Nahko My Country Analysis

As the time comes to induct new songs in the American Music Hall of Fame, I submit my three choices for admittance, and believe they reflect American culture and have artistic value.

Is the Parody taking too much from the original song, or is it’s meaning/message transformative enough?

I chose “Humble and Kind,” by Tim McGraw as my theme song. “Humble and Kind” is a very good song that has very unique lyrics. The song gives advice on how to live. There are many manners in this song that are very important. The song is a parent telling their child how they should live life. It seems that the artist wrote the song on how he wishes he would have acted when he was younger. One of the main messages of this song are that everyone has something in their lives, but you still need to be nice. Some of the lyrics on the song are about the 10 Commandments. Even though we grow up, we still need to remember our manners and how to live life. “Don’t hold a grudge or a chip and here’s why Bitterness keeps you from flying.” This is an example

When songwriters begin to pen the lyrics of a song, I believe their ultimate goal is to transcend time in hopes of reaching listeners for generations to come. J.R. Cash, professionally known as Johnny Cash, wrote a song that did just that. “Ragged Old Flag” is a patriotic song that speaks to every generation. Written in 1974, “Ragged Old Flag” was meant to tell the story of our country. Johnny Cash recorded “Ragged Old Flag” live at the House of Cash. Cash wanted the song to be recorded live because it was raw, untouched, and unapologetically real. The basis of this analysis is to show how patriotism spans generations, but also why a song such as, “Ragged Old Flag” is an important part of patriotism in the United States of America.

I chose “Chicken Fried” by Zac Brown Band because of the great lyrics and the great country feel this song has. The lyrics talk about fried chicken and the great country of United States of America. It has a great country feel that you can be in the car with your friends, the windows rolled down, sun out, and sing every word to on a hot summer day.

Also, my friend—he's become a friend, because there's nobody that does it like Lee Greenwood. Wow. Lee’s anthem is the perfect description of the renewed spirit sweeping across our country. And it really is, indeed, sweeping across our country. So, Lee, I know I speak for everyone in this arena when I say, we are all very proud indeed to be an American. Thank you very much, Lee.

The lyrics express Guthrie's belief that the working class should have the same rights as the rich. He very proudly carried the torch of singing songs about the American worker. Woody Guthrie’s music was not written down, but instead sung, performed, and taught completely by memory. The structure of this song is easy and memorable, using an "ACAB" format, which repeats the beginning of the melody (A section) for the third line. There was a certain Americana aspect to his folk music. He was a migrant farmer traveling as a country singer, using only his guitar and voice (occasionally using a harmonica) in his performances. He created songs from the sights he saw as he traveled all over the USA as a country singer, and spoke out against the lack of fairness and justice of capitalism and poor treatment of blue collar workers. He preached that his folk music was not just something that was made just to “sell” and “make money”, it was intensively focused on political and worldly events.

As shown above even the lyrics of the song had an accent to them that portrayed a person who was uneducated. One of the “Jim Crow”

The controversy was that many people felt as if the lyrics of the revised song were very ignorant and fell

I think about my dad, my uncles, my cousins, both grandfathers who fought in the Vietnam war. I think about how my grandfather paw paw Tim would ask me to sing this song for him every time I saw him and how he would make me turn the other way to sing it so he could just weep and cry as hard as he wanted because it meant so much to him. I think about all of our troops I got to visit with and spend time with in the Middle East when I went over seas to sing for them. I think about all of the men crying because they missed their wives so much, or the man telling me he hadn't seen his baby girl yet since she was born. When I sing this song I think about them. This song is about them. It's not about me. That's what I think about every time I sing it. I love our country so much. And we should all love and respect each other because this is the greatest country in the world. I see the love. I see the unity in all walks of life on a daily basis and It makes me so proud to be an American..... so In the words of Forrest Gump. That's all I have to say about

Since the song was originally written in 2005, and then re appeared in the Fight With Tools album it makes sense that the song would by influenced by the war America was fighting in Iraq at the time. In 2003 the Bush administration decided to invade Iraq, and from then on until the present many Americans and non-Americans have died as a result of wartime violence. Even though the war went on many Americans really started to question the reason why the war was still going on if the weapons of mas destruction were already found, the reason given for the invasion of Iraq. Some also questioned the entire reason for the war; according to a MSNBC Documentary, “Some of the most senior officials in the U.S. government, including President Bush himself, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, asserted these claims in public with absolute confidence, even while privately, ranking U.S. military officers and intelligence professionals were voicing their doubts”(“ How the Bush Administration Sold the Iraq War”). However, the people did nothing and the war continued. The song was meant for people who wanted to change what is happening around

The Veterans’ Day Tribute included songs from Lorree’s new release “Patriotic Medley” was inspired by First Lady Michelle Obama. According to Lorree who is a former United States Army Captain and now a proud veteran, “This medley is dedicated to all the work and sacrifices made by our veterans who have taken care of America.”

As it is obvious, the lyrics of the songs were often altered in order to please one side or the other, and thus those songs would have bias in one side or the other. Nevertheless, these songs were an important form of delivery of the current events.

XTC’s composer Andy Partridge considered Easter Theatre as one of the most perfect songs of his career. Featured as the Lead Single in Apple Venus Volume 1, Andy intentionally designed the lyrics uniquely, purportedly to exorcise the ever-present influences of the Beatles and the Beach Boys’ Brain Wilson. It is commonplace in rock music that every band has to espouse some Beatles-que lyrics and of course borrow to some extent from the genius of Brian Wilson, who is regarded as the greatest composer of all times. This paper investigates whether Andy was successful in avoiding such common influences, and more so those of the Beatles’ Penny Lane, which was done by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

At the time of Key’s penned lyrics to the Star-Spangled Banner, musical literacy in the United States was quite low. The majority of American’s could not read music, and most secular music was passed-on through an oral tradition. As a result, the most popular form of music publications was in the form of “broadsides” or single sheet (typically half or quarter sheet) set of parodied lyrics set to canonized folk tunes. By printing lyrics only with no musical notation, publishers were able to save paper and ink, and amateur musicians were not required to learn “new music” for each set of lyrics. This practice of minimalism lead to the birth of the first truely American musical art form: the parody. Dating back to the Revolutionary War, countless sets of lyrics were composed as parodies set to the melodies of famous war-time folksongs such as Chester or Yankee Doodle. Francis Scott Key’s lyrics to the Star-Spangled Banner were no exception as he chose to set his lyrics as a parody to “The Anacreontic