Songs About America That Don't Suck

Things are tough. Let's enjoy some music.

Let’s face it: patriotic songs stink. It’s the lowest genre of music — lower than kid’s music, novelty songs, Christmas carols, even commercial jingles! In fact, I was originally going to write a post today ranking the worst America-themed songs in history.

But it’s been a tough month for the USA. A tough year. A tough millennium. I don’t think anyone needs a reminder about America’s flaws right now, so I’ll save my 1,000-word screed about Lee Greenwood for another time. (I am generally against capital punishment, but I would make an exception to hang him from the top of the Washington Monument for crimes against music.)

Instead, here’s a playlist of songs about America that don’t suck at all. Many of them are quite brilliant. I hope it makes for good summer listening as we await better days ahead.

Here are links to the full playlist on various music streaming platforms.

• Spotify

• YouTube

• Tidal

And here’s a list of the included songs, if you want a sneak preview.

• “This Land Is Your Land” - Woody Guthrie

• “The Promised Land” - Bruce Springsteen

• “America” - Simon and Garfunkel

• “United States of Whatever” - Liam Lynch

• “American Girl” - Tom Petty

• “American Woman” - The Guess Who

• “My Country” - Tune-Yards

• “This Is America” - Childish Gambino

• “Living In America” - James Brown

• “Surfin’ USA” - The Beach Boys

• “Young Americans” - David Bowie

• “Lawyers, Guns, and Money” - Warren Zevon

• “National Brotherhood Week” - Tom Lehrer

• “Strange Fruit” - Billie Holiday

• “Mississippi Goddam” - Nina Simone

• “A Change Is Gonna Come” - Sam Cooke

• “America” - Prince and the Revolution

• “Hell You Talmbout” - David Byrne

• “HIND’S HALL” - Macklemore

• “We Shall Not Be Moved” - Mavis Staples

• “If I Had a Hammer” - Pete Seeger

• “The Star Spangled Banner” - Jimi Hendrix

What’s your favorite song about America? Let me know in the comments!