We get chest-thumping, fatuous patriotism every day on the back of every stupid bumper. I'll be playing these:
'Born in the U.S.A.,' Bruce Springsteen
(a young American kid sent against his will to fight in Vietnam, only to return home to a country arguably as hostile)
'Fortunate Son,' Creedence Clearwater Revival
(the poor were sent to fight and die in Vietnam while the wealthy were spared)
‘Pink Houses,’ John Mellencamp
(“Ain’t that America”)
'This Land Is Your Land,' Woody Guthrie
(“There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me / The sign was painted, said ‘private property’ / But on the backside, it didn't say nothing / This land was made for you and me.”)
‘Independence Day,’ Martina McBride
(“Well she lit up the sky that Fourth of July...Let the whole world know that today is a day of reckoning”)
'American Woman,' The Guess Who
(The 'woman' represents a warmongering Uncle Sam in the era of Vietnam.)
‘American Pie,’ Don McLean
(“Bye, bye, Miss American Pie … them good old boys were drinking whiskey in rye singing ‘this will be the day that I die.’”)
