Does this song bother anyone else?

[mrboba1]

On July 4, I was treated in hearing a person sing the song:
"God Bless the USA"

I was sitting there listening to it and I was washed over by this feeling of loss and sorrow. Listening to the words "at least I know I'm free" nearly drove me to get up and walk out, but I didn't. All I could think about was how I wasn't all that proud to be an American, if it is a * kind of American.

Does this song bother anyone else, or am I just a nutcase??
:shrug: :shrug:

[EstimatedProphet]

1. Yeah, it kinda did me too

But then I listened to the words, and they're good words really.
We've got our problems in this country that we have to fix, but it's still a good country.
The bad "patriotic" songs are IMO the skynard/Charlie Daniels songs, that focus on anger and xenophobia.

[ihaveaquestion]

2. I've always hated that song!

It's "patriotic" propaganda and a justification for war, pure and simple. Think about when it was first came out - during the Gulf War.

[Redhead488]

10. I kinda like the song

How is it a justification for war???

[bushisanidiot]

14. No, It Came Out In the early 80's way before the gulf war..

n/t

[Supormom]

18. Lee Greenwood wrote the song in 1983

Greenwood was a big supporter of Reagan and his song was used as the re-election theme song in 1984.
Greenwood himself never served in the military. During the Vietnam War he received A 3-A classification which is a hardship deferment given to an eligible male if "service would cause hardship upon his family."
According to Greenwood:
"I never served in the military because I had children at the age of 17. I was given the classification 3A. The draft never got to that #. If it had, like my father, I would have left my wife and children (for I know they would have understood)to fight and die if necessary for my country."
In other words, he had the opportunity to "Stand up next to you and defend her still today." However, he chose to stand down.
Sound familiar?

[Beware the Beast Man]

3. No you're not

There are better patriotic songs out there. Ray Charles' beautiful rendition of "America the Beautiful" comes to mind. Hell, I'd rather hear something traditional like "Yankee Doodle" than that Lee Greenwood crap anyday. Don't be fooled. Just because you hate a sacchariney contemporary country song, it doesn't make you any less patriotic.

ON EDIT: to the previous poster, just wanted to add that God Bless the USA came out around 1984, languished on the country charts, then was dusted off for the Gulf War 7 years later. That's when it became a hit.

[mrboba1]

6. I was hoping for an

"America the Beautiful" but the singer was obviously more at ease singing a country song.

(And not all that good, either)

[indigobusiness]

13. Exactly...It has the feel of coercive group-think...hollow ring and all

This is pure exploitation and a mockery of what is beautiful about America, It is a good example of the sheeple herding mentality of mass marketing and not patriotic in the least.

I agree with your statement about Ray Charles'< version of "America the Beautiful", I see it as a good example of a truly stirring and evocative patriotic song.[br />
Buying into anything and everything that apes the patriotic, cheapens the meaning and power of what it really represents.

[1monster]

16. I first heard God Bless the USA in Stone Mountain, GA during their

evening lazer light show -- a Fourth of July celebration in 1990. I liked it. I still do. Just because it is used by right wingers doesn't make the song itself bad.

I don't know for sure, but gather that Lee Greenwood falls on the right of center, but that doesn't mean his song is bad either. (I love T.S. Eliot's poetry... it is really good. But the man himself was a xenophobe and anti-semitic. It doesn't make his poetry bad; it's just one of those complicated human conundrums.)

Remember when George Herbert Walker Bush used the Don't Worry, Be Happy song as his campaign song? That didn't make the song bad. In fact, it kind of ticked off Bobby McFarin, the composer, who supported Clinton.

[MissMillie]

4. I always change the lyrics when I sing it

"I'm glad I'm not a republican....."

[sniffa]

5. i thought this wouLd be about toby keith

you get a boot in your ass, it's the american way.

cuuuuuuuurtesy of the red white and bLuuuuueeeee.

now that's a song that makes me proud.

[mrboba1]

7. Well, that wouldn't

even be worth a question about whether it bothered me or not.

That's just horse-hockey....

[Redhead488]

11. Now THAT song bothers me!

[mrboba1]

15. Full Toby Keith text:

Get ready to :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:



American girls and American guys will always stand up and salute;
Will always recognize
When we see ol' glory flying,
There's a lot of men dead,
So we can sleep in peace at night when we lay down our head.

My daddy served in the army,
Where he lost his right eye.
But he flew a flag out in our yard 'til the day that he died.
He wanted my mother, my brother, my sister and me
To grow up and live happy in the land of the free.

Now this nation that I love has fallen under attack.
A mighty sucker punch came flying in from somewhere in the back.
Soon as we could see clearly through our big black eye,
Man we lit up your world like the Fourth of July.

Hey Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list,
And the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist.
And the eagle will fly,
And there's gonna be Hell,
When you hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell!
It's gonna feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you...
Brought to you courtesy of the Red, White and Blue!

Oh, Justice will be served and the battle will rage.
This big dog will fight when you rattle his cage
You'll be sorry that you messed with the US of A
'Cuz we'll put a boot in your ass
It's the American way.

Hey Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list,
And the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist.
And the eagle will fly,
And there's gonna be Hell,
When you hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell!
And it'll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you...
Brought to you courtesy of the Red, White and Blue!

Of the Red, White and Blue..
Of my Red, White and Blue...

[Bertha Venation]

8. It bugs the shit outta me. It seems to beg the listener to

stand up and cheer in a display of overt and non-questioning patriotism.

Well, I am not going to offer non-questioning patriotism. I feel it shows more patriotism to question. And like my prayers, I will keep my patriotism quiet. I don't need to wear it on my sleeve to prove it. I don't have to prove it to anyone.

[VelmaD]

9. I LOATHE that fucking song

I had to play it at least once every year back in high school band in the late 80s. Blech. :puke: Mindless jingoistic crap.

If it tells you anything Reagan used it in one of his campaign ads in 84. :puke:

[nickinSTL]

12. song

I've never liked the song.

Heard Clay Aiken sing it on some 4th of July show on PBS, and actually listened to the words.

The words aren't that bad, I think it's the way it's used to stir up hyper-patriotic idiocy that I hate.

That said, listening to the words, '...where at least I know I'm free..." I couldn't help thinking, "Not anymore".

[1monster]

17. The lyrics

God Bless the U.S.A.
Lee Greenwood

If tomorrow all the things were gone
I'd worked for all my life,
And I had to start again
with just my children and my wife,
I'd thank my lucky stars
to be living here today,
'Cause the flag still stands for freedom
and they can't take that away.

I'm proud to be an American
where at least I know I'm free,
And I won't forget the ones who died
who gave that right to me,
And I gladly stand up next to you
and defend her still today,
'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land
God Bless the U.S.A.

From the lakes of Minnesota
to the hills of Tennessee,
Across the plains of Texas
from sea to shining sea.
From Detroit down to Houston
and New York to L.A.,
There's pride in every American heart
and it's time we stand and say:

I'm proud to be an American
where at least I know I'm free,
And I won't forget the ones who died
who gave that right to me,
And I gladly stand up next to you
and defend her still today,
'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land
God Bless the U.S.A.