America!

In celebration of the re-election of Obama, which is a great victory not only for Americans but also for people around the world, I would like to take a moment to celebrate songs about that great nation. It is interesting when you think about it – how many songs do you know called “England”? I can’t think of any… some with “Englishman” in the title perhaps (“woah-oh”), but no song comes to mind called simply “England”. Same goes for “Britain”, or “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”, though I think that would make a corker of an album closer.

However, there are tens of well known pop songs titled “America”. Simon & Garfunkel have a superb one, Razorlight have a mediocre one, Rammstein have a German one that rhymes ‘wonderbra’ with ‘wunderbar’. Heck, even us icon girl pistols have a song called “America”. Plenty come to mind without even needing to extend the list to include those which use the word as an adjective where we have everything from Pie to Idiots, and the list goes on for pages. Hell, there was even a band called “America” who went through the desert on a horse with no name. la la la la la la.

I suppose it is the flexibility of the word, in its ability to convey so many meanings and emotions. For some “America” means pride, for some it means arrogance; it can be 21st century metropolis or 19th century pastoral; Pennsylvania steel or plastic Hollywood. It means jazz, blues, folk and hip-hop; summer night drive-ins and Saturday night drive-bys.

 Of all the songs “America”, my favourite would be a very recent one, by Bill Callahan on his 2011 album “Apocalypse”. Oops, I got the punctuation wrong. It’s actually “America!” Great beat, superb rhythm and lead guitars and Callahan’s baritone voice grooving along. The lyrics capture the way I think so many people feel about America; a sense of awe (“you are so grand and golden”) with an acknowledgement of the nation’s darker side (“well everyone's allowed a past they don't care to mention”).

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMQ0CeXYd54

 If you dig it, I recommend the album too – one of my favourites from last year.

[christopher]