Best performance of a song about America

[jobycom]

I'm leaving off Lee Greenwood... Sorry

[GOPisEvil]

1. Gotta go with Ray!

No Kate Smith singing "God Bless America"? ;-)

[wryter2000]

2. That was tough

Woodie Guthrie versus Ray Charles. Had to go with Brother Ray.

[Richardo]

3. "American Tune" by Paul Simon

Chokes me up every time.

[WMliberal]

4. csny- southern man

does a song about just one region count? I mean, they nailed the south right on the head with that one.

[jobycom]

15. No, they missed it by a mile

Maybe from the outside it looked like that. From the inside there were a lot of people trying, and that song made their jobs harder. To quote Lynard Snynard: We all did what we could do. Neil Young missed that. You can't hate someone into changing.

Try Ohio if you want a CSNY protest song.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

5. Wasteland of the Free - Iris De Ment

WASTELAND OF THE FREE (Iris DeMent)
(c) 1996 Songs of Iris ASCAP

Living in the wasteland of the free...

We got preachers dealing in politics and diamond mines
and their speech is growing increasingly unkind
They say they are Christ's disciples
but they don't look like Jesus to me
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got politicians running races on corporate cash
Now don't tell me they don't turn around and kiss them peoples' ass
You may call me old-fashioned
but that don't fit my picture of a true democracy
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got CEO's making two hundred times the workers' pay
but they'll fight like hell against raising the minimum wage
and If you don't like it, mister, they'll ship your job
to some third-world country 'cross the sea
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

Living in the wasteland of the free
where the poor have now become the enemy
Let's blame our troubles on the weak ones
Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy
Living in the wasteland of the free

We got little kids with guns fighting inner city wars
So what do we do, we put these little kids behind prison doors
and we call ourselves the advanced civilization
that sounds like crap to me
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got high-school kids running 'round in Calvin Klein and Guess
who cannot pass a sixth-grade reading test
but if you ask them, they can tell you
the name of every crotch on mTV
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We kill for oil, then we throw a party when we win
Some guy refuses to fight, and we call that the sin
but he's standing up for what he believes in
and that seems pretty damned American to me
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

Living in the wasteland of the free
where the poor have now become the enemy
Let's blame our troubles on the weak ones
Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy
Living in the wasteland of the free

While we sit gloating in our greatness
justice is sinking to the bottom of the sea
Living in the wasteland of the free
Living in the wasteland of the free
Living in the wasteland of the free

[amber dog democrat]

18. I did not know about this one, thank you

I will start listening more to her.

and an older dated lyrcs from Frank Zappa

Mr America, walk on by your supermarket dream
Mr America, walk on by your liquor store, supreme
Mr. America try to hide the emptiness that's you inside.
The day the learn the way you lied,
and all the corny tricky you tried,
will not forstall the the rising tide of hungry freaks, daddy !

or

Mama, mama
some one said they made some noise.
The cops have shot some girls and boys.
You sit home and drink all night. They looked too wierd,
it served them right. Frank Zappa - the mothers of invention

or


everybody knows the deal is rotton.
Old black Joe is still picking cotton
for your ribbons and bows - every body knows.

Leonard Cohen

or

The ghosts of highway royalty have vanished in tht night.
The Whitman wonderer walking with some gliwing inner light.
The children have grown older now and the cops have gripped us tight.
There's no spot round the melting pot for free men in their flight.

And you who live on promises and prosper as you please,
the victim of your riches often dies with your disease.
He can't hear the factory's whistle, just the lonesome freight trains wheeze.
He's lilving on good fortune, he's not dying on his knees...

Don McClean.

or

Down in the city , in the shadow of the steeple,
in the welfare office, I saw my people.
Some of them were stumbling , and all were wondering
if this land belongs to you and me.

Woody Guthrie.

or

Your flag decal won't get you into heaven anymore.
Its already overcrowded from your dirty little war.,
And Jesus don't like killing, no matter what the reason for
and your flag decal won't get you ino heaven anymore....

John Prine.

[Dogmudgeon]

6. The whole musical "1776"

Man, that was one excellent musical!

And just as Tom here has written,
The Egg belongs to Great Britain, but
The Eagle inside
Belongs to US!

"Mama, Look Sharp" still gives me the chills, thirty years on.

--bkl

[WMliberal]

8. love that musical

but you have to agree the "salt peter, John" song could be omitted

[amber dog democrat]

7. Ray - a drop of golden son...

but I would have included Hendirx too.

and This Land is Your land by Woodrow Wilson Guthrie, whose birthday it is today!

Who is Lee Greenwood?

[mongo]

9. Your flag decal won't get you into heaven anymore

John Prine

While digesting Reader's Digest
In the back of a dirty book store,
A plastic flag, with gum on the back,
Fell out on the floor.
Well, I picked it up and I ran outside
Slapped it on my window shield,
And if I could see old Betsy Ross
I'd tell her how good I feel.

Chorus:
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.

Well, I went to the bank this morning
And the cashier he said to me,
"If you join the Christmas club
We'll give you ten of them flags for free."
Well, I didn't mess around a bit
I took him up on what he said.
And I stuck them stickers all over my car
And one on my wife's forehead.

Repeat Chorus:

Well, I got my window shield so filled
With flags I couldn't see.
So, I ran the car upside a curb
And right into a tree.
By the time they got a doctor down
I was already dead.
And I'll never understand why the man
Standing in the Pearly Gates said...

"But your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
We'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."

[ClintonTyree]

12. I second that nomination.................

John Prine is one of my favs......great song!

[southpaw]

21. Isn't there a Todd Snider song...

About Chinese-made plastic flags on SUVs? Seems like I heard a snippet on Doug Stephan a while back.

[ClintonTyree]

10. John Asscrack...............

"The Eagle is Sore". Why isn't THAT on the list? Commie, un-American bastards. Asscrack is a great patriot and deserves to be on the list!
:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[jobycom]

17. It is!

Give me credit, o patriotic friend.

Um, but for some reason it hasn't gotten any votes.

[NuckinFutz]

11. One of the forgotten ones....

Alice's Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie.

[Hubert Flottz]

13. Kansas

Song For America

[arwalden]

14. "Proud To Be An American" by Lee Greenwood...

definitely is NOT one that I'd even consider.

-- Allen

(fooled ya didn't I?)

[Tempest]

16. Democracy - Leonard Cohen

It's coming through a hole in the air,
from those nights in Tiananmen Square.
It's coming from the feel
that this ain't exactly real,
or it's real, but it ain't exactly there.
From the wars against disorder,
from the sirens night and day,
from the fires of the homeless,
from the ashes of the gay:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming through a crack in the wall;
on a visionary flood of alcohol;
from the staggering account
of the Sermon on the Mount
which I don't pretend to understand at all.
It's coming from the silence
on the dock of the bay,
from the brave, the bold, the battered
heart of Chevrolet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming from the sorrow in the street,
the holy places where the races meet;
from the homicidal bitchin'
that goes down in every kitchen
to determine who will serve and who will eat.
From the wells of disappointment
where the women kneel to pray
for the grace of God in the desert here
and the desert far away:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on
O mighty Ship of State!
To the Shores of Need
Past the Reefs of Greed
Through the Squalls of Hate
Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on.

It's coming to America first,
the cradle of the best and of the worst.
It's here they got the range
and the machinery for change
and it's here they got the spiritual thirst.
It's here the family's broken
and it's here the lonely say
that the heart has got to open
in a fundamental way:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming from the women and the men.
O baby, we'll be making love again.
We'll be going down so deep
the river's going to weep,
and the mountain's going to shout Amen!
It's coming like the tidal flood
beneath the lunar sway,
imperial, mysterious,
in amorous array:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on ...

I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can't stand the scene.
And I'm neither left or right
I'm just staying home tonight,
getting lost in that hopeless little screen.
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags
that Time cannot decay,
I'm junk but I'm still holding up
this little wild bouquet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

[southpaw]

19. You left of Toby Keith Angry 'Murikan!

You must be a dam librul!

We'll put a boot in yer ass, its tha 'merikan way!

[jobycom]

25. Yes I did!

I'll include Toby in any poll of drinking, bar, and loose women songs, but he ain't on this list.

[Magrittes Pipe]

20. "I'm so Bored with the U.S.A."

by the Clash.

[EstimatedProphet]

22. I'm partial to Mellencamp on this one

but the song is "Pink Houses"

[amerikat]

23. This song is for Phil Oaks who hung himself with a length or rope.

Goldfish Don't Talk Back - Brenda Kahn

I used to get scared when the planes went by
I thought a russian bomb would drop out of the sky
thought i'd fight and die and go to heaven but i've
learned some things since then

Like no one really knows what's 2+2
you can't always trust The Man in Blue
you may think the world's gone mad
but baby they think it's you

Every candy store on the block sells crack
every supreme court ruling is 3 steps back
here's acid rain in the drinking water,
but the goldfish they don't talk back

This song is for Phil Oaks
who hung himself with a length of rope
he took his job seriously,
he weren't no 9 to 5 folk singer.
like the ones on MTV
that's what Kirk Kelly said to me
on the corner of Clinton and Houston Street where

Every candy store on the block sells crack
every supreme court ruling is 3 steps back
here's acid rain in the drinking water,
but the goldfish they don't talk back

I went down to the laundry mat
there's a woman with a face like a Siamese cat
trying to wash her only clothes, the clothes on her back
she's in a St. Vincent's wheelchair,
but it look like St. Vincent doesn't care
she's a 60lb skeleton in underwear

Mr. president
the nation doesn't look secure
are you sure what you spent
all our money for?

There's a great big hole
where the sky used to be
and there's an asshole
on my TV who says
"Act now you get nine issues free
Plus an issue of women with an eating disease@"

Every candy store on the block sells crack
every supreme court ruling is 3 steps back
there's acid rain in the drinking water,
but the goldfish they don't talk back

....let's not be goldfish now.

[blindpig]

24. honorable mention:

Monster by Steppenwolf. Yeah, yeah, I know, but it affected me mightily back in the day. The chorus has been in my head a lot lately.