America..Where we now?
It’s the most glorious of holidays, July 4th and I am here to celebrate.
In typical fashion, my selections for this week may strike some of you as odd choices for our Independence Day celebrations but like America, there is a lot of good and there is a lot of bad. That’s what freedom is.
None of the songs on this list are rah rah America but they are songs that make me think about this country and what we have been through over the last fifty five years (I started listening to music at 10, do the math).
In no particular order again.
My first song is by Steppenwolf. “Monster, Suicide, America” is an epic nine minute and fifteen second social commentary on America in 1969. Interesting lyrics and the song construction was way more complex than anything Steppenwolf had done up to that point. It’s a bit of a history lesson by an underrated Canadian-American band that got panned by critics for numerous reasons but I still think it’s a pretty good song and says a lot about the social situation in the US at that time. You super conservatives will hate it.
I am including John Mellencamp’s “Check It Out” on this list only because Mellencamp is this supposed American poet that writes rock songs. UGH. He does have a way to create American scenarios that vividly portray average Americans in a positive, humble light, I will give him that. I just really don’t like him very much and I can’t stomach hearing “Pink Houses” again. “Check It Out”, however, is a really good song and I think if you were going to put one Mellencamp song on any playlist, this is the one.
“America” by Simon and Garfunkel is a beautiful song and it is just a simple story of a trip being taken by friends (or lovers) across America. The harmonies are perfect, as usual, and the production is typical of Simon and Garfunkel, perfect. No better expression of hazily crossing the continent. I never tire of listening to this song for so many reasons. As a side note, David Bowie did a version of this song at the “Tribute to Heroes” concert at Madison Square Garden after 9/11. Every time I hear that version, I cry.
“U.S.Blues” by the Grateful Dead is one of my favorite Dead songs. I know it’s a sarcastic look at the US but it’s still a damn good song. I also believe that Garcia and Hunter really did love America, with all it’s quirks and scars.
Before Steve Miller started putting out pop crap he was considered one of the best guitarists in the country and had a solid blues/rock resume that included “Living in The USA”. I heard this song for the first time at around 1:30 in the morning on a local FM station in New York and waited up for another half hour to find out the name of it. Once I got the info, I went out the next day and hunted down the album from whence it came. Sailor was the band’s second album and I couldn’t tell you the name of any other songs on that album. That was how it was back then, you would buy an album for just one song and if you were lucky, it opened your eyes to some really great stuff. This album was not one of them.
Because I am this Conservative Republican it does not mean I have no use for powerful protest songs and the one thing that this country probably does better than anywhere else is produce intense protest songs. The next few songs are on my Protest playlist and they are as much about this country as Lee Greenwoods’ “God Bless The USA”.
First up is Marvin Gaye’s “Inner City Blues”. This song is a masterpiece. Period.
Next, The Temptations “Ball of Confusion” and “Cloud Nine” fit the bill here. Both songs are about the plight of the Black man in America in the 60’s and the 70’s. The Temptations were one of the biggest, most successful acts in America and they had the guts to break free from love songs into becoming the voice of the Black community and it’s struggles. The production quality is astounding along with the lyrics and those voices!!
Another protest song that addressed something most Americans barely thought of was “Indian Reservation” by Paul Revere and The Raiders. They had this American Revolutionary War thing going on. Kind of dumb but back in 1967-1971, kitschy bands were the norm. This song stands out because it actually says something that few people wanted to hear.
My last protest song is “Ohio” by Crosby, Stills, Nash. Talk about a tough song to listen to. The song, if you don’t know it, is about the shooting of four student at Kent State University by Ohio National Guardsmen in 1970. Released roughly a month after the shootings, this song galvanized a whole generation into something their parents never expected, a unified force looking for real change. Quite possibly one of the darkest days in American history, it still resonates today.
I do know that there are a lot of really great songs about America and I wish I could say I like them all but I don’t. Maybe it’s because I am cranky but I would like to think I am a realist and I know that listening to patriotic songs doesn’t make you a patriot.