This week hasn’t started off well for American patriotism. First, Nike pulled sneakers with the Betsy Ross flag off the shelves, and then a Gallup poll reported that only 45% of Americans are extremely proud of their country.
But not everyone is so hesitant to celebrate the United States. On a recent stop, Tim McGraw covered Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the U.S.A., and if that’s not one of the most American statements ever, I don’t know what to tell you.
As you celebrate Independence Day on Thursday, you’ll hear a lot of songs about America. The patron genre of patriotism appears to be country music, but playlists often include music by artists such as Woodie Guthrie and Bruce Springsteen.
Springsteen, though, didn’t really mean to write a rock-and-roll national anthem. Born in the U.S.A. was intended as a sort of eulogy for the lives lost and changed by the Vietnam War. (Instead, it became an accidental patriotic refrain.)
It’s true that Woody Guthrie’s This Land is Your Land began as a snarky response to God Bless America, and Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. isn’t the patriotic anthem people think. But they still express something about America and its past. It doesn’t hurt that they’re fun to listen to.
Not all songs about America are as effusive as God Bless the U.S.A., but that doesn’t mean they can’t make the cut. As long as you’re looking for upbeat melodies and a sense of Americana, here are a few songs to add to your Independence Day playlist, from admiring anthems to cautionary tales to marches by American composers.
- Made In America – Toby Keith
- Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd
- American Pie – Don McLean
- Variations on ‘America’ – Charles Ives, Boston Pops Orchestra, Arthur Fiedler
- The Star Spangled Banner – Whitney Houston, Florida Orchestra
- Stars and Stripes Forever – US Military Bands, US Marine Band
- Chicken Fried – Zac Brown Band
- Star Spangled Banner – Jimi Hendrix
- God Bless the U.S.A. – Lee Greenwood
- Independence Day – Martina McBride
- America the Beautiful – Ray Charles
- Fanfare for the Common Man – Aaron Copland, London Symphony Orchestra
- This Land is Your Land – Woody Guthrie
- American Country Love Song – Jake Owen
- American Kids – Kenny Chesney
- Dime Store Cowgirl – Kacey Musgraves
- Mississippi Kisses – Leon Bridges
- Born in the U.S.A. – Bruce Springsteen
- Summer of ’69 – Bryan Adams
- Colorado – Florida Georgia Line
- Surfin’ U.S.A. – The Beach Boys
- Lake Michigan – Rogue Wave
- Centerfield – John Fogerty
- Party in the U.S.A. – Miley Cyrus
- Coming Home (Oregon) – Mat Kearney
- Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron – The Royal Guardsmen
- Alexander Hamilton – Leslie Odom Jr., etc.
- Ventura Highway – America
- Baba O’Riley – The Who
