I’ve got America on my mind these days.
Barack Obama swept through town yesterday
and turned Australians of all stripes and political persuasions into
pumpkins. All we heard was how great and
important America was to Australia. As well as a lot of turgid guff about
American military might.
America is also on my mind because in a day
or two I’ll be taking that long flight north to visit my family. I used to live there, many years ago. And
like it or not America will always account for a big part of my internal
landscape. Over the several decades of
my life America has evoked strong sentiments.
‘Wow!’ when I was 11. ‘Cool!’
when I was 16. ‘Shame!’ when I was 30. ‘Who cares’ when I was 45.
Now the feeling I get is ‘Oh dear!’.
America seems tired and lost. Something like an old man spinning slowly on his
cane in a shopping mall, looking for the exit.
What will I find next week? I’m not sure but for tonight’s Friday Night
Special I’ve put together a bunch of songs about America and the feeling it
arouses in my heart these days. Sometimes light but mostly shade.
Track
Listing:
01
American Tune [Paul Simon]
02 We Almost
Lost Detroit [Gil Scott Heron]
03 Elvis Ate
America [U2 and Eno]
04 Ghosts of
American Astronauts [The Mekons]
05 Why Is It So
Hard [Charles Bradley]
06 All Of God's
Children Ain't Free [Johnny Cash]
07 No Dark In
America [Rosco Gordon]
08 American
Dream [Lucinda Williams]
09 Battle Hymn
Of The Republic [Al Green]
10 American
Dream [Bobby Womack]
12 Migration to
America (The Migrant Worker Suite) [Zimology]
13 America Is [Violent
Femmes]
14 Jesus
Children Of America [Stevie Wonder]
15 Democracy
[Leonard Cohen]
15 Gone [John
Hiatt]
16 Wild American
[Kris Kristofferson]
17 American
Hotel [Tom Russell]
18 The Great
American Novel [Larry Norman]
19 White House
Blues [Charlie Poole with the North Carolina Ramblers]
20 Amerika V.
6.0 (The Best We Can Do) [Steve Earle]
21 Crime To Be
Broke In America [Spearhead]
22 Madison
Avenue [T Bone Burnett]
23 Saint America
[The Watts Prophets]
24 America Is
Waiting [David Byrne & Eno]
25 Are You Glad
To Be In America? [James Blood Ulmer]
25 Purgatory
Road [Ray Wylie Hubbard]
26 America's
Messianic Vision of Democracy [Noam Chomsky]
27 Its Time to
Make a Change [Madison's Lively Stones]
28 Home Sweet
Home [Beaux Freres]
29 America the
Beautiful [Neil Young]
Listen here.
2 comments:
I love my country, but share your sentiments.
Or rather, I love the *idea* of my country, not the current reality. The reality is embarrassing, & scary.
I hope everyone outside the US realizes that a LOT of us are trying to effect change...
We can only hope. And occupy. And vote. And Pray I guess.
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