I was inspired by Founding Questions. It’s a music blog. OK, the “music blog” thing is an inside joke within an edifice of inside jokes. (Warning, if you’re even remotely woke save just don’t click!)
There’s a discussion of which music is Americana:
Tom Petty is at least part of my answer to the challenge “Understand this, and you’ll get America.”
It’s a valid thing to consider. Cardi B’s excretable WAP gross to the point of nihilism but it’s “universal“. It doesn’t need or reflect America. It could emerge from Japan, or Brazil, or France, or whatever.
Severian’s example is the Scorpions: “They’re German, but had quite a few American radio hits. They’re not a German band, in my estimation — they’re a metal band made up of Germans.”
Then he hit it out of the park by “noticing” Rammstein.
“They could sing “Heirate Mich” in English, but it would still be German. And yeah, maybe Rammstein isn’t the best example… but on the other hand, maybe they’re the perfect example, because their whole catalog seems to be an attempt to answer the question “Can you rock so fucking hard that it actually turns you gay?”, which is a question that — to this American’s way of thinking, at least — would only occur to Germans.”
After I got off the floor from laughing I watched this:
He’s right! It’s definitely rocking! I have no idea what they’re saying but I think I’m a little bit gay now! It’s not a bad song, I liked it.
Compare that to Judas Priest’s “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming”. It’s by a British band but isn’t identifiably British. The singer is literally gay but it’s the straightest song ever. Also, I see it celebrating capitalism; uncommon in modern America and literally illegal (or nearly) in modern UK.
Severian and his commenters listed several bands/songs inextricably linked to American culture and sensibilities; Tom Petty, Dwight Yoakum, CCR, and John Cougar Mellencamp.
They’re not wrong but ugh… “little pink houses?”… really? It’s so saccharine! There’s too much Bernie Sanders style whining in my diet and my body starts to reject it. I need guitar based fiber for proper digestion. Here’s my list in no particular order.
ZZ Top “Waitin’ For The Bus / Jesus Just Left Chicago”
Commentary: The goal is “get this and you’ll get America”. You either get this or you don’t. Somewhere there’s a Rammstein fan who biologically lacks the ability to get it. I imagine an adjunct professor at a faculty lounge in coastal America, who’s wondering why riding in the bus is so bad. Why not celebrate our green technology, mass transit future… at least for the masses? (He, of course, commutes with an electric bicycle. Duh!) Plus, there’s the religious overtones.
It’s a song for and from America. It couldn’t come out of France or Korea.
Lynrd Skynrd: “Sweet Home Alabama”
Commentary: I played this song and an eagle flew out of my speakers! Any culture will have attachment to home and “kin”, but putting lyrics that tell Neil Young he ought to fuck off… that’s America! (I linked a version with lyrics just so you can enjoy them shitting on Neil.)
Honorable Mention: John Denver: “Take Me Home Country Roads”
Commentary: John Denver is half-muppet. Therefore, his music is pure joy. Despite the lack of America’s jagged iron-willed edge, this song practically brings a tear to my eyes. If I play it in my garage, my motorcycle will spontaneously start. There is no answer but to roll country pavement for the rest of the afternoon. I have to. I can’t help myself. Understand this and you understand America.
Note: This song has a new generational presence. Similarly Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” cannot be avoided. The world yearns for heart; Cardi B’s “gyration simulating the throes of passion” doesn’t fill the void.
Nat King Cole: “Get Your Kicks on route 66”
Commentary: Bobby Troup wrote the song in 1946 but I like Nat’s version. Modern politicians make money avoiding a real world history. Would any of them admit an accomplished and respected black dude played awesome jazz on live TV in 1951. Yet there he is. Nat wasn’t shoveling coal or playing basketball. This is 20 years before the 1971 setting to campaign stories where Joe Biden talks like young black kids had scarcely seen the likes of his pasty self. I guarantee that Nat, a very accomplished musician, wasn’t wondering about the curly golden hairs on some forgettable cracker’s leg.
Ponder the spectrum between Nat King Cole and Cardi B. One human lifetime from glorious piano to “unhinged woman leaking on stage”. Get that and you’ve grokked something about the human condition as well as America.
Further commentary: Route 66 itself went from the greatest thing since sliced bread to nearly irrelevant; not over centuries but within 30 years. That tells you everything you need to know about Americas relationship to built infrastructure.
Bill Conti: Gonna’ Fly Now”: (Rocky’s Training Montage)
Commentary: Soundtrack to a 1977 movie, this is the montage to which all montages are compared (especially this). My high school band in podunk nowhere played this during parades. Marching in the streets blasting Rocky’s training theme with trombones and shit; God damn was that a heady brew!
This isn’t a sniff of Americana, it’s uncorking the bottle and slamming it down!
Every part radiates America! The environment is dirty and economically depressed (Carter era remember?). Is everyone in this poor area whining and groveling like a modern struggle session? Fuck no! The people are supportive of Rocky, Rocky is of the people, and Rocky is too busy preparing to kick ass to fret about policy. Rocky’s not merely a grinder; he isn’t counting reps in an air conditioned gym. He’s getting ready to throw down; punching bags, and meat, and the air. He runs across railroad tracks like a fighter, he doesn’t mince around an oval like a finely tuned athlete.
It also foreshadows a level of violence that will make your TV melt. But the most American part is the absolute lack of malice. It’s aspirational. Angelic voices cry with the spiritual drive to become better. The goal is to righteously and gloriously pummel one’s competition to paste… in a fair fight. Rocky doesn’t want just to win, he wants to be so incredibly awesome that winning is just an aspect of that achievement. He’s not hiring a sniper to take out Apollo Creed. He’s not working on clever tactics. He’s not calculating percentages. He’s not juicing steroids. His simple plan is to punch sides of beef until his awesomeness is unbeatable.
America is still a lot like that. Despite what you see in media (such as voting shenanigans), our core still understands the difference between competitor and opponent. American children can and do destroy opponents at Monopoly and on the same day they will pummel each other at dodgeball; fierce competition but not in anger or fear. That’s how Americans roll. Understand that and you understand America.
Extra Credit: Watch Maynard Ferguson Strangle a trumpet playing “Gonna Fly Now”. What he does to that trumpet is unnatural! The band, because it was the 1970’s, has a flute. A flute?!? Yeah, it’s a flute. You got a problem with flutes? I thought so!
Special Mention: Geography:
Johnny Cash: “I’ve Been Everywhere Man”
Commentary: Scale within just one nation is a thing to understand. Anyone driving across America finds out. Texans are born knowing; as are folks from the heartland and west. Everyone else sits on a plane and knows nothing. Nobody raised in Europe has it in their bones. If you wonder why Johnny Cash didn’t mention Paris you’re the kind of fuckwit that’s trying to make me fund urban light rail with my taxes.
I once slept on the dirt beside my motorcycle on the dusty Winnemucca road.
Special Mention: American Relationship To Authority:
Johnny Paycheck: Take This Job And Shove It
Commentary: He wants to quit and makes no mention of welfare. Corporate bullshit has battered America’s work ethic but it’s still there. Also, the dude chickens out and doesn’t quit; which is very American too.
Sammy Hagar: I Can’t Drive 55
Commentary: The 55 mph limit was my introduction to nanny state bullshit. I’ll never forgive. When Ralph Nader dies (hopefully of natural causes) I will celebrate and he will go to hell. His hell should be a vehicle with no AC and a broken radio going 55 mph across endless Wyoming prairie; forever.
Evil sometimes creates the environment for change for the good. Nader’s crap trained Americans to break speed laws and mock traffic cops. Radar detectors and CBs spontaneously generated. It’s not just vehicle laws. Bill Clinton passed an “assault weapons ban” in 1994, which expired in 2004. His bullshit caused a two decade long buying spree of AR-15 style rifles that may never end.
I spent this weekend on highways with an 80 mph limit. Fuck you Ralph!
The American part is the response. A German might go fast on the Autobahn but America thinks a screaming weirdo in a yellow jumpsuit fighting with cops is the proper response to being bossed around.
In case you were wondering, no EV will inspire good music.
I could go forever but I’ll stop. Y’all have a good rest of the day. Enjoy being in a nation where “y’all” is a word that makes sense only to us.
A.C.
P.S. It bears repeating, fuck Ralph Nader!
Not even an honorable mention? I am disappoint.
I think it was already mentioned on the blog to which I linked.
I see now it was mentioned in the comments on the referenced blog. My bad, as you were.
About 15 years ago I was in a clip joint across from my hotel in Shanghai, turning down $100 drinks for the girls, and looking to play a little Foosball (I was getting hustled by the 20 something waitress/hostess/bartender/future bioengineering PhD at foosball too) when the chinese employees decided to play something on the jukebox to make the Americans feel more welcome.
I looked up from my game in amazement as some asian band played a totally metal version of Denver’s Country Roads…. I’ve tried all kinds of google fu but never figured out the band or found a youtube…
It was a great moment and I did feel more welcome.
nick
And the girl SPANKED me and my project manager playing 2 on 1 at the Foosball table. I played so hard I hurt my forearm and it took months to heal. She had a slapshot that almost made the ball explode. Fun night, but totally surreal.
Hank Williams and Hank Williams III, but not Jr…
Corb Lund and Colter Wall – both from Canukistan, but they make American music.
Kurt
Great music list up there. Thanks for writing their names down so I can go back and enjoy re-visting them. My nomination – John Hiatt ‘Native Son’. He also has a couple of others which make you involuntarily step on the gas when you are on the highway. The entire album WALK ON had some other great music. Earlier album SLOW TURNING as well.
A Hiatt fan!
“You finally found the mainstream
In the middle of your life
You tapped into a vein
Of endless gold chains
Now you’re locked up tight
Tearing down the middle of it
Splitting it right in half
Bobbing up and down the waves
Like a runaway slave
On a Huck Finn raft
Take your wife
Take your family
Take your gun
Running through the woods
And the burned out neighborhoods
Looking for someone
A member of your tribe
A Place you can hide
‘Til the war has begun
‘Cause in the fields before the flood
You’ll be spilling blood
Like a native son
Where you gonna run to
There ain’t no underground
If only you could fly
You’d cut across the sky
Like a rifle round
Oh, who are your people
And where is your homeland
‘Cause they’re dying side by side
At the river of pride
Where we tried to take a stand
Take your wife
Take your family
Take your gun
Running through the woods
And the burned out neighborhoods
Looking for someone
A warrior from your tribe
A Place you can hide
‘Til the war has begun
‘Cause in the fields before the flood
You’ll be spilling blood
Like a native son
Take your wife
Take your family
Take your gun
Running through the woods
And the burned out neighborhoods
Looking for someone
A warrior from your tribe
A Place you can hide
‘Til the war has begun
‘Cause in the fields before the flood
You’ll be spilling blood
Like a native son
In the fields before the flood
You’ll be spilling blood
Like a native son”
I’ve Been Everywhere was originally about Australia, using all the amusing place names there. A country that was defined by the concept of the “walkabout”, until it was redefined as “don’t go anywhere, and report your position”.
Anyway, verse one lists:
Tullamore, Seymour, Lismore, Mooloolaba, Nambour, Maroochydore, Kilmore, Murwillumbah, Birdsville, Emmaville, Wallaville, Cunnamulla, Condamine, Strathpine, Proserpine, Ulladulla, Darwin, Gin Gin, Deniliquin, Muckadilla, Wallumbilla, Boggabilla, Kumbarilla.
I also learned not long ago that there was a pretty popular song in France that put new words to the tune of Country Roads. It became “Build a Bridge”. Not as much fun as cruising through the mountains, but a good sentiment.
Finally, I would say that Weird Al’s body of work is a great summary of America – don’t take anything too seriously. And “The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota” is a celebration of the classic road trip to see oddball Americana.
I didn’t know it was a remake but the lyrics of “I’ve been everywhere man” would work in any large nation… but you’d have to change ALL the lyrics. I’m sure there’s a Siberia / Russia analog that would make sense.
Weird Al is a great observation! America seems really good at making fun at itself. Every square inch that isn’t completely subjugated by the woke (who hate humor) loves to mock itself.
In the vein of Americans making fun of themselves, the oldies station I listened to in junior high/high school would play songs by “Da Yoopers” (dey were from da U.P. up dere in Michigan). The seasonal “Rusty Chevrolet” (tune of Jingle Bells), about the joys of driving a clapped out car that still gets you around, and “Second Week of Deer Camp”, about all the things that go on when out hunting (none of which involve hunting).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeZ0BUc3kMw
Whoa! Good call. Second week of deer camp is funny and would probably make a European break out in hives.
Their first album, “Yoopanese” was their most musical album, “Culture Shock” was their second with the above-mentioned songs. After that they went all Martin Lawrence-y with all the fart jokes.
Pretty good in concert if you can get past the fart-sample electric piano.
seven spanish angels
copperhead road
johnny come lately
mountain music: if your playing this, your playing an album that is the soul of the heartland
Generation may play into this. As much as I like all of the above, are they really any less “Americana” than, say, Tuxedo Junction, Chattanooga Choo-Choo, or I’ve Got a Girl in Kalamazoo?
It is definitely generational. Each generation has it’s form of the culture.
“I can’t drive 55” means nothing to people born after the 55 mph speed limit was rescinded. It means even less to urban youth who are increasingly less likely to know how to drive. But it measn something to me.
But changing times are good. They become a great mileposts from which to survey America’s history.
Some historic stuff that’s possibly Americana: I considered “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” from 1863 as a Civil War thing but didn’t include it. I’m sure it “waiting for the soldier to come home” works in many cultures. The same song might have been applied to returning Crusaders in 1291.
Probably a more “American” example would be “The Battle of New Orleans”. It was written in 1936, refers to the war of 1812, and hit the charts (oddly) in 1959. It’s humorous satire about guerilla tactics against the British. That feels like a true piece of our culture! Check out these lyrics:
“We fired our cannon ’til the barrel melted down
So we grabbed an alligator and we fought another round
We filled his head with cannonballs ‘n’ powdered his behind
And when we touched the powder off, the gator lost his mind”
I’m pretty sure that’s pure American humor. It’s also an implied warning to the universe that Americans (at least those in the swamps) are always ready to throw down.
I learned a parody to The Battle of New Orleans before I ever heard the original – The Battle of Camp Kookamunga. Sung to our group of cub scouts, by a scout leader. I’m sure there would be outraged parents these days.
“We’re the boys from Camp Kookamonga,
Our mothers sent us here for to study nature’s ways.
We learn to make sparks by rubbing sticks together,
But if we catch the girls, then we’ll set the woods ablaze!
(…and I was mad ’cause me mother sent me up here… hahahaha!) ”
There was a TV series in the early 60’s called Route 66 which, as I was about age 10 when it ended on British TV can vaguely remember it. Two clean cut American boys travelling along Route 66 and solving crimes on the way (as you do). If it had been me meeting those incidents on a weekly basis, I would have been on valium or mogadon as my nerves couldn’t have taken the strain.
There was also a TV series called 77 Sunset Strip at around the same time, the details of which I can’t recall but Wikipedia says was a detective agency solving crimes.
They were “of their time” as they say … But those reminders jogged long disused memories from the attic of my mind.
Phil B
I love “Battle of New Orleans”! Listened to that album along with many other country stars in the living room on my parents big old console stereo unit AM/FM/8-Track/Vinyl. Mostly in the afternoons on summer break from Jr High.
I mean, how about C.W. McCall? Wolf Creek Pass, Black Bear Road.. so many others.
Now I’ve got to go get my turntable set up…
And not even ONE by Bruce Springsteen???
}:-]
It wasn’t inadvertently absent. Springsteen’s whole deal is bitching about America. Dude is never happy with the place he’s from. Even when he is belting out “Born in the USA” it’s not a pro American song so much as it’s a list of grievances such as being mistreated by society and forced into an unfair war by government. It’s not that it’s a bad song, it’s quite catchy. But it’s not really optimistic about our own culture and ironically not super unique to it. I can imagine parallel music from an English band unhappily bitching about English foreign entanglements… something like Pink Floyd and WW2. Probably there are Ukrainian young men singing right now a similar song in their native language?
That was my attempt at sarcasm!
OMG! I’m so dense I missed the sarcasm effect. That’s on me.
I’ll suggest the same one I did on FQ: David Allan Coe’s “If that ain’t country”.