Comments on: Songs about America

Question: Songs about America

DoorFrame — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:08:30 -0800

I'm driving cross country and am looking to make a mix CD for the road using songs about America. Ask Metafilter has previously tackled similar questions dealing with songs about Los Angeles, California, New York, New Jersey and even Europe, but what are some of the best songs about America?

By: kimdog

kimdog — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:17:46 -0800

Are you looking for rah rah USA songs or just songs about America in general?

I like:
Young Americans- David Bowie
I'm Afraid of Americans- David Bowie

By: saladin

saladin — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:18:03 -0800

"America, Fuck Yeah" from the Team America: World Police soundtrack.

By: k8lin

k8lin — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:18:37 -0800

"America" by Paul Simon. Good road trip song, especially for your purposes.

By: Sassyfras

Sassyfras — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:18:40 -0800

Top 25 Songs About America.

By: ericb

ericb — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:18:48 -0800

Breakfast in America -- Supertramp.

America -- Simon & Garfunkel.

By: saladin

saladin — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:24:26 -0800

"American Hearts" by Piebald.

By: DoorFrame

DoorFrame — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:24:49 -0800

Just songs about America in general... they need not be Rah Rah. I'm happy putting the national anthem next to Volunteers of America by Jefferson Airplane.

By: Morydd

Morydd — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:26:07 -0800

Are you looking for songs specifically about America as a whole, or do you also want cultural/regional songs. Such as "Sweet Home Alabama", "Rocky Mountain High", "Convoy", etc?

By: burnmp3s

burnmp3s — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:31:26 -0800

Liam Lynch - United States of Whatever

By: caminovereda

caminovereda — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:38:51 -0800

The "mix" you are looking for has already been made by Bruce Springsteen - "Born in the USA." Aside from pretty much anything by the Boss, I would also recommend "City of New Orleans" by Arlo Guthrie, "Highway 61 Revisited" by Bob Dylan, "Truckin'" by the Grateful Dead, and I would definitely third "America" by S&G.

By: steef

steef — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:39:35 -0800

"Little Pink Houses," John Mellencamp.

By: mumkin

mumkin — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:41:38 -0800

America from West Side Story, though not that exact version. Others have done much better.

By: wemayfreeze

wemayfreeze — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:43:10 -0800

2 Springsteen songs come to mind, but also all of his songs are about America?

Born in the U.S.A.
American Land

Pink Houses - John Mellencamp

By: Spinneret

Spinneret — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:44:13 -0800

"Miss America," by David Byrne. Anything from The Joshua Tree by U2.

By: kidsleepy

kidsleepy — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:46:32 -0800

American Band by Grand Funk Railroad
American Girl by Tom Petty
American Psycho by Treble Charger
Captain America by moe.
City of New Orleans by Willie Nelson
USA by the Sprague Brothers
Wakko's America by the Animaniacs

By: kidsleepy

kidsleepy — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:52:57 -0800

(i pulled those from my playlist called "U S Americans." i've got songs about various places in america on that list too, if you want.)

By: saladin

saladin — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:02:02 -0800

Sorry to keep dropping in with single recommendations, but let me also add "Trucker's Atlas" by Modest Mouse.

By: chez shoes

chez shoes — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:12:53 -0800

Anything by the Guthries, Woody or Arlo. Little Houses by Malvina Reynolds. The New World by X.

By: workerant

workerant — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:19:58 -0800

I've Been Everywhere, the version by Johnny Cash is my favorite.

By: doncoyote

doncoyote — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:28:30 -0800

Chuck Berry's Route 66, here covered by the World's Greatest Appropriators of Americana (Blues/R & B division) The RRRollling Stones

By: malapropist

malapropist — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:36:09 -0800

Leaving Beirut - Roger Waters

By: spinturtle

spinturtle — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:36:17 -0800

apologies for any repeats:

All American Girl - Melissa Etheridge
America - Neil Diamond
America Is - Violent Femmes
America's on Sale - Alix Olson
American Idiot - Green Day
American Music - Violent Femmes
American Patrol - Glenn Miller
American Pie - Don McLean, also Madonna
Elvis Presley and America - U2
Greatest American Hero - TV Theme Song
The Hands That Built America - U2
Hymn (for America) - The Mission
When the Beatles Hit America - John Wesley Harding
Young Americans - David Bowie
Her Amerika - The Dolly Ranchers

By: yeti

yeti — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:39:38 -0800

I'll second Neil Diamond - "America". A must for your mix.

By: timeistight

timeistight — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:50:43 -0800

America as a whole:

America the Beautiful — Ray Charles
Back in the U.S.A. — Chuck Berry
Star Spangled Banner — Jimi Hendrix

Large parts of America:

Promised Land — Chuck Berry
(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66 — Nat "King" Cole or The Rolling Stones (Written by Bobby Troup; to the best of my knowledge, Chuck never sang it.)
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down — The Band
At The Hundredth Meridian — The Tragically Hip

It just occurred to me that you could do a couple of hours just on Randy Newman songs:

A Few Words In Defense Of Our Country
A Wedding In Cherokee County
Baltimore
Birmingham
Burn On
Dayton, Ohio
Dixie Flyer
Every Man A King
Falling In Love
Feels Like Home
Follow The Flag
Guilty
I Love L.A.
It's Money That I Love
It's Money That Matters
Jolly Coppers On Parade
Kingfish
Louisiana 1927
Miami
Mr. President
My Country
My Life Is Good
My Old Kentucky Home
New Orleans Wins The War
Political Science
Rednecks
Rider In The Rain
Sail Away
Sigmund Freud's Impersonation Of Albert Einstein In America
Texas Girl At The Funeral Of Her Father
The Beehive State
The Great Nations Of Europe
The World Isn't Fair
Yellow Man

By: SuperSquirrel

SuperSquirrel — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:03:53 -0800

How about artists or bands named for America?

America
Gary U.S. Bonds
The Presidents of the United States of America

By: kristi

kristi — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:41:25 -0800

I'll see your Paul Simon's "America" and raise you Paul Simon's "American Tune."

also, eclectically:

Suite Madame Blue - Styx *
Breakfast in America - Supertramp
God's Country - Ani DiFranco
All the Way from America - Joan Armatrading
Which Way to America - Living Colour
I Blew Up the United States - Was (Not Was)
Somewhere In America (There's a Street Named After My Dad) - Was (Not Was)
What Made America Famous - Harry Chapin
This is Not America - David Bowie

and, for parts of America,

Big Sky Country - Chris Whitley

* It is a constant complaint of the band that nobody realized this song was about America. Despite them singing "America, America, America, America" all through the bridge.

By: kristi

kristi — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:49:46 -0800

Oops - forgot a few Ani DiFranco songs:

Every State Line
Subdivision
'Tis of Thee

By: Caduceus

Caduceus — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:32:02 -0800

In the same rather disparaging category as American Idiot are Streets of America and American Jesus, by Bad Religion, as well The Empire Strikes First, which is clearly about America even though it's not stated explicitly.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:34:14 -0800

Paul Simon, "Graceland"

I am following the river
Down the highway
Through the cradle of the Civil War,
I'm going to Graceland, Graceland
Memphis, Tennessee
I'm going to Graceland

U2, "In God's Country"

By: doncoyote

doncoyote — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:33:57 -0800

timeistight, I stand corrected re: Route 66. I meant Chuck Berry's

Back in the USA

here covered by Linda Ronstadt, w. Chuck Berry, George Harrison and Keith Richards on guitars.

"New york, los angeles, oh, how I yearned for you
Detroit, chicago, chattanooga, baton rouge
Let alone just to be at my home back in ol st. lou."

By: doncoyote

doncoyote — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:37:42 -0800

James Blood Ulmer

Are You Glad to be in America?

By: KirkJobSluder

KirkJobSluder — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:54:07 -0800

Pink Houses is overrated and overplayed out of the Mellencamp catalog. He was still learning to sing and had not fully tapped into the American Roots musical tradition that would drive his later songwriting. Get something off of Scarecrow like "Minutes to Memories" or Lonesome Jubilee like "Check it Out".

By: doncoyote

doncoyote — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:54:57 -0800

The Roots cover Dylan's

Masters of War (initially to the tune of "Star Spangled Banner," accompanied by
tuba and drum solo)

For crossing the Rockies

The Band's Across the Great Divide, here covered by a young woman playing a ukulele

By: JustKeepSwimming

JustKeepSwimming — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:00:44 -0800

It's already been mentioned, but you must have Simon & Garfunkel's America. One of my favorite memories was counting the cars on the New Jersey turnpike while singing about counting the cars on the New Jersey turnpike.

Also:

City of New Orleans by Arlo Guthrie
This Land is Your Land by Woody Guthrie
This Land is Your Land as covered by Bruce Springsteen
Tangled Up in Blue by Bob Dylan (a love story, but also a travel across America song)
America by Bree Sharp (not S&G's song, but cynical and catchy)
American Tune by Paul Simon

Also, I recommend Bruce Springsteen's "We Shall Overcome" album. None of the songs are specifically about "America" as a concept/nation -- but they're all American folk songs.

By: Susurration

Susurration — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:56:23 -0800

One of the really stirring , singalong songs for driving - The Proclaimers - Letter From America.

By: TheGoldenOne

TheGoldenOne — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:44:39 -0800

This is the single greatest album you can listen to while driving across the American Southwest. I've done it many, many times and it never gets old. When I cross the Mississippi River, I like to listen to the Doobie Brothers "Black Water." When cruising up the Pacific Coast Highway, the Beach Boys are in order. It's so regional- I have to break it down by state sometimes. I always prepare a region-specific driving mix for my roadtrips.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:00:45 -0800

Hmm. Lemme see what I can fill in here that others haven't gotten:

"American Woman" by the Guess Who.
"Yankee Doodle Dandy", George M. Cohan.
If you're of a classical bent: anything by Aaron Copland, or "Rhapsody in Blue" by Gershwin.
"R-O-C-K in the U-S-A" by John Mellencamp.
Ray Charles' cover of "America the Beautiful".

I did a similar road trip, but went with more of a "zeitgiest" approach, going with songs that felt like "Americana" to me; granted, I was deliberately looking for roadside Americana kitsch, so the B-52's were PERFECT for that. The "O Brother Where Art Thou" soundtrack and various folkways albums would also work in that regard.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:02:55 -0800

Oh -- "Diner" by Martin Sexton. It name-drops many various states and cities, and it's an ode to a classic bit of Americana. Plus you'll probably be eating in a lot of them.

By: supramarginal

supramarginal — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:34:58 -0800

"America Song" and "Southern State of Mind" by Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers.

By: safetyfork

safetyfork — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:53:01 -0800

I'm so bored with the USA - The Clash.
What if there's a War in America? - 7 Seconds.
Straight American Slave - Rocket From the Crypt.

By: wakemenow

wakemenow — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 21:41:49 -0800

Great recommendations! I downloaded a few of these suggestions to create my own playlist. David Byrne's "Miss America" was new to me but I love it!

It's been a while since listening to David Bowie's "I'm Afraid of Americans" and "This Is Not America." Very cool to stumble across them again.