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A Patriot’s Playlist: Ten Songs That Define America
The American music scene has produced some of the greatest pop, rock, soul, folk and Motown records, which have in turn become symbolic of the United States themselves.
Words Ben St George

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Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
Marvin Gaye’s 1971 towering and iconic single ‘What’s Going On’ stands testament to the
intelligence and open-mindedness of American music. Rejected not once but twice for being two
political, the song eventually became a number-one hit for Gaye for five consecutive weeks,
selling over two million copies. The song was inspired by the experiences of Gaye’s friend and
member of the Four Tops, Obie Benson, who had been a first-hand witness to ‘Bloody
Thursday’ - a peace protest in Berkley, California that had ended in police brutality. Benson
initially started penning the song for the Four Tops, however when they turned it down for being
a protest song, he turned to Gaye, who "added some things that were more ghetto, more natural,
which made it seem like a story than a song... we measured him for the suit and he tailored the hell
out of it.” After recording, Gaye’s label again refused to release it - so he went on strike until they
changed their minds.

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Billy Joel - New York State of Mind
It’s easy to forget that Mr. William Joel is both one of the most successful musicians of all time
and an excellent songwriter. The reason why people do forget is that Mr. William Joel is a very
talented musician who desperately wants to be cool - specifically early-era-Springsteen cool -
and absolutely is not. He tells us he ‘runs with a dangerous crowd’, he’s a ‘downtown man’. He
even has a music video where he gets sent to what can only be described as fantasy music
court - although ironically it isn’t for ‘An Innocent Man’, as one might imagine (it’s for ‘Keeping
the Faith' and it’s bizarre, essential viewing). What he was, at his best, was an excellent bar
singer and pianist - and when he’s paired with the right material, such as the smokey and
cinematic ‘New York State of Mind’, the results are undeniably evocative. The song captures the
affection and the sense of place one can have for a city like New York, how one finds purchase
and purpose in urban living.

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Bruce Springsteen - My Hometown
Outside of ‘Born to Run’, ‘My Hometown’ might be the most prototypically Springsteen song out
there. The narrator - presumably in small town New Jersey - nostalgically recalls driving around
his hometown with his father, before witnessing racial tension and unemployment subsume it as
he grows older, and finally - this is a Springsteen song - dreaming of packing up and leaving
town himself with his partner and son. ‘My Hometown’ tapped into both small town alienation
and into the slow death that many smaller, Rust Belt industrial towns face - something that feels
even more topical today than when the song was released in 1985.

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NWA - Straight Outta Compton
When NWA released ‘Straight Outta Compton’ in 1991, no one was ready for it. Although their
lyrics came from a place of genuine struggle, NWA were also deliberately out to shock and
provoke, using profanity and gratuitous violent and drug-related imagery to build their
reputation. In this they were successful, quickly branded ‘the world’s most dangerous group’ -
which of course only made their allure all the stronger. They were wildly gifted wordsmiths, and
behind their confrontational lyrics, NWA’s music was intelligent and informed - ‘Straight Outta
Compton’s production samples from Wilson Pickett, Funkadelic, The Winstons and James
Brown, amongst others. They were also one of the first groups to exploit the burgeoning
concept of reality television in their myth-making, such as in their infamous staged arrest stunt
during an Arsenio Hall talk-show appearance. A foundational text.

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The Eagles - Hotel California
The Eagles were a certifiably Big Deal prior to 1977’s Hotel California, but the release of that
album - and this, it’s title track - was what cemented their place in the pantheon, and perfected
their melding of country, folk, bluegrass and rock and roll into something distinct. Almost since
its release, ‘Hotel California’ has been a radio staple; the song’s incessant groove and Don
Henley’s impressionistic lyrics create an evocative and vaguely sinister atmosphere, before
crescendoing into Joe Walsh's triumphant, cascading guitar solo coda. Those deliberately
cryptic lyrics have remained part of the song’s appeal - its meaning, in tandem with the record’s
cover art, having been endlessly dissected, alternately read as being about the American
Dream, American excess, consumerism, drug addiction, cannibalism or devil worship. In the
1980s a Christian evangelical group even asserted that the song was about a specific San
Francisco hotel that had been purchased by Anton LaVey and converted into the Church of
Satan. Henley, eternally questioned about the song, later reflected that the hotel was simply a
metaphor “not only for the myth-making of Southern California, but for the myth-making that is
the American Dream, because it is a fine line between the American Dream, and the American
nightmare.”

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Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side
‘Walk on The Wild Side’, Lou Reed’s affectionate paean to New York wildlife, remains one of
Twentieth Century America’s most surprising mainstream hits. Over a loping bassline and that
unmistakable doo-wop refrain, Reed sings about prostitution, sex, drugs and transsexuality,
through the stories of several of Andy Warhol’s Factory ‘superstars’ such as Candy Darling and
Holly Woodlawn. The song, produced by none other than David Bowie and Mick Ronson, was
Reed’s first major hit, and had been deliberately worded “so the straights can miss out on the
implications and enjoy them without being offended.” He was initially wary of his subjects’ reactions
(as he had not told or even met some of them), however it was embraced with open arms, echoing
Warhol’s ever-more-prescient maxim that in the future, we would all have our fifteen minutes of
fame.

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Madonna - Material Girl
The robotic, Kraftwerk-esque ‘Material Girl’ was Madonna’s second major single of 1984 , and
no song better captures the gaudy excess of mid-Eighties America and, along with ‘Like a
Virgin’, cemented Madonna as a major artistic and creative force. Lambasted by conservative
critics for suggesting that women might actually enjoy sex and money, Madonna’s pseudo-satire
on consumer culture resonated with her voracious fanbase for the very same reasons. ‘Material
Girl’ succeeds not only as a platonic ideal of early-Eighties pop, but as a display of confidence,
intent and social critique. Madonna came to dislike the song in retrospect as it resulted in her
being stuck with the ‘material girl’ moniker (“talk about the media hanging on a phrase” she
reflected later, “and misinterpreting the damn thing as well. God forbid irony should be understood”),
but it nevertheless remains a standard-bearer for smart, self-aware pop.

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Elvis Presley - Heartbreak Hotel
There’s nothing explicitly American about Elvis’ debut single - and yet everything about it is
explicitly American. This was the siren that signalled the beginning of a new, less inhibited era
for post-war America and for the world. “It was so animal, so sexual,” said Robert Plant of the
song, “the first musical arousal I ever had. You could see a twitch in everybody my age. All we
knew about the guy was that he was cool, handsome and looked wild.” Working off the blueprint
laid down by Chuck Berry and Little Richard, Presley crafted ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ into something
that mourns and struts and swaggers all at once. It oozed - oozes - style, and it marks the birth
of the musician as something more; as rock star, as icon.

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Creedence Clearwater Revival - Run Through The Jungle
Creedence Clearwater Revival’s swampy, Southern rock sound has become synonymous with
the Vietnam-era America of the late 1960s, due in no small part to politically charged songs like
1969’s ‘Fortunate Son’. ‘Run Through The Jungle’ - which, despite its title, isn’t about Vietnam -
has proved to be ever more relevant as time has worn on. Built around an infectious, serpentine
groove with touches of bluegrass, the song explores John Fogerty’s mounting unease at
America’s gun proliferation. “I remember reading around that time that there was one gun for
every man, woman and child in America, which I found staggering” Fogerty said in retrospect. “I
just thought it was disturbing that it was such a jungle, for our citizens just to walk around in our
own country, at least having to be aware that there are so many private guns owned by some
responsible and maybe many irresponsible people.”

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Nina Simone - I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free
The High Priestess of Soul laid down more than a few essential tracks throughout her
decade-spanning career, but this simple and elegant plea for freedom and understanding is a
true standout. Starting as a simple piano ballad before building triumphantly to a brass
band-backed crescendo, Simone - who was denied entry to Curtis Institute of Music, allegedly
due to race - dreams bittersweetly but optimistically of all of the simple pleasures the world has
denied her. At the end of her storied career, two days before her death, the Curtis Institute
offered her an honorary degree. One can imagine her reaction.
America The Beautiful, ben st george, Billy Joel, bruce springsteen, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Eagles, elvis presley, Lou Reed, madonna, marvin gaye, music, musicians, N.W.A., nina simone, Song, Songwriters
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