Published 2008-07-03 02:16
Making a playlist with fireworks
When downloading tunes for your barbecue, it’s important not to be an “American Idiot” and go too cliché, but I learned just how hard it is to avoid the classics as I started putting together a mix on fuzz.com. Here’s how my thought process went. And, of course, after I finished I thought of about 10 others I forgot.
1 “My United States of Whatever” by Liam Lynch (2003) Playing this tune first says, “Yeah, my cookout rocks, and if you don’t think it does, you don’t rock!” It’s a little obscure, but totally accessible. Plus, it accelerates the beer-shotgunning probability.
2 “Green Beret” by the F.U.s (1982) Keep the raw energy going with this machine gun fast version of Sgt. Barry Sadler’s “The Ballad of the Green Beret.” It’s like a blueprint for the Green Day song I mentioned in the intro. It’s a melting pot of patriotism and cynicism.
3 “Banned in the U.S.A.” by 2 Live Crew (1990) Fool your crew into thinking you’re playing a sub-par version of the Springsteen tune that Luther and 2 Live sample. Yes, the drum machine, self-serving news clip samples and elementary rhymes may sound outdated in 2008, but it’s important to remember that because of these dirty south hip-hop forefathers being as “Nasty as They Wanna Be” eighteen years ago, they made huge strides for freedom of speech.
4 “American Gangster” by Jay-Z (2007) A prime example of a jam that might not exist were it not for 2 Live Crew. Although he never says the title in the song, those funky Curtis Mayfield horns sound American Gangster in their own way.
5“Living in America” by James Brown (1985) Speaking of funky horns, Soul Brother No. 1 delivers the goods in this almost too glitzy song.
6“Saturday in the Park” by Chicago (1972) Yeah, those horns got us going, so we had to touch upon this one with the big brass and “think it was the Fourth of July” lyric. You could also segue into Girl Talk’s “Here’s the Thing,” which pairs the Chicago vamp with Quad City DJs’ “C’mon N’Ride It.” But after that…
7 “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)” by Bruce Springsteen (1973) I tried. I really really tried, but it just isn’t possible to celebrate the Fourth without the Boss. But at least do it tastefully, without blaring the super-political “Born in the U.S.A.” or the obvious choice of “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy).” I actually found a syrupy version of “Sandy” by The Hollies online. It’s the 21st song on the mix I posted on Fuzz.
8 “U.S. Blues” by the Grateful Dead (1974) Damn! Once I got started with Springsteen, The Dead were unavoidable. But it’s just so undeniably good. “Wave that flag! Wave it wide and high.”
9 “Parties in the USA” by Jonathan Richman (1992) If you’re from Boston, you call him Jo Jo. Or if you know him very well. This is a playful little tune.
10 “Hang on Sloopy” by the McCoys (1965) Jo Jo quotes this song in the previous song, so it makes sense coming next, despite the fact that there is no single mention of America in it.
11 “Twistin' USA” by Chubby Checker (1961) Alright. I’m not gonna have to talk about every single one of these, am I? It says U.S.A. in the title, and it’s fun.
12 “Back in the USA” by Chuck Berry (1959) Same thing goes for this one.
13 “American Girls” by Homie (1998) Oh, this one is interesting. It’s Rivers Cuomo and Matt Sharp from Weezer and the bass player from Soul Coughing. It’s right around the time Cuomo was thinking about giving up rock for good, and going to Harvard. I had a friend whose co-worker was found dead in a dumpster around the time that this came out. And although he was mourning his own friend, he couldn’t get this song out of his head. “I can’t believe George is dead…. ‘you got that look in your eyes and smack my butt.’ … Why am I thinking this? George is dead!”
14 “You're Working Hard to Put Food on Your Family” by the George W. Bush Singers (2004) This “hey, isn’t our president dumb” song didn’t prevent him from being re-elected, but it sure is fun.
15 “America, F-ck Yeah” by Team America (2004) It was an election year. Of course Parker and Stone got into it…with puppets who cussed and screwed.
16 “American Idiot” by Green Day (2004) I always like to put together different versions of songs when I can, so I started with this weird cover I found. But it’s a pretty boring cover, so I had to go straight into the Green Day version.
17 “The Kids in America” by Kim Wilde (1981) Don’t have much to say about this, aside, it’s pretty impressive that a song like this which SHOULD sound dated, doesn’t.
18 “North American Scum” by LCD Soundsystem (2007) Songs like this are part of the reason why the Kim Wilde song doesn’t sound dated.
19 “Fourth of July” by Galaxie 500 (1990) Dean Wareham’s tale of pulling down the shades so he doesn’t have to see the fireworks is not necessarily a patriotic song, but it certainly is American.
20 “Sweet Jane” by The Velvet Underground (1970) Well, this one doesn’t have ANYTHING to do with the good ol U.S. of A., but it certainly flowed well after that Galaxie tune. Actually, I take that back! The Velvet Underground ARE America!
21 “Young Americans” by David Bowie (1975) Yup, and somehow, so is David Bowie.
22 “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)” by The Hollies (1975) This is a saccharine cover of a Springsteen tune. Oddly enough Madame Marie in the lyrics died this week. Honestly. This isn’t a set up for another “smack my butt” joke.
23 “July 4, 2004” by Jason Anderson (2007) And, well this guy kinda sounds like Springsteen. You might know him as Wolf Colonel.
23 “4th of July (Live)” by Shooter Jennings (2005) Yes, we’re dangerously close to Lee Greenwood territory here with Waylan’s song, but it sure is a fun singalong.
24 “American Girl” by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (1976) By this time, we’re in Obviousville, U.S.A.
25 “American Woman” by The Guess Who (1970) I like to think that the American Woman is the mom of Petty’s American Girl
26 “Rockin' in the USA” by Kiss (1977) And the members of Kiss had an intergenerational good time backstage with the subjects of the previous two songs.
27 “Star Spangled Banner”by Jimi Hendrix (1969) This is a slightly different version than the Woodstock one. Interesting to hear how it changed.
29 “America” by Neil Diamond (1980) I may have messed up the order a little bit here. But if you’re reading and listening along, let me know if I did.
30 “The Ballad of the Green Beret”by Sgt Barry Sadler (1966) Remember that hardcore second song? This is where it comes from.
31 “Born In The USA” by Bruce Springsteen (1984) Yeah, it was inevitable I’d finish with Bruce.