# America-themed songs: need your help! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 21, 2017, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-themed-songs-need-your-help/784953 "2017-04-21T23:00:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-themed-songs-need-your-help/784953/1 "2017-04-21T23:00:52Z")
So, my husband of 20 years has finally applied for his U.S. citizenship. It might be that he’s afraid our current president will find some way to deport him or it might be that he’s tired of paying to renew his green card every 10 years, but I’m happy just the same. I plan to make up a play list of songs for his swearing-in after party. So far I have the obvious - Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to be an American,” The Guess Who’s “American Woman,” Neil Diamond’s “America,” etc. I’ll go as far back as Tony Bennett and “I left my Heart in San Francisco” and anything USA related. Suggest to me your USA/America/50-states play list! ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-themed-songs-need-your-help/784953/2 "2017-04-21T23:46:41Z")
Kansas “Song for America” Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers “American Girl” Triumph “American Girls” Kim Wilde “Kids in America” Paul Simon “America” (also Yes did a 10-minute cover version) Queensryche “I’m American” John Cougar Mellencamp “Pink Houses” _(“Ain’t that America for you and me…”)_ U2 “Bullet the Blue Sky” _(“Outside it’s America…”)_ ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-themed-songs-need-your-help/784953/3 "2017-04-22T00:01:18Z")
_This Land is Your Land._ Written by Pete Seeger. Bruce Springsteen did a cover. Here’s Pete and Bruce together. [This Land is Your Land](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnvCPQqQWds). ---
**Author:** ![Periwinkle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Periwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Periwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-themed-songs-need-your-help/784953/4 "2017-04-22T00:10:48Z")
I think you would want Whitney Houston’s Star Spangled Banner. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-themed-songs-need-your-help/784953/5 "2017-04-22T00:10:56Z")
> [@ioioio](#): > > _This Land is Your Land._ > > Written by Pete Seeger. Bruce Springsteen did a cover. > > Here’s Pete and Bruce together. [This Land is Your Land](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnvCPQqQWds). This Land is Your Land is not an “America” song. It’s an anti-private property song. And it’s written by Woody Guthrie. ---
**Author:** ![Periwinkle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Periwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Periwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-themed-songs-need-your-help/784953/6 "2017-04-22T00:17:14Z")
Yankee Doodle Dandy (from the musical). If songs about states are in, that makes me think of Oklahoma. ETA: you could also do the US. military themes for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-themed-songs-need-your-help/784953/7 "2017-04-22T00:22:26Z")
From the _Team America: World Police_ soundtrack: [America: Fuck Yeah!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1mlCPMYtPk) ---
**Author:** ![Periwinkle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Periwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Periwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-themed-songs-need-your-help/784953/8 "2017-04-22T00:24:52Z")
Missed the edit window: I forgot to mention the Coast Guard in my post above. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-themed-songs-need-your-help/784953/9 "2017-04-22T01:00:08Z")
You gotta have American Pie in there. And Born in the USA. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-themed-songs-need-your-help/784953/10 "2017-04-22T01:26:10Z")
Check Berry-I’m so glad I’m living in the USA. Steve Miller-Living in the USA. (not the same song.) (Somebody get me a cheeseburger.) ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-themed-songs-need-your-help/784953/11 "2017-04-22T02:04:22Z")
Neil Diamond - Coming To America Kate Smith - God Bless America (I know, probably too old) Toby Keith - Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue uh, Grand Funk Railroad - We’re An American Band Lynyrd Skynyrd - That Ain’t My America ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-themed-songs-need-your-help/784953/12 "2017-04-22T02:09:32Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > Kate Smith - God Bless America (I know, probably too old) I’d want it on the list, but only because I’m a Flyers fan. Some song like that should be on the list as well as America the Beautiful and that one that starts with “Jose, can you see…” ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-themed-songs-need-your-help/784953/13 "2017-04-22T02:12:53Z")
“Born in the USA” is not really pro-America. Neither is “American Woman” really. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-themed-songs-need-your-help/784953/14 "2017-04-22T02:18:54Z")
Ray Charles [America The Beautiful.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CILIBlQ2D0Q) Jimi Hendrix [Star Spangled Banner](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKvnQYFhGCc). O.K., that last one may stop your party for a few minutes. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-themed-songs-need-your-help/784953/15 "2017-04-22T02:27:41Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > “Born in the USA” is not really pro-America. Neither is “American Woman” really. The best part of being American is that you can listen to music that’s not really pro-America if you want to. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-themed-songs-need-your-help/784953/16 "2017-04-22T02:27:50Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > “Born in the USA” is not really pro-America. Neither is “American Woman” really. “American Woman” isn’t pro or anti American, it’s just anti YOU. And you live in Cleveland and don’t know this…SAD!!! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-themed-songs-need-your-help/784953/17 "2017-04-22T02:51:04Z")
John Cougar Mellencamp “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.” Night Ranger “(You Can Still) Rock in America” The Nice “America (from West Side Story)” Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young “American Dream” Green Day “American Idiot” Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band “American Storm” Supertramp “Breakfast in America” Toby Keith “Drunk Americans” Charlie Daniels Band “In America” (not really pro-American) James Brown “Living in America” Styx “Miss America” Saxon “Sailing to America” David Bowie “Young Americans” Smashing Pumpkins “Geek U.S.A.” The Beach Boys “Surfin’ U.S.A.” > [@TriPolar](#): > > The best part of being American is that you can listen to music that’s not really pro-America if you want to. **!!! HELL YEAH !!!** ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-themed-songs-need-your-help/784953/18 "2017-04-22T02:53:56Z")
If you want some older stuff, for a little bit of a retrospective, here’s a Frank Sinatra song that the Andrews Sisters did a well-known recording of: “You’re A Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith.” Hey, you’re a lucky fellow, Mr. Smith to be able to live as you do, And to have that swell Miss Liberty gal carrying the torch for you. You’re a lucky fellow. Mr. Smith, do you know how highly you rate? You should thank your lucky stars up above-- you should thank all 48. And you really got a family tree, With Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Lee, You’re lucky to have ancestors like that, You were born with a feather in your hat. You’re a very very wealthy gent, I don’t care if you haven’t cent. You can still have things your own way, On each election day. If some poor suckers could choose, They’d like to be in your shoes! And your good fortunes along with; You’re a lucky fellow Mr. Smith! It was used as a WWII recruiting song. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-themed-songs-need-your-help/784953/19 "2017-04-22T03:22:41Z")
[The American in Me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nho42QE2jKE)–The Avengers [One Time One Night](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjq4y9EFLMA)–Los Lobos ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-themed-songs-need-your-help/784953/20 "2017-04-22T03:39:06Z")
_Our Country_ - John Mellencamp [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-themed-songs-need-your-help/784953.md?page=2)