my favorite american songs
these are the songs i think about when i think about america:
the star spangled banner, whitney houston
written by a racist slaveowner and set to the melody of a song that is allegedly “a sly 1700’s paean to drinking and sex,” this song is like america in that its lofty aspirations are bogged down by hypocrisy and rooted in injustice. ok, so america is not as exceptional as its people like to think it is, but every time i watch whitney houston’s super bowl rendition of the star spangled banner, my heart swells with aching tenderness for my adopted home and everything it tries and fails to be. whitney makes me believe in america for two glorious, fleeting minutes.
at my 26th birthday party, i made my friends sing this twice.
in the flowers, animal collective
the first time i really listened to this was in the fall of my senior year in college. that day, my best friend and i went on a metaphysical roller-coaster ride together and lord ganesha emerged from an autumn-leaved tree towards me. we bought a slice of pizza to eat but left it lying on the grass.
pt. ii — blues to be there, duke ellington
every time you think this song ends, it doesn’t.
the lonely goatherd
the sound of music was set in austria, but the music was written by richard rodgers, an american composer. yodeling is great and i wish i were better at it. i recommend putting this on in the shower.
bonita applebum, a tribe called quest
when I’m 87 i will descend upon my wedding ceremony from a helicopter rope ladder in a bodysuit and play this song for my first dance.
winters love, animal collective
i like to listen to this when i wake up or when i step outside in the sun for the first time that day. it makes me feel alive and young and human.
(you make me feel like) a natural woman, aretha franklin
watch this, then read this and this.
crazy, aerosmith
this song makes me pine for a turbulent romantic desire that has only brought me suffering. this song also reminds me that steven tyler actively sexualized his daughter.
happy saturday. (2/11)
-clarissa
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