We were at a bluegrass festival a couple of weeks ago where one of the featured bands was The U.S. Navy Bluegrass Band. (Don't snicker - these guys are incredibly hot musicians) As an "encore" they did Lee Greenwood's "I'm Proud to be an American". Well, I hate the song, so I stood up to leave. When I turned around, everybody in the audience was standing up also, but they weren't leaving.

Now, the only song for which I am going to stand while it is being played is a country's national anthem. The last time I checked, the national anthem of the U.S was still Francis Scott Key's "Star-Spangled Banner". Did they change it to Greenwood's piece of over-sentimental top 40 country drivel without telling me. Maybe it happened during the Gulf War when many folkies were busy resurrecting Vietnam-era protest songs in coffehouses while most of the country was watching the war on CNN. Or maybe it has only happened among that specific sub-culture that are sometimes referred to as "rednecks".

Sincerely,

Bruce the Former Commie Pinko Draft-Dodger

Read the lyrics and listen to an embedded recording here

Frank

http://raycharles.com/ram/ra144m/Amer_m.ram

Spaw

Thanks for the input. Your comments are actually very similar to those of my own wife. She's much more open-minded when it comes to looking from left to right than I am. I tend to look to the left only, and will probably get hit by a truck someday because of it.

As to the use of the word "redneck", in the eyes of many people I am one, and I don't find the word offensive in the least.

Cheers,

Bruce

Ebbie

I bet your wife is a whole lot prettier than me. To tell the truth (do I have to?) I don't like the song much myself. But with so many Americans finding only our faults to talk about it's heartening to see people stand for a positive (though sappy) statement about our country. I was at a Loretta Lynn concert a few years ago. When she sang God Bless America Again, everyone stood and little flags appeared all over the hall. Clearly, lots of these folks had done this at her concerts before. I was touched then too. As for MY wife, she also will tell you that I'm touched.

Peace,

Chip

that said, it's easy to see why military families like it: "and I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me". After 'Nam, lotta people want to hear that over and over to make up for a time when they think they never heard it, and who can blame them.

that said, if they could just perform it without cloying it so much....did the servicemen at least do a 'tight' rendition?

During my run through boot camp for the US Navy back in '91, you were railroaded into making a declaration of religion and attending services on Sundays, or being left in the barracks to the tender ministrations of a Company Commander who was grumpy at having to 'babysit' you... I unfortunately picked "non-denominational Christian" Had I gone Catholic, I could have had movies, and had I gone Judaism, I coulda had a lunch buffet - but no, with the version I picked, I wound up with decent to horrid 'inspirational' christian music and performances - and the horror of every weekend having to stand to attention while "Proud to be an American" was played over incredibly sappy visuals.

There's gotta be something in the Geneva about treating your own troops that way...

I can understand the implications of "standing to honor your country", but in my opinion, a vast majority of people in this case stand for the same reason people at baseball games do for 'Take me out to the Ballgame' - it's traditional, and everyone else is doing it so if you don't you look funny.

Peer pressure wins again.

M

Tighter than Rosanne Barr in Calista Flockhart's pantyhose!

The band itself was great. They even brought their own sound engineer which is highly unusual in 'grass circles. The rest of their set was mostly original material which was all very well done. I guess one reason I was sorta ticked by the inclusion of that song was that, after a whole set of not pandering to the tastes of the masses they did so in spades with their encore.

For the encore in their later set, they did a red-hot instrumental version of "Anchors Aweigh" that was truly a sock-knocker.

Bruce

Funny line, Peter T! Made me laugh out loud, anyway.

Americans are funny about their flag. It's just part of our national culture (yes, we do have one!). We don't bow to the king, so we stand for the flag. Works for me.

I will always stand for the SSB, in part out of respect for the military men and women who have (in part, anyway) made it possible for me to have such a cushy life in this relatively free country.

Alex

Cranky Yankee, where in Granville? I used to live just a few doors down from the general store! My first home in New England when I left the Wyomng prairie the first time.

As noted, if you didn't declare for one of the three 'major' religions they offered, you were left behind in the barracks.

During the 3-4 hours that you spent there, you could count on the up close and personal attention of your Company Commander, who as noted was NOT usually happy at being made to sit around and babysit you. 4 hours of intensive cleaning and "punitive" exercise sessions without break will make just about ANYONE reconsider agnosticism.

M

Anyone who writes and sings such a thing and doesn't follow through certainly doesn't deserve any recognition and especially money - My guess is that song made him rich.

Pitiful - A great example of some County "artists" using cheap sentiment.

Pax yall

Easy answer: No.

And who says Lee wrote the song? He most probably DIDN'T.

By the time the tune was over, if there was anyone still in the theatre, it would probably be the occasional anti-monarchist sitting down on principle.

Somehow Americans seem to take this kind of thing much more seriously.

You're right about a lot of writers and singers talking about doing something they never actually did, but to me there's a bit of a difference between the examples you mentioned and saying that he would would gladly fight a war.

Maybe I'm wrong. I just always got the feeling that Greenwood was being trite and shallow - and it doesn't matter to me whether he wrote the song or not. It's "his song" in the eyes of his fans. The saddest part is that it was a bunch of patriotic drivel about the Gulf War. Not even discussing if we should have become involved or not - there wasn't any "defending our nation" to it.

By the way, I'm no expert on Joplin, but wasn't she asking the Lord to buy her the M.B.? And isn't everone assuming she meant "Lord" in the sentence "Oh Lord, (insert name of Joplin's weathy friend whoever he/she might be) won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?"

Oh, and how about Arlo Guthrie "Coming in to Los Angeles?" I wonder if that is true.

pax yall

It did not catch on, which makes me want to stand up and salute!

Kind of shows how shallow and generic and commercial the original is. Remember P & L Berryman's "Your State's Name Here"?

Loretta Lynn, though, is a different story. I can understand why her American fans get all choked up when she sings about America--cause she puts real heart and honesty into her music. (And she IS a coal miner's daughter.)

Willie-O

Naah, stick with the bar-strangled spanner, even if it is more of a challenge to the vocal chords.

Spaw

Alex

Context is all, in a way - in cold-blood, the words could be taken in various ways, and there's no reason they couldn't be sung alongside This Land is Your LKand or the Red Flag, or on a picket line -

And I won't forget the men 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.

That could be about Joe Hill, or the Haymarket Seven. (But it's still a lame tune.)

pax yall

"We spent much of the next 100 years rescuing black slaves from the land of the free and the home of the brave."

Please note that a lot of the U.S. was resuing slaves as well.

Well she sang it I suppose. Not well. Nanci Griffiths did though. And it predated the second Gulf War. (People always seem to forget the first one, the big one between Iran and Iraq, where the US backed Saddam and shot down that airliner. I wonder why?)

Alex