Yesterday I started looking at songs that celebrate America. I choose Born in the U.S.A. not because it is a celebration of America, but because it is a celebration of the rights that we have here. Today I want to move to music that does celebrate America.
I am choosing a pair of songs by Paul Simon. The first is a song that has appeared in song of the day a long time ago. In 1968 Simon and Garfunkel released their album Bookends which included the song America. This is a great song that describes a journey of two companions in search of America.
The second song is from 1973, a few years after Simon and Garfunkel broke up. This song, American Tune, was Simon’s writing his feelings about our country after Nixon was elected President. Again, it is more protest than celebration, but in the end the song tells us “still tomorrow is going to be another working day…” The world will continue to spin and America will still be here.
Both of these clips are from the 2004 Simon and Garfunkel Old Friends Tour (which I was able to see). They still sound great and you can see that American Tune was meant to be sung by both of them.
Enjoy!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxd0zawaIu4]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K5jpWQpiFI]
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