnity said...
Didn’t Reagan’s people want to use Born in the USA? Can’t remember the story exactly.
Of course the 4th of July story I think everyone remembers from those days involved the sec of the interior and… it might’ve been Jimmy Buffet, don’t end of quote me on that.
7/4/24, 9:25 AM
—————
James Watt did not want The Beach Boys because he claimed they weren’t wholesome and attracted the wrong element.
The backlash was pretty sever since The Beach Boys had a benign image and were supporters of Reagan. Watt had to do a mea culpa on the White House lawn where Reagan presented him with a plaster foot with a bullet hole through it.
The ironic thing is that Watt was right about the wholesomeness of the band. Dennis Wilson befriended Charles Manson and let Manson and some of the family live with him in 1968. The Beach Boys recorded a song, “Never Learn Not To Love”, that was written by Manson.
For more wholesomeness just google Dennis Wilson and Mike Love.
I kind of liked 'Racing in the Street'.
Because I had a Camaro and a girl friend.
Yankee is out of Dutch Jonkheer--young lord or young man, cognate with German Junker.
At least that's what I was taught.
Breezy said...
"I wonder if the Brits have any special songs for this day."
"The World Turned Upsidedown"
Meade said...
"Hoagy Carmichael — a great Hoosier."
His son made wonderful cane fly rods.
Of course I would never shoot a British soldier.
Souza
Cohan
John Williams
Copland
Greenwood
Toby Keith
Beach Boys
One of my favorites is a jazz instrumental: America the Beautiful played by Al Cohn (saxophone) with the Barry Harris Trio (piano, bass, and drums). It's on YouTube.
There’s always the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I think one such album is called the Spirit of America.
Well, now called The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.
Michel said, "Yes, that was what Springsteen intended. And Sting meant Every Breath You Take to be about a stalker and Paul Simon didn’t mean for Bridge Over Troubled Water to be a religious song. But their right to say what their songs are about dissolves the second it’s released. As listeneres, we can hear whatever we want."
I also think about Let It Be, which Paul McCartney did not intend to be an ode to the Virgin Mary, or Imagine, which John Lennon did not mean to be an ode to totalitarianism.
or Imagine, which John Lennon did not mean to be an ode to totalitarianism.
Don't be too sure about that one.
The Boss was/is a commie so yes, that song is an anti-American screed.
Although Reagan turned it into something different.
Just put on Willie's Roadhouse and listen to old country songs...
if there is no US, UK, what is there, it sounds nice, to the untrained ear, but if you listen closer,
Gusty Winds mentioned Springsteen and Mellencamp. Springsteen was supposed to be the next Dylan, and Mellencamp the next Springsteen. I wonder what the our gracious hostess Professor Althouse thinks about that.
What's funny is that no one really listens to lyrics. At Springsteen concerts, you see groups of people waving American flags when he plays "Born in the USA." Years ago, Spy magazine had a fake news squib: "Springsteen, frustrated by fans' lack of comprehension, titles new album 'America, I hate it.'"
But maybe the lyrics aren't important. Archibald Macleish wrote, "A poem should not mean, but be," and maybe that's what's happening here.
Althouse:
The songwriter, Hoagy Carmichael, had a sister named Georgia.
Yeah, let's hope it's not about his sister.
Other arms reach out to me
Other eyes smile tenderly
Still in peaceful dreams I see
The road leads back to you
My contribution is meagre, but these are two great songs about the 4th of July:
Dave Alvin -- Fourth of July
David Byrne -- Independence Day
As I recall the most heartfelt anthem to welcome home the Desert Storm troops in March 1991 ( an 82nd Airborne son for me) was a restaurant full of friends belting out Lee Greenwoods classic God Bless the USA. A real tear jerker to this day).
OK, not about the writer's sister. Whew. Wonder if Carmichael knew Gorrell had the hots for his sister?
well mellencamp originally had the right disposition, 'jack and diane' there is an irony in some of don henley's 'end of the innocence' in his jibes against Reagan,
In a previous thread, Dear Corrupt Left quoted Ann Coulter as saying "Al Gore spent 20 years boasting about his service in Vietnam. “I took my turn regularly on the perimeter in these little firebases out in the boonies. Something would move, we’d fire first and ask questions later,” he told Vanity Fair, among other macho quotes. And then he decided to run for president, and we found out Gore had a personal bodyguard in Vietnam, the most dangerous weapon he carried was a typewriter, and he left after three months."
Creedence Clearwater Revival's song "Fortunate Son" said "I ain't no Senator's Son." Many of you will remember this.
Isn't there an award for tying threads together?
"Of Thee I Sing" by George and Ira Gershwin. Simultaneously romantic, patriotic, and playful.
I think a lot of people don't really care that much about lyrics. To them Born in the USA is great because sounds good, and they get to sing/chant "Born in the USA". Same with "God bless America" it has a nice tune, and everyone gets to sing "God bless America" at the end.
Berlin was good at writing simple simon lyrics. "Stand beside her and guide her through the night with the light from above". Or "From the mountains to the prairies To the oceans white with foam" sound like it was ripped off and dumbed down from "America the Beautiful" 1893.
Look at white christmas. Its just about snow. As in:
"I, I, I am dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write
May your days, may your days, may your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white"
The masses like simple. Dylan may have won a Nobel Prize, but Berlin got rich.
imTay:
Didn't Yankee Doodle mean "Yankee shit" and doesn't "Yankee" refer to masturbation?
Only to the predisposed.
My play list includes “Angel Flight.” I think it’s important to remember that freedom isn’t free.
”We do what we do because we heard the call
Some gave a little, but he gave it all””
Let’s split the difference.
Many’s the time I’ve been mistaken
And many times confused
Yes, and I’ve often felt forsaken
And certainly misused
Oh, but I’m all right, I’m all right
I’m just weary to my bones
Still, you don’t expect to be
Bright and bon vivant
So far away from home, so far away from home
I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered
I don’t have a friend who feels at ease
I don’t know a dream that’s not been shattered
Or driven to its knees
Oh, but it’s all right, it’s all right
For lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the road
We’re traveling on
I wonder what went wrong
I can’t help it, I wonder what’s gone wrong
And I dreamed I was dying
And I dreamed that my soul rose unexpectedly
And looking back down at me
Smiled reassuringly
And I dreamed I was flying
And high above my eyes could clearly see
The Statue of Liberty
Sailing away to sea
And I dreamed I was flying
Oh, we come on the ship they call the Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon
We come in the age’s most uncertain hour
And sing an American tune
Oh, it’s all right, it’s all right
It’s all right, it’s all right
You can’t be forever blessed
Still, tomorrow’s going to be another working day
And I’m trying to get some rest
That’s all I’m trying to get some rest
Personally, I like America the beautiful and SSpangeled Banner better:
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.
Or
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto—"In God is our Trust;"
And the star-spangled Banner in triumph shall wave,
O'er the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.
Play That Funky Music White Boy.
Really captures the cultural melting pot that makes this country great.
And the closing line, “Play that funky music til you die,” challenges us to give our all.
JSM
mongo:
or Imagine, which John Lennon did not mean to be an ode to totalitarianism.
Lennon was a poser and wrote to what he thought was the drift at the time.
Where’s Dave Alvin when ya need him?
"Didn't Yankee Doodle mean "Yankee shit" and doesn't "Yankee" refer to masturbation?"
Yankee derives from yonker, a 17th-century Low Saxon term for a prosperous farmer. (German junker is a cognate.) Among the New Amsterdam settlers, Farmer Doodle was the stock character in some off-color stories about a fool and his misadventures
Blogger Oligonicella said...
mongo:
or Imagine, which John Lennon did not mean to be an ode to totalitarianism.
Lennon was a poser and wrote to what he thought was the drift at the time.
7/4/24, 10:39 AM
——————
Lennon was on a journey and was quite mercurial. I believe he believed everything he said when he said it.
In 1980 he was quite positive in Reagan.
im Tay
Here ya go.
A Colonial Insult?
The “Yankee Doodle” tune was already well known by the 1750s. But tradition says that in 1755 a British doctor named Richard Schuckburg penned new words to mock his American allies. He portrayed the colonists as rude, crude, and cowardly. In the song, Schuckberg referred to the American fighter as both a “doodle”—a country hick, and a “dandy”—a conceited jerk. No one has ever figured out exactly where the term “Yankee” comes from.
One guess is that “Yankee” started as the nickname “Little Jan” used by Dutch settlers at the time. But the Brits used it to mock all American colonists.
AA said: "I think "Independence Day" gained some traction when a movie with that title came out, but to my ear, it lacks the verve of 4th of July."
Verve, shmerve. The importance of the day is not it's month or day; rather it's because the colonies declared their Independence from the mother country on that day. Let's try to stay with the reason for the holiday by referring to its correct name, i.e., Independence Day.
AMDG said, "Lennon was on a journey and was quite mercurial. I believe he believed everything he said when he said it. In 1980 he was quite positive in Reagan."
Well said, AMDG. I remember reading that shortly before the end of his life, Lennon found Jesus. But Yoko supposedly talked him out of it.
Ann,
Then why celebrate 4th of July instead of celebrating, say, the 7th of August.
4th of July is just a date Insurrection/independence is something people did. Something that reverbrates down through history. Like the ripples from a pebble tossed into a pond.
It is the action, not the date of the action that we celebrate. Or should celebrate.
John Henry
I agree, Althouse, that Springsteen's "Born in the USA" is more than simply dubious as a patriotic anthem. The same surface-level ignorance that drives "Trump as patriot" is what drives "Born in the USA" as a patriotic anthem.
Next up on the list of Worst Excuses for Patriotic Anthems; "God Bless the USA." In the entire panoply of American patriotic music, "God Bless the USA" might be the most outstanding clunker of the bunch. We have the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," "America the Beautiful," "God Bless America," "Yankee Doodle," "You're a Grand Old Flag." Etc., etc. historically great songs. By historically great songwriters.
The fact that "God Bless the USA" has been taken over by the TrumpWing as its own anthem is only the second most important reason to never play it. The first is that it is such a shitty song. With jingle-level lyrics:
Well I'm proud to be an American,
Where at least I know I'm free...
Well there you go. In Lee Greenwood's post-apocalyptic vision where everything has come apart, at least there's freedom. Maybe.
No one that I know of has put my feelings about "God Bless America" into better focus than Christopher Miller, writing at (oh the freaking irony) The Federalist in those halcyon neo-Trump days of 2017. "God Bless the USA is a Stupid Song No One Should Ever Play."
Oh no wait; there's this fantastically funny Substack takedown of "God Bless the USA." Where the song is described as "the [national] anthem for people who steal catalytic converters for a living."
I wish everyone a Happy Fourth of July, even the haters and losers and the radical leftists and communists who want to destroy our great country and its white Christian country music heritage. There ain't no doubt about it.
Re Hoagie Carmichael
Great, great songwriter and singer of said songs. Willie Nelson's Stardust album has a number of them.
I rewatched Best Years of Our Lives a month or 2 ago. Great movie from 1946.
Hoagie Carmichael has a great supporting roll as a piano playing bar owner.
John Henry
Carmichael was in another film I saw recently with Bogart and Bacall,
Fleming suggested Bond looked a little like Carmichael,
I have a playlist for when my wife is with me
Best of Perry como
Best dean martin
Best of Hoagie Carmichael
Stardust album
A few Bing Crosby, van Morrison, Rosetta Tharp, Artie Shaw, Glenn Miller and Louis Prima tracks for some spice.
About 350 tracks so I just put it on shuffle and seldom hear the same track twice in a month.
John Henry
With me in the car, that is
John Henry
Funny, I was perusing the same Spotify options, looking for a playlist. A better Springsteen tune might be “empty sky”….where he expresses tenderness for this land.
Neither is CCR’s Fortunate Son a patriotic song, but appears on most of those lists. Did you see the one with “ Love the One You’re With” by CSN&Y ? I mean, WTH?
Looking at the classic rock patriotic playlists made me reflect on our boomer generation, beneficiaries of the most prosperous and stable America, and wholly responsible for the nosedive into decadence now extant.
Instead, I chose a classic military March Sousa-Cohan list and marched around the house with my 2 year old grandson. Happy fourth to all.
Then there is Paul Simon's "American Tune."
But it's alright, it's alright
For we lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the
Road we're traveling on
I wonder what's gone wrong
I can't help it, I wonder what has gone wrong
And I dreamed I was flying
And high up above my eyes could clearly see
The Statue of Liberty
Sailing away to sea
And I dreamed I was flying
We come on the ship they call The Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon
We come in the age's most uncertain hours
And sing an American tune
Then there’s that bit about the oceans white with foam, which is just a strange thing to mention in a patriotic song."
Got any other stanza that rhymes with “My home, sweet home”?
Fourth of July by X is my favorite.
On the stairs I smoke a cigarette alone
Mexican kids are shooting fireworks below.
And hey baby
It's the 4th of July ...
Breezy wrote… “I wonder if the Brits have any special songs for this day.”
Why yes, yes they do…
“I’m Afraid of Americans”
https://youtu.be/5UDkRpqO-b0?si=neqlUxDXHcZr5kJD
Chuck should move to Canada, where "at least he knows he's free."
@John, for me “Independence Day” will always be the song sung by Martina McBride, which is about a woman getting rid of her drunken, abusive husband, at the cost of her own life, too.
What - no US Blues?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rdPOAhBp2Ag
Willie didn't write this but in my mind he owns it. One of my favorites
Living In The Promiseland
Willie Nelson
Give us your tired and weak and we will make them strong
Bring us your foreign songs and we will sing along
Leave us your broken dreams, we'll give them time to mend
There's still a lot of love living in the promiseland
Living in the promiseland, our dreams are made of steel
The prayer of every man is to know how freedom feels
There is a winding road 'cross the shifting sand
And room for everyone living in the promiseland
So they came from a distant isle
Nameless woman, faithless child like a bad dream
Until there was no room at all
No place to run and no place to fall
Give us your daily bread, we have no shoes to wear
No place to call our home, only this cross to bear
We are the multitudes, lend us a helping hand
Is there no love anymore living in the promiseland?
Living in the promiseland, our dreams are made of steel
The prayer of every man is to know how freedom feels
There is a winding road 'cross the shifting sand
And room for everyone living in the promiseland
And room for everyone living in the promiseland
“Well, now called The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.”
Update: now called “The Stone Tabernacle Choir - Live at Temple Square: The Lost Heaven Tapes”
Paul Simon makes me want to Puke. He's a short Neil Diamond.
Pious Agnostic at 8:28 & Marcus Bressler at 9:29 - Two thumbs way up! Thanks for the stories.
Bravo.
I don't cry anymore really. I am too damn tired.
But, watch a clip of Whitney Houston singing the Star Spangled Banner at the 1991 Super Bowl between Giants and Bills. Was just before first Persian Gulf War.
Eyes get moist.
Judging by the way everything whizzes over his head, Chuck must be pretty [insert adjective here]
@narciso, 11:21: To Have and Have Not, their first film together. Steve (Harry) learned to whistle. Hemingway wrote the book, Faulkner the screenplay.
No 4th playlist could be complete without Johnny Cash singing 'I've been everywhere, man'.
To all you lefty gun-grabbers out there, you would have never fought the British.
You'd have been happy as a slave of the king.
So as you eat your hot dogs and wear your red, white, and blue outfits, fuck off...
Although I'm a righty, I like the old lefty Woody Guthrie song "This Land is Your Land". It is about my love of the country.
"Dylan may have won the Nobel prize, but Berlin got rich." Yeah, Dylan's wondering where his next meal's coming from. Willing to bet his fortune matches or exceeds Berlin's.
God bless America... and grant our leaders the wisdom to choose life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
“ Yeah, let's hope it's not about his sister/.Other arms reach out to me/Other eyes smile tenderly/Still in peaceful dreams I see/The road leads back to you”
1. But Carmichael didn’t write the words only the music.
2. That could be said about your sister. They remind me of some of the lines of the character Tom in The Glass Menagerie talking about his sister who calls him back into the past.
'Carmichael was in another film I saw recently with Bogart and Bacall,'
"To Have and Have Not," her first role...
On the road again. Just can't wait... is an American pastime to celebrate Independence Day on the 4th of July, leading to an optimistic adventure.
Stan Smith said...
Chuck should move to Canada, where "at least he knows he's free."
Oh Canada.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6j5ucKaBtR4
yOUtUBE: My dark horse
"Born in the U.S.A." is not a 4th of July song! It's completely negative about America.
It's a negative song but it's not anti-American.
If he's trying to be anti-American, he sucks at it!
Anarchy in the U.K., that's how you hate something. God Save the Queen. Johnny Rotton was so mad, he even hated abortion. And his record company! And Communists!
Tell me Thomas Jefferson would not agree with "God Save the Queen! Fascist regime!"
You Commies who love Imagine and Back in the USSR, while you ignore reality? Spit!
I was waiting for the communist call
I dared to ask for sunshine, and I got World War III
I'm looking over the wall and they're looking at me!
Now I got a reason, now I got a reason
Now I got a reason and I'm still waiting
Now I got a reason
Now I got a reason to be waiting
The Berlin Wall
They're staring all night and
They're staring all day
I had no reason to be here at all
But now I gotta reason, it's no real reason
And I'm waiting at Berlin Wall
I'm gonna go over the Berlin Wall
I don't understand this thing at all
I'm gonna go over and over the Berlin Wall
I'm gonna go over the Berlin Wall
I'm gonna go over the Berlin Wall
Claustrophobia, there's too much paranoia
There's too many closets, oh, when will we fall?
And now I gotta reason
It's no real reason to be waiting
The Berlin Wall
I gotta go over the Wall
I don't understand this thing at all
It's third rate B-Movie show
Cheap dialogue, cheap essential scenery
I gotta go over the wall
I wanna go over the Berlin Wall
Before me come over the Berlin Wall
I don't understand this bit at all
I'm gonna go over the wall
I'm gonna go over the Berlin Wall
I'm gonna go over the Berlin Wall
Before me come over the Berlin Wall
I don't understand this thing at all
Please don't be waiting for me
"Insurrection Day"
No. By definition, an insurrection is a failure. A successful insurrection is a revolution. Call it Revolution Day. The Fourth of July is a good name, too.
Either beats what my current British visitors call it: Ungrateful Colonials Day.
"
Blogger John henry said...
Re Hoagie Carmichael
Great, great songwriter and singer of said songs. Willie Nelson's Stardust album has a number of them."
I had a beautiful young woman as a patient one time. Her last name was Carmichael. Her father's nickname was "Hoagie." She was a bathing suit model but one day she was putting on eye makeup driving to work. Her car was in the right lane and she hit a semi- parked at the curb. Her parents brought in some of the ads she had done to show how she looked. You couldn't recognize her. Hitting a trailer at 50 mph will do that to you. She eventually healed but her face was not the same.
In keeping with our insurrection Day theme, let me recommend a mini-series I started last night.
Rebellion, on Netflix, is about the Irish insurrection, "Rising", of Easter Sunday 1916.
After lots of trials and tribulations it eventually led to independence for most of Ireland. 6 counties are still part of England.
And OT but one of the best cop shows I've ever seen is Blue Lights on Britbox. 2 seasons/12 eps so far. About a police station in Belfast in the current day. Fairly straightforward crime series but the past troubles do come into play.
Just watched it 2 weeks ago. Thinking of watching it again already.
John Henry
If you want to celebrate America with music
You got to go with jazz
our gift to the world
Blue Rondo a la Turk
Manteca
No. By definition, an insurrection is a failure. A successful insurrection is a revolution. Call it Revolution Day. The Fourth of July is a good name, too
Never heard that before. Just checked a couple of online dictionaries nothing about needing to fail. Do you have a cite for your definition?
US Code doesn't really define it other than to say it is against the law. I agree that insurrectionists could only be charged if the insurrection fails. But if it succeeds, it is still an insurrection. Title 18 PART I CHAPTER 115 § 2383
I am OK with "Revolution Day" except that it calls to mind the French, Russian, Chinese and some other revolutions that did not lead to independence, merely a change of existing government.
John Henry
The lyric “to the oceans, white with foam, destroy “God Bless America” for me
The Episcopalian camp song, "I am an Anglican" uses the same tune but substitutes "not a Baptist, white with foam," so your objection seems ridiculous to me.
I also have a soft spot for Kids in America
Stan Smith I forgot to add one of the very best things about Canada these days: Donald Trump may be barred from going there.
I thought Althouse had a “things misunderstood” or similar tag.
It’s funny that Bruce is responsible for two misunderstood songs in different ways. First he wrote Blinded by the Light and everyone hears “racked up like a douche” in the chorus. Then buffed up and newly political in the ’80s he wrote Born in the USA, and despite the lyrics Althouse notes a lot of people just know the chorus. And famously Reagan used the song in his reelection campaign in’84, truly pissing Bruce off while also fixing the song as pro-American for the large chunk of listeners who don’t listen to the lyrics. That group includes the late great Eddie Van Halen who said he didn’t know what the singer was saying and didn’t really care.
Silent Cal speaks out!
"About the Declaration there is a finality that is exceedingly restful. It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning can not be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers."
Dude!
more of a rap than a song, but still
Later on, it dawned on me why I remember it was the Secretary of the Interior that got in hot water over some remarks about the 4th of July celebrations at the national mall.
The Secretary of the Interior is a funny title.
We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable; that all men are created equal & independant, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent & inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these ends, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government shall become destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, & to institute new government, laying it's foundation on such principles & organising it's powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety & happiness.
"Born in the USA" may not be patriotic, but it has something positive to say about working class Americans (white trash) making the best of things in America and still being proud to live here. Same with "Copperhead Road" by Steve Earle and "Little Pink Houses" by John Cougar Mellencamp. I like these songs, and I was born into a large working class family.
To clarify Van Halen said that about the singers in his band.
"City of New Orleans" came up in our playlist today, Willie Nelson's version, with that iconic line "Good morning, America, how are you."
Great back story on the song:
"While at the Quiet Knight bar in Chicago, (Steve) Goodman saw Arlo Guthrie, and asked to be allowed to play a song for him. Guthrie grudgingly agreed, on the condition that if Goodman bought him a beer, Guthrie would listen to him play for as long as it took to drink the beer. Goodman played "City of New Orleans", which Guthrie liked enough that he asked to record it. The song was a hit for Guthrie on his 1972 album Hobo's Lullaby, reaching #4 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart and #18 on the Hot 100 chart; it would prove to be Guthrie's only top-40 hit and one of only two he would have on the Hot 100 (the other was a severely shortened and rearranged version of his magnum opus, "Alice's Restaurant", which hit #97). In New Zealand, "City of New Orleans" spent two weeks at number one, charting throughout the winter of 1973.
Guthrie's version of "The City of New Orleans" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2017."
If you fancy Arlo's version, here you go.
I predict Back in the USSR will live longer than the USSR did.
Soviet Union (1922-1991)
69 years
Back in the USSR (1968-????)
56 years and counting
great beat, but perhaps the dumbest song ever written
trying to satirize the Beach Boys while you skip over the atrocities of Stalin
On the boats and on the planes
They're coming to America
Never looking back again
They're coming to America
Home, don't it seem so far away
Oh, we're traveling light today
In the eye of the storm
In the eye of the storm
Home, to a new and a shiny place
Make our bed, and we'll say our grace
Freedom's light burning warm
Freedom's light burning warm
Everywhere around the world
They're coming to America
Every time that flag's unfurled
They're coming to America
Happy In Depends Day!
Lighten up, Saint Croix.
Everyone knew it was a playfully humorous song the first time they heard it.
"Come and keep your comrade warm"...indeed.
To a Rich Leftists like Neil Diamond "American Patriotism" meant black,brown, and yellow people from all over the world will all kinds of religions and values coming to America by the zillions to destroy America 1.0.
Maybe he can write a new song about "Coming to Israel" about "everyone" coming to the land freedom in Middle East.
I'll vote for America the Beautiful too.
I love celebrating a "death trap" and a "suicide rap
…Ha. Me, too. There was some show/commercial in my experience where the announcer voice repeated this along with “Lola was a showgirl/Rico wore a diamond.”
Everyone knew it was a playfully humorous song the first time they heard it.
If it was Back in Nazi Germany, you wouldn't be defending it.
I grant you that the Soviet Union wasn't as bad as Nazi Germany.
But it was pretty fucking bad.
Saint Croix,
Me too- love "Kids in America".
Blogger Aggie said...
No 4th playlist could be complete without Johnny Cash singing 'I've been everywhere, man'.
That reminds me, if not a 4th of July playlist, certainly a Texas one:
Northgate Noise
Box Set for the full list of music.
So many great “American” songs! We start the day with a way too loud Ray Charles doing America. Later, the the party quiets down there is nothing more moving than Dolores Keane singing My Grandfather’s Immigrant Eyes. If things seem to slow down, hit ‘em with a blast of Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever. HAPPY 4th to ALL!!!!!!
Suite Madame Blue - Styx
I'm going to watch Casablanca tonight.
It's a subtle and amazing anti-Nazi film, that's a wake-up call to the USA. And simultaneously, it's an amazing love story about sacrifice. I've seen it so many times, and I've yet to grow bored with it.
La Marseillaise
I posted this before but Blogger seems to have eaten it.
Willie Nelson didn't write this but as far as I am concerned, he owns it
The Promiseland
Give us your tired and weak
And we will make them strong
Bring us your foreign songs
And we will sing along
Leave us your broken dreams
We'll give them time to mend
There's still a lot of love
Living in the promiseland
Living in the promiseland
Our dreams are made of steel
The prayer of every man
Is to know how freedom feels
There is a winding road
'Cross the shifting sands
And room for everyone
Living in the promiseland
So they came from a distant isle
Aimless woman, faithless child
Like a bad dream
Until there was no room at all
No place to run and no place to fall
Give us your daily bread
We have no shoes to wear
No place to call our own
Only this cross to bear
We are the multitudes
Lend us a helping hand
Is there no love anymore?
Living in the promiseland
Living in the promiseland
Our dreams are made of steel
The prayer of every man
Is to know how freedom feels
There is a winding road
'Cross the shifting sands
And room for everyone
Living in the promiseland
And room for everyone
Living in the promiseland
Saint Croix said...
I'm going to watch Casablanca tonight.
It's a subtle and amazing anti-Nazi film, that's a wake-up call to the USA. And simultaneously, it's an amazing love story about sacrifice. I've seen it so many times, and I've yet to grow bored with it.
I quite like that sentiment.
Might I suggest another film from the period? Also starring Humphrey Bogart. Also deeply anti-Nazi. Also stirringly pro-American in a sly, working class gangster way.
“All Through the Night.”
'Stan Smith I forgot to add one of the very best things about Canada these days: Donald Trump may be barred from going there.'
Trump should be relieved.
It's turning into a communist shithole country.
'To a Rich Leftists like Neil Diamond "American Patriotism" meant black,brown, and yellow people from all over the world will all kinds of religions and values coming to America by the zillions to destroy America 1.0.'
When both sides of my family came here, there was zero welfare.
One side came a century before we were a country.
Pass a law; no welfare of any kind for non-citizens.
It would be a good start...
Yet Bruce loves his capitalism and the American dollar.
So virtuous.
Proud to say, never gave him a penny.
"There is one positive thing in the song, which is basically gloating that because the country is so awful, he got to leverage all the bad into a rock star career. In the final chorus, he proclaims himself 'a long gone Daddy in the U.S.A.' and then, finally, 'I'm a cool rocking Daddy in the U.S.A.'
"It worked out well for him... though the little people out there in the audience are screwed."
I think that's a pretty broad and unfair interpretation of the song. But, as I said earlier, the production and arrangement on the album are so different from the original demo. The version that everyone knows is bombastic and easily misunderstood.
In 1984, Reagan was giving people hope, asking them to move from cynicism, and helping revitalize the economy. I have always thought he was sincere in his politics, but deregulation led to things like hedge fund managers and leveraged buyouts, which gutted the working class and set the foundation for globalization, which hurt them even further.
Short term: lots of good stuff for the white color, educated class that became the core of the Democratic party and ignored the needs of the blue collar base that was, pre-90s, the backbone of the party. The combination of deregulation and the lack of interest or compassion for the working class among educated liberals brought us to this state. I think the song is an early warning.
I think Bruce is singing about the working class and about the vets we neglected after Viet Nam. Given that many of the folks who post here are against foreign intervention precisely because it's the working class that will pay the price, they might get at least some of that from the song.
Doesn't mean I think Bruce speaks for these folks any more, or that he has in ages. It's been a long time since the people he grew up with could afford to go to his concerts.
It also doesn't mean Bruce couldn't have made a less spirited recording (it would have sold less, though) or that the lyrics couldn't have been more precisely written. Here's the original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UBei3n4FOY&t=66s
Free tickets… in the middle, 6 rows back… L.A. Sports Arena Summer of 1981… my only surprise was that my ears didn’t bleed for several days afterward. It was so loud, my ears were aching, very painful.
I saw dozens of bands back in the day and this was the only time this happened.
The Music Man is always my 4th of July go to movie. We were fortunate to see it on 4th in a large theater which ran "Old movies" and the crowd was fantastic, clapping and singing along.
Another Good one is "She wore a yellow Ribbon" .
deregulation led to things like hedge fund managers and leveraged buyouts, which gutted the working class and set the foundation for globalization, which hurt them even further.
Revisionist and inaccurate…
Regarding The Music Man: I don’t mind singing along mostly, but I will not sing along to Shipoopi.
I'll bet "Basketball Jones" and the incomparable "Rubber Band Man" rarely appear on these lists.
Kurt suggested: "Of Thee I Sing" by George and Ira Gershwin. Simultaneously romantic, patriotic, and playful.
I have mentioned my younger daughter and her ambitions and realization to be an actress (she calls herself "actor", but I call BS on that, but in a gentle way)here before, so I will keep this comment brief. She gained entry into the local school of the arts here in Palm Beach County via audition. Some time around November, the Drama department picked about a dozen students to perform in a Black Box Theatre (small and intimate and painted black throughout); other than being subject to a prior approval review by the department chair (no pissing on crucifixes here), they got to do whatever they wished with their five minutes of Middle School fame. It was the first time I had ever seen my daughter on stage. She was second to perform and she rose up off her stool and stood in the spotlight, where she began to sing "Of Thee I Sing". After a few stanzas of what you might describe as a faithful rendition, the music went up tempo, she did the Charleston to it, and with a final twirl around, throwing her hands up in the air, finished with a great verve and much applause. Very proud daddy, who caught it on iphone video, joined in enthusiastically. I found out that her voice coach she had paid lessons for (out of her own funds), and her, had come up with the idea of a stylish version of "Of Thee I Sing" in two drastically different parts. She practiced and practiced. So, Kurt, "Of Thee I Sing (baby)" has special meaning for me. Thanks for jogging up that memory
Saint Croix said...
“All Through the Night.”
the best ever recruiting Ad
https://youtu.be/rGCwC1bmSCw
The patriotic shindig known as A Capitol Fourth is broadcast on PBS and underwritten by the fine folks at wait for it--Boeing!
So much for non-commercial public television.
Well, Chuckie, baby, I'm PROUD to be an American. At every fireworks display I've had the honor to attend, when they play Lee Greenwood's song, almost all the people attending rise to their feet at the lyrics,
And I'd gladly stand up next to you
And defend Her still today
'Cause there ain't no doubt
I love this land
God Bless the U.S.A."
Except the Democrats and the commies. They sit on their asses with their blue hair, nose piercing rings, -- the obese women and the soi boys who came for the fireworks and to parrot The Narrative of Orange Man Bad, and America Sucks.
I cannot imagine how much it sucks to be you.
God Bless the USA. And you. You don't deserve it, but I defend your rights as well as mocking you for your speech.
My dad was such a hardcore (if quiet about some parts of it) liberal that he subscribed to FACT Magazine. Look it up. He also got four hardbound copies of a relative publication, EROS magazine. Which I wisely snatched up and have in storage. Marilyn Monroe's last photo sessions was published in one issue. He also subscribed to Rampart's and was a card-carrying member of the ACLU.
But back to FACT: One issue devoted space to what a horrible song, "The Star-Spangled Banner" was. Not because of anything anti-American, as you might have thought. But because it is supposedly very difficult to play. So to stay OT, they had Hoagy Carmichael re-arrange it. My father had NO idea I took that issue to school and asked my music teacher to play it on the piano. She reluctantly did, and agreed that Carmichael's arrangement was easy to perform. I had no idea who he was when I was in 5th or 6th grade. I don't know if my music teacher skimmed through the other articles; I was pretty naive at the time. If you do look up FACT, read about Barry Goldwater successfully suing them and why he did.
I aleays thought it was “long dong daddy in thr USA,” as a riff on the old ragtime song “I’m a Ding Dong Daddy from Dumas.”
I figured that’s why Reagan liked it.
JSM
I grew up in Middleton, just west of Madison. As a young teen, I tuned into WIBA-FM (Radio Free Madison) which broadcast from atop the end of Regent St. overlooking Hilldale. Two DJs--Chris Morris and Pete Sherrick (sp?) were enthralled with Springsteen. They would travel to NJ to see him. This was ca. 1972-73. They hooked me, and I stayed hooked for years until Bruce soured and turned all ugly partisan. I never went back and never regretted that decision.
I never thought of Born in the USA as an anti-USA song. I always thought it was a love America even with all her warts song. A poor man's anthem to the best country out there, even with all the faults. Hmm.
I chose SiriusXM Classic Pops channel 4th of July playlist. I played it loud in my bedroom/office to help drown out the fireworks noise. My 3 yr old 80 lb justadog Andy Pandy is so scared of fireworks and thunderstorms. I missed a private fireworks show at my radio control model airplane club to sit with him. The older kids are much smaller, and they just hunkered down under the covers. Mom couldn't do it because she's in rehabilitation facility recovering from back surgery.
Around here last night there were more fireworks, and for longer, than in recent years.
Our little black dackel isn't bothered by them at all, as long as he's not close to them.
When I went to bed about 1015 they were still going strong.
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