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It seems like nearly every big fireworks show is synced up to music these days, and for good reason. A good song can elicit strong feelings and memories, and that includes patriotic tunes most often played around the Fourth of July and other national holidays.
But which song is the most patriotic? Is it our national anthem? God Bless America? Is it Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A.?
Vote in our poll and share a favorite Fourth of July memory!
What's the most patriotic song?
Tell us in the comments.
Randy1949
12:18 pm on Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Favorite American patriotic song is the Star Spangled Banner, hands down. But the 182 Overture has an actual cannon. You can't fight that.
James R Hoffa
12:28 pm on Wednesday, July 4, 2012
What about James Brown's 'Living in America' - always Hoffa's favorite!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzDDJm27vmc
Johnny Blade
2:02 pm on Wednesday, July 4, 2012
If you new the histroy of the star spangled banner it wins hands down .. Francis Scott key was aboard a British Frigate trying to get the American prisoners released .. the British would not release them until the flag was taken down at the fort .. cannons wasted the fort and men, but everytime the flag fell more Americans would raise it up .. the captives kept asking Key, is the flag still up ... i parapharse this story but it brings tears to my eyes every time i hear it
Randy1949
2:14 pm on Wednesday, July 4, 2012
I know the story, and it's why I would strenuously protest any attempts to change our national anthem for one that more 'politically correct'. I interpret the Star Spangled banner, with the endangered flag lit only by the flashes of explosions and the outcome of the battle so critical as an allegory about the attacks on our liberty and our way of governance that the country faces even to this day.
But I said American patriotic song. The 1812 Overture recounts how Russia drove out Napoleon after his ill-fated invasion. You have the intermingling of the French anthem with Russia's traditional Czarist Hymn (ultimately triumphant) along with church bells and cannon as Napoleon's ragged army scuttles for the border. That's pretty patriotic too.
jimspice
2:24 pm on Wednesday, July 4, 2012
What about "Battle Hymn of the Republic?"
Gary Tefft
2:56 pm on Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land"
Sarah Millard
11:46 pm on Wednesday, July 4, 2012
One that didn't make the poll was also Stars and Stripes....Washington Post March...I could keep on naming them...95% percent of country songs....etc. :)
Jim Price
5:23 am on Thursday, July 5, 2012
Gee, "Overture to 1812" is getting a lot of votes as America's most patriotic song – which seems a little odd since it commemorates the Russian defense of the motherland against the invasion of Napoleon's French army.
CowDung
2:31 pm on Thursday, July 5, 2012
...but the cannon definitely reflects America's pro-gun mindset. Nothing is more patriotic that firing a weapon in this country.
Keith Schmitz
6:08 am on Thursday, July 5, 2012
Stars and Stripes Forever expresses the energy and optimism -- and the braggadocio LOL -- of America. Should be on the list.
Mark
8:15 am on Thursday, July 5, 2012
Anybody who thinks Born in the USA is patriotic should take a second look at the lyrics.
Rich
8:24 am on Thursday, July 5, 2012
I too wondered if anyone voting for Born in the USA had actually read the lyrics. Not really a patriotic song.
DontTreadOnMeEither
11:07 am on Monday, July 9, 2012
I was at a Brewers' game a couple of years ago when a man swung his own hat at my 20 year old son during 'God Bless America' telling my son loudly "take off your hat." I told him that the song is NOT the national anthem and he was not required to. He replied "well it should be." I said, "until it is, keep your hands and opinions to yourself." I'm sure God would have been very proud of that man.
DontTreadOnMeEither
11:10 am on Monday, July 9, 2012
Just because a song ("Born in the USA") does not espouse a pro-war view, it does not disqualify itself as "patriotic." Does one have to be pro-war and anti-tax to be patriotic? Hardly.