Love that patriotic song
Ihave an Independence Day tradition: I like to listen to songs about America. My favorites tend to be critical of this country in some way, such as Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” or Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA.” These aren’t the flag-waving anthems their titles suggest; they’re searing indictments of a nation that failed its citizens by leaving them poor, stuck and feeling—as Springsteen sings—“like a dog that’s been beat too much.” On our day of national pride, when celebratory words such as “freedom” and “liberty” are hurled about like Roman candles, it feels important to remain clear-eyed about our faults.
But at some point in the day, I have a secret favorite: Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.” It’s a song my fellow liberals love to hate. I love it.
Yes, it is overwrought and jingoistic. It glorifies war. It trumpets self-righteousness. There’s a reason Greenwood was invited to perform the song at the inaugurations of the last four Republican presidents, including Donald “America First” Trump.
And yet I still find myself moved by this song. Maybe it’s because I grew up surrounded by soldiers in Camp Zama, a U.S. Army base in Japan.
Or maybe it’s because even though my mother is from the Philippines and my father is from India, I have always identified first as American.
I’m reminded of a story about another Independence Day standard: “America the Beautiful.” Ray Charles’ version appears on the album A
Message From the People, released in 1972. Charles revised the song’s lyrics, leaving out phrases such as “pilgrim feet” and “alabaster cities … undimmed by human tears.” He later explained: “Some of the verses were just too white for me, so I cut them out and sang the verses about the beauty of the country and the bravery of the soldiers.”
When a black magazine criticized Charles for “selling out” by singing the song, he said his attitude toward America was like that of a mother chastising a child: “You may be a pain in the ass, you may be bad, but child, you belong to me.”
It’s easy to understand where that sentiment comes from. You fight for what you love.
For that, as the man says, I’ll gladly stand up.