My early childhood memories center around this typical American country store and life in a small American town, including 4th of July celebrations marked by fireworks and patriotic music played from a pavilion bandstand.
quote by Frederick Reines
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Bandstand Boogie
Were goin hoppin
Were goin happin
Where things are poppin
The philadelphia way
Were gonna drop in
On all the music they play
On the bandstand
Were goin swingin
Were gonna swing in the crowd
And well be clingin
And floatin high as a cloud
The phones are ringin
My mom and dad are so proud
Im on bandstand
And Ill jump, and hey,
I may even showem my handstand
Because Im on,
Because Im on the american bandstand
When we dance real slow
Ill show all the guys in the grandstand
What a swinger I am,
I am on american bandstand
Were goin hoppin
Were goin happin
Where things are poppin
The philadelphia way
Were gonna drop in
On all the music they play
On the bandstand
Bandstand bandstand bandstand
Hey Im makin my mark
Gee, this joint is jumpin
They made such a fuss just to see us arrive
Hey, its mr.dick clark
What a place youve got here
Swell spot the musics hot here
Best in the east,
Give it at least a seventy five!
Now for all you joes
Here goes my american handstand
Because Im on,
Because Im on the american bandstand
As we dance real slow
Im showin the guys in the grandstand
That I like my girl,
But I love american bandstand
The singers croonin
He aint the greatest but gee
My babys swoonin
In front of all of tv
So if you tune in
Youll see my baby and me
On the bandstand
And now were hoppin
(its boss, baby its boss) (there you go!)
And well be happin all day
(its cool, baby its cool!) (what a show!)
The philadelphia way
And you can drop in
(no school, baby no school!) (wave hello!)
On all the music they play
On the bandstand
And well rock and roll and stroll on american
Lindy hop and slop, its american
Tune in, Im on, turn on, Im in, Im on
Today! (bandstand)
song performed by by Barry Manilow
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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At midnight on July 1, 1997, Hongkong, the British Crown Colony, will be restored to China. This is not only an event which will be celebrated by patriotic Chinese; any patriotic American should celebrate it as well.
quote by Robert Trout
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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If you consider that a typical Central American consumer earns only a small fraction of an average American worker's wages, it becomes clear that CAFTA's true goal is not to the increase U.S. exports.
quote by Stephen F. Lynch
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Fireworks
Once I was cold
But now I know
How a fireworks
'Cause I felt the flame
It drove me insane
Fireworks
There was this lady
Soft as as a gentle glow
She told me everything
That she knows
About fireworks
She's got fireworks
Now on the fourth of July
By the riverside
There was fireworks
And by her dark green eyes
I was hynotised
By her fireworks
She lit a fuse in the
Dark of the night
Then I got off
Like dynamite
On her fireworks
She's got fireworks
A million colors shooting
Across the sky
Moment any man
Could fantasize
Ahw.. Fireworks
Got fireworks .. Ahw..
--- Instrumental ---
Now I'm meeting her here
But she's dis-appeared
And took her fireworks
She burning up someone
With her fever and fun
And her fireworks
Some lucky man is gonna
Need her so
And when he does
I know he's gonna know
Her fireworks
She's got fireworks
Fireworks
A candle burning at both ends
Fireworks
Hotbed of coal... Ahhh..
Fireworks
Fireworks
Fire, fire
Fire, fire
Fireworks
Fireworks
Hot as coal... Ahhh..
Fireworks
Fireworks
Fire, fire
Oh, Oh,,,
Fireworks
Fireworks
Hot bed of coal...
song performed by by Alabama
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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American Child
I was ten, I was thin,
I was playing first base
With a secondhand glove
And dirt on my face
In nowhere, Virginia
Who'd ever figure that kid in the yard
Would go very far
It was 419 Lakewood ,
had no silverspoons
Just an old beat up upright
that played out of tune
Now I'm singin' and living the life that I love
And when I count my blessings
I thank God I was an American child
An American child
'Cause dreams can grow wild
Born inside an American child
Seven pounds, three ounces,
She's got my nose
And she's into my heart as deep as it goes
With a promise that's more
Than just someone's last name
Anyone's equal, in late August came
An American child
An American child
'Cause dreams can grow wild
Born inside an American child
My grandfather would have been eighty today
But in '45 he fell down beside
An American child
An American child
Oh, an American child
'Cause dreams can grow wild born inside
An American child
song performed by by Phil Vassar
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Fourth Of July (Love And Rockets Red Glare)
On this night of patriotic celebration
We find a special place to hide away
for a while
Just for the two of us
Under the boardwalk
We lay a blanket down and spread it out
Sitting on the blanket
The time has come
And so
One by one
Fireworks and rockets go off
As they go off
We exchange hugs and kisses
While still making time to see the beauty
and magic happening in the sky
On the Fourth of July
As the fireworks and celebration continue
On this Fourth of July
You and I can both agree
We wouldn't want to be anywhere else
Anywhere else in the world
On this Fourth of July
On the Fourth of July
For us
Tonight
It's definitely love and rockets red glare
Love and rockets red glare
All over
poem by Justin Gildow
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4th of July
Ahh,4th of July
A wonderful holiday for everyone in America
Tis’ the day when we got independence finally!
Fireworks on display in the sky.
Bam, there goes a star!
Whoosh, there goes a flag!
Click, there goes a heart!
Man, its fun celebrating this holiday!
Awww, fireworks are over!
Oh well, can’t wait to see the next years’ fireworks!
I’m sure it’s going to top this years’ fireworks!
I’ll always love 4th of July no matter what.
Fireworks are surely the best of this holiday for it represents our freedom!
poem by Casey Lyon
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American As Apple Pie
(eric carmen/dean pitchford)
On this night
On any hot, summer night
Every girl
Every red-blooded boy
Is cryin out
With one great voice
They wanna jump
They wanna turn up the noise
And thats the sound
Thats the thunderin sound
Of clappin hands
And of stompin their feet
Coast to coast
Like a national heart
Watch them go
Go wild in the street
Every kid in the u.s.a.
Is comin out to play
Its american as apple pie
Livin hard, riding high
Feelin every minute like the 4th of july
Go for broke
Do or die
American as apple pie
I gotta girl
I got one fine girl
Shes got hair
Like kansas wheat
She can move
Like a new york street
And she can kiss
She can kiss so sweet
On this night
On this glorious night
We got plans
We got red, hot schemes
Of bustin out
Before we break at the seams
Well cut a piece
Of the american dream
Every kid in the u.s.a.
Is comin out to play
Its american as apple pie
Livin hard, riding high
Feelin every minute like the 4th of july
Go for broke
Do or die
American as apple pie
Its american as apple pie
Livin hard, riding high
Feelin every minute like the 4th of july
Go for broke
Do or die
American
Its american
Its american as apple pie
American as apple pie
Livin hard, riding high
Livin every minute like the 4th of july
song performed by by Eric Carmen
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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American Music
Do you like amercan music
I like american music
Dont you like american music baby
I want you to hold me
I want your arms around me
I want you to hold me baby
Did you do too many drugs
I did too many drugs
Did you do too many drugs too baby
You were born too late
I was born too soon
But every time I look at that ugly moon
It reminds me of you
It reminds me of you ooh ooh ooh
I need a date to the prom
Would you like to come along
But nobody would go to the prom with me baby
They didnt like american music
They never heard american music
They didnt know the music was in my soul baby
You were born too soon
I was born too late
But every time I look at that ugly lake
It reminds me of me
It reminds me of me
Do you like american music
We like american music
I like american music baby
Do you like american music
We like all kinds of music
But I like american music best
Baby you were born too late
And I was born too late
But every time I look at that ugly lake
It reminds me of me
It reminds me of me
Do you like american music
It reminds me of me
Do you like american music...
Gordon gano: vocal, acoustic guitar electric guitar solo
Brian ritchie: acoustic bass guitar, didgeridoo, electric guitar, vocal
Victor delorenzo: brushed snare drum, sleigh bells, tympani, vocal, tambourine
Michael beinhorn: hammond organ
Tom mandell: keyboards
Chorus & claps: carmaig, michael, mike, alex & band
Mixed by eric e.t. thorngren
gorno music reprinted with permission
song performed by by Violent Femmes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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American as Anybody
There is no required citizenship
in order for one to be considered an American.
You don't have to be born or even live within the boarders to belong,
You could go your whole life without ever once stepping foot on American soil.
You need not to know the political policies
parties or even president's names,
only the underlying foundation of principle.
Faces of Mt. Rushmore
Lady Liberty
Washington in all his forms -
whether Man Myth or place,
The Proud Spangled Banner itself!
All irrelevant symbols
used to signify the United Ideal.
The only anthem needed to know is the Unified Anthem of Man!
But one pledge, no pledge of greater significance than the pledge to one's self!
No language but the World Wide language of Love!
No law higher than God Given Equality to each in their own personal pursuit of Happiness!
I Sing the Mexican as American as the Michigander!
The Guatemalan as American as the Georgian!
the Chilean as Free as the Californian!
The Somalian with just as much right as the Carolinian!
The PuertoRican as Patriotic as the Pennsylvanian!
The center Heart of America belonging to the left as equally as to the right!
I hear not just 300 million - but Billions chanting the Paean of American Virtue World Wide!
The weight of America's potential must be hoisted by the joined hands of all Nations!
No printable documentation could ever supplement or suffice the American Spirit!
As long as you believe that each Man
Woman
Child and
Sentient Being
born to to be Free
you are as American as Anybody!
poem by Gregory Allen Uhan
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Day of the Refugios
In Mexico and Latin America, celebrating one's
Saint's day instead of one's birthday is common.
I was born in Nogales, Arizona,
On the border between
Mexico and the United States.
The places in between places
They are like little countries
Themselves, with their own holidays
Taken a little from everywhere.
My Fourth of July is from childhood,
Childhood itself a kind of country, too.
It's a place that's far from me now,
A place I'd like to visit again.
The Fourth of July takes me there.
In that childhood place and border place
The Fourth of July, like everything else,
It meant more than just one thing.
In the United States the Fourth of July
It was the United States.
In Mexico it was the día de los Refugios,
The saint's day of people named Refugio.
I come from a family of people with names,
Real names, not-afraid names, with colors
Like the fireworks: Refugio,
Margarito, Matilde, Alvaro, Consuelo,
Humberto, Olga, Celina, Gilberto.
Names that take a moment to say,
Names you have to practice.
These were the names of saints, serious ones,
And it was right to take a moment with them.
I guess that's what my family thought.
The connection to saints was strong:
Mu grandmother's name--here it comes--
Her name was Refugio,
And my great-grandmother's name was Refugio,
And my mother-in-law's name now,
It's another Refugio, Refugios everywhere,
Refugios and shrimp cocktails and sodas.
Fourth of July was a birthday party
For all the women in my family
Going way back, a party
For everything Mexico, where they came from,
For the other words and the green
Tinted glasses my great-grandmother wore.
These women were me,
What I was before me,
So that birthday fireworks in the evening,
All for them,
This seemed right.
In that way the fireworks were for me, too.
Still, we were in the United States now,
And the Fourth of July,
Well, it was the Fourth of July.
But just what that meant,
In this border place and time,
it was a matter of opinion in my family.
poem by Alberto Ríos
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Among those best known, their highest ambition is to build American homes, possess American furniture, dress in American clothes, adopt the American style of living and be American citizens.
quote by Sheldon Jackson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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What then is the American, this new man? He is either an European, or the descendant of an European, hence that strange misture of blood, which you will find in no other country. I could point out to you a family whose grandfather was an Englishman, whose wife was Dutch, whose son married a French woman, and whose present four sons have now four wives of different nations. He is an American.
Michel-Guillaume Jean de Crevecoeur in Letters from an American Farmer III: What is an American?
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Happy Fourth of July America!
Wanna' know how many lil' kids
Go to bed hungry in the U.SA
Each night?
If I said "over a million"
Would you sleep any
less sound tonight?
And how many of you
Would agree with me
That being a kid can be rough?
Well…over six million American kids
Get either very little food…each day
Or simply not enough.
Feelin' uncomfortable yet? I hope so! ! !
Think about it, when you're chowin' down
This bountiful 4th of July
Foreign aid paid in one year to 150 countries
Including some enemies, is 58 billion, more or less
All paid by you and I
Our roads and bridges need 2.2 trillion dollars
To be repaired and fixed
And brought up to a safe state
And all the while America crumbles
We've spent more than a trillion (not including Libya)
If futile wars in Afghanistan and Iraq… to date
And one other lil' statistic That I carped about before
on the 4th of July a couple years ago
In a little noticed, seemingly inconsequential poem
Has grown to 6440 American boys killed in action
I hate this statistic! ! It's cruel and sadistic! !
And By God… they should have been kept home! ! !
These are numbers and statistics
Too great for comprehension… by
Ordinary people like you and I
But I hope there's someone out there
That I've made a little bit more aware
And… to my complacent, naïve fellow Americans
A bountiful, happy Fourth of July
(To our leaders)
poem by David Whalen
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It's a really unfair world because life is, where I am; all day long we listen to American music. So I don't see why the radios in the U.S. cannot even put aside one hour a day just to play music that is not American.
quote by Miriam Makeba
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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American Soldier
American Soldier
When I say... 'I am an American Soldier'
I'm not shouting I'm better than you.
I'm whispering, I was a boy, and now
find myself a man.
When I say... 'I am an American
Soldier'
I speak not only of this with pride
I'm also confessing that I stumble,
make mistakes,
And need competent leadership to
help guide me,
So I in turn,
can be a competent leader.
When I say... 'I am an American
Soldier'
I'm not trying to be strong,
I'm professing that I am weak and
need the strength of my peers and
country,
To help carry me on.
When I say... 'I am an American
Soldier'
I'm not bragging of past successes
I'm admitting I have failed in the past
Admitted the mistakes and tried to
right the wrongs.
When I say... 'I am an American
Soldier'
I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible
But my country needs me,
and I soldier on.
When I say... 'I am an American
Soldier'
I can still feel the sting of pain, from
seeing those that I care about die,
While we fight for those that we love.
I have my share of heartaches,
So I call upon the American People to
help guide our soldiers, when home
When I say... 'I am an American
Soldier'
I'm not better than thou,
I'm just a simple man,
Who was called upon by his country
to fight.
By: Michael Anthony, Author of: Mass Casualties: A Young Medic's True Story of Death, Deception, and Dishonor in Iraq. (Available at your local bookstore or online at: www.MassCasualties.com)
[Originally inspired by a Carol Wimmer poem.)
poem by Michael Anthony
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American Life
In a town in southernmost sicily
Lived a family too proud to be poor
In the year that fever took father away
They hastened for american shores
Now a mother and her son are standing in line
Its a cold day on ellis isle
And they look to the statue of liberty
For the boy we have american life
Ong is a laotian refugee
He works in the audio trade
The smoke from flux is filling his lungs
Hes earning minimum wage
Spending spare time down on
San pablo ave
Once a week gets a woman for the night
And he writes home tales of prosperity
For the boy we have american life
Bob is an unemployed veteran
Born and bred in the south bronx
Hes living off the streets down in east l.a.
Residing in a cardboard box
Now he plays a little quit and he has a small dog
Searching for aluminum cans
And he hold on tight to his dignity
He was born into american life
song performed by by Primus
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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All American Country Boy
(keith stegall/charlie craig)
I work a forty hour week and I earn my keep
And I try to walk proud and tall
I keep my nose to the ground, I dont get behind
And I dont back up at all
Well my necks a little red, my collars blue
I sip a little coffee, and I drink a little booze
cause Im an all american country boy
Im my daddys spittin image and my mamas pride and joy
There aint nothing down home that I really dont enjoy
cause Im an all american country boy
I drive a pickup truck and I dont pass the buck
And I always speak my mind
Im hooked on t.v., rolaids, and b.c.s
And I know how to have a good time
Im a little bit rowdy and a little bit tame
Aint no way Im ever gonna change
cause Im an all american country boy
Im my daddys spittin image and my mamas pride and joy
There aint nothing down home that I really dont enjoy
cause Im an all american country boy
Well I must admit that Ive mellowed a bit
Father time can slow you down
Im still doin all I used to do
It just takes a little longer now
cause Im an all american country boy
Im my daddys spittin image and my mamas pride and joy
There aint nothing down home that I really dont enjoy
cause Im an all american country boy
Im just a country boy
A good ol country boy
song performed by by Alan Jackson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I wanna show that gospel, country, blues, rhythm and blues, jazz, rock 'n' roll are all just really one thing. Those are the American music and that is the American culture.
quote by Etta James
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I've got a collection of songs that I've had, I keep adding to and they're all great American composers. I wanted to showcase American composers and I've done that on a lot of my records and played things by American composers that I really respect.
quote by Charlie Haden
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