31 songs for your Fourth of July Playlist - Monday Music Review
I have had a lot of time to read, listen, learn, and think as of late. Two months of lock down and social distancing will definitely give you lots of time to consider ideas. When I started to plan out my Fourth of July playlist, I realized that I didn’t want to do just the same old list of typical patriotic sounding songs. You know the type I’m talking about – the big brass bands, the marches, the drums. Now there is nothing wrong with that style of music or the typical Fourth of July songs, but I wanted to go beyond the style of the song. I wanted to explore themes of America through music. The list of these themes, concepts, and symbols is not exhaustive of all things American nor do I believe everyone will agree with the themes I picked. But in all my reading* and reflecting, I wanted to give pause and explore the following American themes.
Promise & Hope
Community & Loving Your Neighbor
Spirit of Adventure
Pastimes of America
In the spirit of community, I reached out to friends for suggestions for songs that might represent these themes. What a response! I was reminded of long forgotten songs and introduced to new ones. Some didn’t quite fit the theme but many did. The following list is a compilation of my songs and the ones recommended to me by friends far and wide.
Promise/Hope
I believe America at its founding was created on promises that uplift and protect the inherent dignity and rights of its citizens. A war was fought to bring that promise to fruition to some and over the course of time and many hard fought battles, the promise was made accessible to all. And when we are discouraged, disillusioned, or depressed, we live in a place where we are allowed to hope.
“Promises,” India Arie
Key Lyric: “A promise is a promise you can’t deny, there’s no way / a man’s only as good as his word”
Kristin Chenowith’s “Hard Times Come Again no More,” Stephen Foster
Key Lyric: “There’s a song that will linger forever in our ears / oh hard times come again no more”
“Anyway,” Martina McBride
Key Lyric: “You can chase a dream / that seems so out of reach / and you know it might not ever come your way / dream it anyway”
“There’s Hope,” India Arie
Key Lyric: “There's hope / It doesn't cost a thing to smile / You don't have to pay to laugh / You better thank God for that”
“Hope in Front of Me,” Danny Gokey
Key Lyric: “Even after all I've seen / There's hope in front of me”
Community and Loving Your Neighbor
City, suburb, country – the American people are built around community. We care for each other in crisis. We may not always get along but we do rely on one another. Here are my songs celebrating community and loving your neighbor.
Beauty and the Beast’s “Be Our Guest,” Ashman, Menken
Key Lyric: “Be our guest”
Casey Abrams & Post Modern Jukebox’s “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” Randy Newman
Key Lyric: “You’ve got troubles, I’ve got ‘em too / There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you”
Veggie Tales’ “Love Your Neighbor,” Phil Vischer
Key Lyric: “When you love your neighbor / loving means lending a hand”
“The Chain of Love,” Clay Walker
Key Lyric: “If you really want to pay me back, / Here's what you do / Don't let the chain of love end with you”
Newsong’s “Light Your World” Borop, Carswell, Wells, Aramian
Key Lyric: “And though your light may be / Reaching only two or three / Light your world”
“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” Fred Rogers
Key Lyric: “So let's make the most of this beautiful day, / Since we're together, we might as well say, / Would you be mine? Could you be mine? / Won't you be my neighbor?”
Adventure
The purposeful decision to cross an ocean to a new land, then to push west to the next ocean, and then reach up toward the sky have embedded an adventurous spirit in the American people. To go on an adventure requires courage, desiring the potential reward over possible risk. Though most of my songs deal with geographical adventures, the spirit of adventure and courage can be found in doing what is right regardless of the cost, doing mundane but important work day in and day out, and speaking up for truth with compassion. In honor of these ideals, here are my songs of adventure and courage.
“Brave ,” Sara Bareilles
Key Lyric: “With what you want to say / And let the words fall out / Honestly, I wanna see you be brave.”
“Camping Tent’” The Okee Dokee Brothers
Key Lyric: “My campin' tent / It's my transportable affordable apartment / Where I open the roof zipper and can watch the big dipper / Risin' as a breeze blows through the window vent / It's time well spent livin' in my campin' tent”
Shawn Hook & KHS version “I Can Go the Distance,” Menken & Zippel
Key Lyric: “I know every mile / will be worth my while”
Audra McDonald’s “Climb Every Mountain,” Rodgers & Hammerstein
Key Lyric: “Climb every mountain, / Ford every stream, / Follow every rainbow, / Till you find your dream”
“Beautiful Day,” U2
*my friend recommended this song, Beautiful Day, for the theme of adventure and then he sent me a video showing why it has special meaning for him. He used it as a background track for his climbing video. I can’t think of a video that encapsulates the American adventurous spirit than this
Key Lyric: “It's a beautiful day, the sky falls / And you feel like it's a beautiful day / Don't let it get away”
“Wild Blue Yonder (The U. S. Air Force),” Robert MacArthur Crawford
Key Lyric: “Off we go into the wild blue yonder, / Climbing high, into the sun”
American Pastimes: Buffets, Baseball and Broadway
From the start of time, people have looked to different ways to spend their free time. Americans are no different, in fact, probably have more free time now than in any time gone by. And what do most people do with their free time? Food, sports, and entertainment. So I selected songs that represent American versions of these pastimes.
Food
“Eat It,” Weird Al Yankovic
Key Lyric: “Have some more chicken, have some more pie / it doesn’t matter if it’s boiled or fried / just eat it”
“Chicken Fried,” Zach Brown Band
Key Lyric: “Salute the ones who died / the ones that give their lives / so we don’t have to sacrifice / all the things we love / like our chicken fried”
“Cheeseburger in Paradise,” Jimmy Buffet
Key Lyric: “But that American creation on which I feed”
“Banana Split for My Baby,” Louis Prima
Key Lyric: “Banana split for my baby / And a glass of plain water for me”
Sports
Whitney Houston’s “Star Spangled Banner,” John Stafford Smith & Francis Scott Key
Key Lyric: “O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”
Frank Sinatra & Gene Kelly “Take Me out to the Ballgame,” Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer
Key Lyric: “Let me root, root, root for the home team, / If they don't win it's a shame / 'Cause it's one, two, three strikes your out / At the old ball game”
Peter, Paul & Mary’s “Right Field,” Willie Welch
Key Lyric: “Right field, it's easy, you know. /You can be awkward and you can be slow / That's why I'm here in right field /Just watching the dandelions grow”
“The Greatest” Kenny Rogers
Key Lyric: “Says, ‘I am the greatest that there has ever been’ / And he grits his teeth and he tries again”
“Eye of the Tiger,” Survivor
Key Lyric: “Rising up, straight to the top / Had the guts, got the glory”
Arts
Hamilton’s “My Shot,” Lin-Manuel Miranda
Key Lyric: “I am not throwing away my shot / Hey yo, I’m just like my country / I’m young, scrappy and hungry / And I’m not throwing away my shot”
Newsie’s “Santa Fe,” Alan Menken and Jack Feldman – performed by Jeremy Jordan
Key Lyric: “I ain’t getting’ any younger / and I wanna start brand new / I need space and fresh air / Let ‘em laugh in my face, I don’t care / Save my place / I’ll be there”
West Side Story’s “America,” Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Shondheim - performed by Rita Moreno
Key Lyric: “Life can be bright in America / If you can fight in America”
Yankee Doodle Dandy’s “Grand Old Flag,” George M. Cohan – performed by James Cagney
Key Lyric: “Should auld acquaintance be forgot / keep your eye on the grand old flag.”
Ragtime’s “Wheels of a Dream,” Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens – performed by Brian Stokes Mitchell & Audra McDonald
Key Lyric: “With the promise of happiness / and the freedom he’ll live to know. / He’ll travel with head held high, / just as far as his heart can go / and he will ride / our son will ride / on the wheels of a dream.”
*If you would like a list of books, articles, and courses that I have been reading and listening to, please message me and I would be more than willing to share my list of resources.