# Proud to be an American? (the song) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 12, 2004, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837 "2004-10-12T16:53:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/81 "2004-10-15T03:29:21Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > I was very surprised to learn that the song was written in 1983. Yeah, this was basically a “re-elect Reagan” song directed at the farmers who were in dire financial straits at the time. Hey, maybe you’re losing your farm, but by God we kicked Grenada’s ass, so vote Republican! Yee haa! ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/82 "2004-10-15T04:20:59Z")
It’s just a bad song no matter what message it’s trying to send. I happen to like America the Beautiful as well but it would make a poor national anthem. It’s all about geography but short on any reason why we should like America. Sure, I love spacious skies and amber waves of grain as much as the next guy. Marc ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/83 "2004-10-15T04:30:10Z")
Oh man, comedian David Cross does the best bit about this song. I wish I could find a transcript of it online. He calls it the ‘9/11 remix’ and basically points out the hypocrisy of tons of people singing along with the line ‘And I’d gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today’ without any intention of ever actually enlisting in the army, ‘Okay asshole [aimed at the original singer], here’s your _second_ chance. Grab a gun, the plane leaves straight away…’ Hmm, okay, well, it comes across a lot better on the album, which is pretty damn funny. Hey, this is the perfect song- as sung by a school choir- for news networks to play once the draft gets reinstated. ---
**Author:** ![MaceMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@MaceMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaceMan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/84 "2004-10-15T06:22:13Z")
Since were talking about patriotic songs, I thought I’d share a cool quote from the movie _Angels in America._ Belize, the gay black nurse played by Jeffrey Wright, complains: “The white cracker who wrote the National Anthem knew what he was doing. He set the word free on a note so high no one could reach it. That was deliberate.” ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/85 "2004-10-15T12:45:03Z")
Rod Stewart is my Mendoza Line of suckitude. Lee Greenwood sucks much more than Rod Stewart. Therefore, any reason that anyone chooses to not like or oppose this song, I agree with you. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/86 "2004-10-15T13:04:04Z")
Adding my $.02: 1. I agree with everyone here about the fundamental _awfulness_ of the song as an expression of songcraft. Just bad. An icepick in my ears. 2. _At Least I Know I’m Free_ - that is the key line, as other posters have pointed out. What disturbs/repels me about it is something you guys have touched on but not stated outright: It seems incredibly Holier-Than-Thou condescending to me: [stuck-up little kid you wanna smack] “Oh - (insert country name here) - you think you’re good. Well, at least **I** know I’m free!” [/stuck-up little kid you wanna smack] It feels like the equivalent of Draco Malfoy saying “Well, at least I’m not a Mudblood” or something equally clueless and juvenile. 1. Hearing people sing it in a public setting, to me, is like having someone demand that we say Grace (or equivalent religious blessing from another faith) at a dinner that was _not_ set up for religious purposes. It is presumptuous and offensive, and it takes something wonderful and important and makes it…skeevy. I find the song offensive on a number of levels, obviously. If I found out my kid was singing it through the directive of the school, I would talk to the teacher, and certainly talk to my kid about it… feh. ---
**Author:** ![Sweetums](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Sweetums](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sweetums)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/87 "2004-10-15T13:15:42Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I’m proud to be an Ohioan > where at least we’ve never had a Governor Bush! > > . Yes, but you do have Taft. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/88 "2004-10-15T19:07:24Z")
> [@Sweetums](#): > > Yes, but you do have Taft. > > 😛 As if having this song running through my head for days isn’t punishment enough, you had to go bring _Taft_ up! ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/89 "2004-10-15T19:17:22Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > As if having this song running through my head for days isn’t punishment enough, you had to go bring _Taft_ up! _Taft – he’s a bad mutha Shut your mouth!_ ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/90 "2004-10-15T22:02:34Z")
I’ll bring up another annoying thing. The song is Lee Greenwood, and he is the song. He does nothing else, and, wisely, nobody else does this song (at least professionally). So you’re constantly seeing this balding dork being trotted out to sing his one song, like Dexy’s Midnight Runners performing at some crappy VH1 special. That’s not an image I want associated with patriotism. ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/91 "2004-10-16T00:20:11Z")
> [@Incubus](#): > > For quite a while it seems like many people on this board have a knee-jerk reaction to anything they find overly patriotic. I know one reason is because some people have patriotism shoved in their face, and get viewed as being ‘un-patriotic’ if they don’t buy into it. I can understand this feeling- its not unlike prostelytizing (sp?). However, quite a few of you have kind of gone so far that I can’t help but imagine that you rupture one capillary every time you see an American flag, or hear anything remotely in praise of something about the United States. > > Being proud to be an American doesn’t infer some veiled threat to anyone that doesn’t follow that creed. If you don’t dig it, fine, but if you cast the same level of bias as the people you hate, then you’re no better than they are. Actually, **Incubus** , I do know why I have a knee jerk reaction to hyper-Americanism, including this song. You see, I was in sixth grade, living in a small town in 1976, America’s bicentennial. I found out the hard way being a kid with a British accent and a few cultural Britishisms was a good way to get quite literally beat up, not to mention put down and insulted by other kids who wanted to prove how superior America was to the hated Brits. Because I wasn’t a native born American, I was told I wasn’t as good as the other kids. Now, a great many years have passed, and one of the things that eventually occurred to me is, having had to spend $50, produce two character references, and go through four months of bureaucratic hassle to become an American citizen, I’ve got at least as much claim to patriotism and loving America as anyone who’s been known to make rude comments about immigrants. Still, that old training persists. It was only three years ago that a coworker said anyone not born in this country should leave, which prompted me to look up from my work and say, "In that case, it’s going to take me a lot longer to fix your database. I’m afraid I associate that song with the sort of mindset which says “If you’re not just like me, a real American, you’re worthless, useless, and you should get out of town.” I realize that may well be unfair and even bigotted, and try to compensate accordingly, but if I’m going to change my mind about songs, there are other places I could start. For the record, almost all I’ve heard of John Cougar Mellencamp’s stuff affects me the same way. By the way, for those of you who also hate the song, it could be worse. Two years ago, I went to hear a brass band at my city’s First Night celebration (ok, so some Britishisms persist). The last song listed on the program was John Philips Sousa’s _Stars and Stripes Forever_, perhaps my favorite piece of patriotic music. Unfortunately, when they said they were about to play the last song, instead of going into it, they played _God Bless the U.S.A._, complete with a very ordinary tenor singing the lyrics. I sat there in horror. Fortunately, after that travesty, they did go into a good, rousing rendition of _Stars and Stripes Forever_, restoring the universe to its natural order. 😉 CJ ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/92 "2004-10-16T07:41:53Z")
I’ve always held the belief that one boasts only to disguise one’s inadequacies. If you’re really as good as you think you are, there’s no need to advertise it – people will know it through your deeds and actions. Glurge like “Proud to be an American” is written by folks who are overcompensating for something they won’t admit. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/93 "2004-10-16T08:30:17Z")
> [@Lord Ashtar](#): > > I like the song. Color me surprised. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/94 "2004-10-16T08:34:38Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Ridiculous. We’ve been saying the pledge of allegiance in US schools for decades. Schools are SUPPOSED to encourage a pride in your country. :rolleyes: Amazing how jingoistic fervor and blind devotion can be considered pride. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/95 "2004-10-16T15:27:19Z")
Siege said some things that are very interesting and also very true. We “advertise” how great we are, how we welcome people here, and then “we” treat them like shit. People forget that when their “kind” came here, they were treated just as badly. The Germans, the Irish, the Italians, the Poles, the Mexicans, everyone came from somewhere else. Maybe it’s time we start really listening to all the noble words ("Give me your poor, your downtrodden … ") and follow them, instead of just paying lip service. ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/96 "2004-10-17T08:30:39Z")
> [@furt](#): > > So you’re constantly seeing this balding dork being trotted out to sing his one song, like Dexy’s Midnight Runners performing at some crappy VH1 special. That’s not an image I want associated with patriotism. Yeah, except “Come On Eileen” was actually a good song. Nice melody and fun to dance to, unlike the soul-sucking vortex of “God Bless the USA.” ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/97 "2004-10-17T16:53:08Z")
My wife likes the song. Just another example of why neither of us can listen to our favorite radio stations while in the car together so we put it on the oldies. Ah well. I gotta say one of the things I love about this board is the use of the word jingoistic. Aside from sounding like a Chinese herbal tea I think it might be one of the most overused words on the board. It’s like you project all your feelings about a crappy song and label it jinoistic. Shoot, now I feel like some tea. Marc [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837.md?page=4)