Next Wednesday I'm meeting up with a guitarist named Mike who is going to help me lay down guitar tracks for "The American Song". I've worked with Mike before on guitar tracks for a different version of the song and he did a really good job. I just kinda outgrew that version, because I believed I could do better. To date I've created four different versions of the song trying to find the right balance between lyrics and melody. The four versions fall into these four genres: Country, Rock, Folk & Pop. I like the pop version the best, because it really grips a person to the point they begin physically feeling like standing up and shouting out to show their patriotism for the U.S.A..
American pride is a facinating phenomena that occurs when we're reminded of the things that we love about living here. The lyrics of this song are full of these tender reminders that a only true patriot can't help but feel greatful for. I think it's these sentiments that build in a persons heart throughout the song to the point where it actually affects their physiology with the release of hormones that incite a rising up if you will. It's definitely a call to action song that instills a driving feeling that awakens the patriotic faculties of and gets you going.
There are a lot of American themed songs that hit our heart strings, but not all of them make a person want to get up and change the course the country is heading. I believe this song has that element. It's what I've been trying to achieve since the songs inception. I even remember where I was when the song came together and I was overcome with a feeling of utter love for my country. I was in the living room of a single-wide mobile home that I was living in at the time in my hometown of Fallon, Nevada. It was kind of a personal moment for me where I felt I had finally written a song that had real hit potential. I think I even called and sang the song to some of my family members.
After 9/11 my mimi (grandma) encouraged me to write a patriotic song and so began my quest to do just that. I began brainstorming the things that I loved about my country and coupled with the sadness in my heart for the attack on the twin towers the lyrics poured out into song. I also felt a fear of losing the things I had grown so fond of. I wanted the song to be about these things, but to also be about inspiring other Americans to think of the things they love about America. I remember performing the song one time in Boise, Idaho and having someone come up to me saying that at first they felt offended by the song, but then realized as the song progressed that it embraced all Americans from newly arrived immigrants to generational patriots.
The song will probably mean a lot of different things to a lot of people, but as long as it inspires action then that all that matters to me. The problems America faces are astronomical and I've often felt hopeless. Hopeless, thinking about how big the problems are and how small I feel when considering how to resolve them. I think most Americans feel the same way. I mean, what can one person do? While pondering this question I have come to the conclusion that the thing that makes America great is each individual person. Each person that strives to do what THEY do best is what makes America the greatest nation on earth.
America provides each of us with the freedom to explore our greatest potentials, because there are laws that protect us to do so. When we declared our independence it was written that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among them are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness". Unalienable means that these rights cannot be taken away from us, because they were not given to us by Man, but by the Creator.
While considering how I, being only one person can make a difference in my country, I realize that what matters most is DOING something. I think that's where most of us fail. It's easy to think of something to do, but it's much harder to actually DO that something. So I wrote a song and now I'm trying to share it with my other fellow Americans. Is it enough? I guess I'll find out.
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