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Late Night: America

By Jeralyn, Section Media
Posted on Fri Jul 04, 2008 at 01:06:20 AM EST
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I've come to look for America...
They've all come to look for America.

Simon and Garfunkle version here.

One more, Bon Jovi, Miss Fourth of July

This is an open thread. Song suggestions for tomorrow (4th of July) welcome.

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    Late Night: America | 14 comments (14 topical)

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    Last November Mayor Nutter of Philadelphia (none / 0) (#1)
    by andgarden on Fri Jul 04, 2008 at 01:17:18 AM EST
    was elected with an 80% mandate. Today Rick Santorum, who never drew more than 20% of the vote from Philadelphia, purports to give him advice about how he should deal with civil rights issues, lest the Federal government mistake the city for an un American den of liberal sin.

    And Senator man-on-dog's best line: "Mayor Nutter, it's time to call off the dogs."

    What a buffoon.

    Man (none / 0) (#2)
    by Steve M on Fri Jul 04, 2008 at 01:23:16 AM EST
    That piece made my eyes bleed.  What a mitzvah it was to get that man out of office.

    Parent
    There was nothing more satisfying (none / 0) (#3)
    by andgarden on Fri Jul 04, 2008 at 01:26:15 AM EST
    That man represents everything that's wrong with Republicans.

    Parent
    Kicking George Allen to the curb... (none / 0) (#4)
    by kredwyn on Fri Jul 04, 2008 at 01:31:35 AM EST
    was equally satisfying.

    Parent
    Not for me (none / 0) (#5)
    by andgarden on Fri Jul 04, 2008 at 01:40:44 AM EST
    Santorum was a really unpleasant Senator.

    Parent
    The Star Spangled Banner (none / 0) (#6)
    by Valhalla on Fri Jul 04, 2008 at 01:50:43 AM EST
    Jimi's version.  Or maybe Dolly's.  Or whomever.

    Truly, I love the Star Spangled Banner.  Most national anthems are big and brassy bragging about how great the country is.  But the SSB tells a story -- a real story.  It asks a question of (yes) hope for freedom, hope for a sign that the fight was worth it.  Even if the rhetoric of hope, and the free & the brave, and the principle of fighting for something have been rather abused this political season, well they always are in presidential campaign years.  But we can celebrate them as ideas as much as we disagree on how to reach them.

    I was quite upset in the 70s (or maybe 80s?) when there was a movement afoot to change the national anthem to America the Beautiful, because it was easier to sing and play.  Forget that!  Give me our crazy, complicated, challenging anthem any day.  It's what the U.S. is after all -- crazy, complicated, and challenging.

    However, Ray Charles singing (none / 0) (#13)
    by Cream City on Fri Jul 04, 2008 at 03:34:20 AM EST
    America the Beautiful -- it's on YouTube -- is amazing.  With the gospel chorus going.  Wow.

    But yeh, I like the SSB.  I like any song with a history, and those songs written in wartime are so sad.  Many of them antiwar songs, in their own way.

    (For that reason, my favorite Christmas carol is "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," written during the Civil War.  The depths of despair, that God has abandoned all -- then the glimmer of hope that "God is not dead, nor doth he sleep."  Knowing the backstory, that Longfellow lost a son in the war. . . .)

    Parent

    Heh (none / 0) (#8)
    by Steve M on Fri Jul 04, 2008 at 02:36:27 AM EST
    When Jose Feliciano played his own version of the Star-Spangled Banner during the 1968 World Series, he was practically run out of town.  Thankfully we're more enlightened about artistic freedom nowadays!

    I like the other Paul Simon song (none / 0) (#9)
    by shoephone on Fri Jul 04, 2008 at 03:03:29 AM EST
    "American Tune" which is (if you didn't already know) based on one of the Bach chorales. It' a bit more melancholy than the other tributes.

    I linked to it (none / 0) (#14)
    by ruffian on Fri Jul 04, 2008 at 06:06:53 AM EST
    on the new thread, if you would like to hear it.

    Thanks for the background.  I love the melody - it always worms into my head and stays for a few days after I hear it.

    Parent

    We need more like her (none / 0) (#12)
    by MyLeftMind on Fri Jul 04, 2008 at 03:17:56 AM EST
    She was a middle manager at Microsoft when the birth of her son motivated her to enter politics to bring about positive change for the future...

    Oh yeah.

    Hey Jeralyn... (none / 0) (#15)
    by Jackson Hunter on Fri Jul 04, 2008 at 06:18:47 AM EST
    I hope that you see this, it took me a while to pick a song.  I propose that you put up "'Merican" by The Descendents.  It's a punk song, so it is a little heavy, but nothing too crazy.  The audio is clear, but the video is a static shot of an album cover, they don't get much Mtv time.  (There was another choice, but it had an unflattering image of Hilary on it, so I didn't even bother to play it.)

    Almost every line is a classic (IMHO) but my favorite are these two, and they are the most applicable for today:

    "I'm proud and ashamed, every 4th of July;
    You've got to know the truth before you say that you got pride!"

    Anyway, here is the linky goodness:

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=bh4NlJQhG4E

    Jackson

    Born (none / 0) (#16)
    by tokin librul on Fri Jul 04, 2008 at 08:34:50 AM EST
    In the USA

    "Michigan seems like a dream to me now" (none / 0) (#18)
    by Cream City on Fri Jul 04, 2008 at 12:30:13 PM EST
    A poignant line in the context of this primary.

    As for "be careful, his bowtie is really a camera" -- a scary line in the context of candidates so willing to cave in the current debate in Congress.

    Late Night: America | 14 comments (14 topical)

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