“It's funny because if you ever ask anyone in England to try and do a Beatles accent, no one knows what they really sound like. If you ask anyone in America, they would try and give it a go. English people just know their songs.” PeopleIfsKnowsGivingTryingAmericaSongAsksSoundEnglandAccents Author:Aaron Taylor-Johnson
“I think if you're writing from the heart, very often, the subject matter will adjust as you age... but you try to write the best song you can possibly write. For us, we have the same basic elements that make up the America sound.” IfsThinkingWritingTryingHeartMatterAgeAmericaSongSoundSubjectsElementsSubject MatterWriting From The Heart Author:Gerry Beckley
“I am the Alexander Graham Bell of the phone company, the Christopher Columbus of America because after 'The Twist' everything changed, .. Watch the films from 1958 up to 1959, and watch American Bandstand during that time. After the song came out, everything was different.” DifferentAmericaFilmSongCompanyWatchesChangedPhonesBellsTwistsColumbusGraham Bell Author:Chubby Checker
“If life is music, I sometimes feel as though I was born on the off-beat of the song, and I love it. As Christian numbers reportedly decrease in America, my love for Christ feels as though it increases. I must be honest about such strange feelings: I now want to be thought unfaithful about as much as a bougie aristocrat wants to be thought a hobo.” IfsWantFeelsSometimesFeelingsChristianAmericaLife IsSongChristBornNumbersHonestStrangeBeatsIncreaseBeing HonestDecreaseUnfaithfulHobos Author:Criss Jami
“In Middle America men are awakening. Like awkward and untrained boys we begin to turn toward maturity and with our awakening we hunger for song. But in our towns and fields there are few memory haunted places. Here we stand in roaring city streets, on steaming coal heaps, in the shadow of factories from which come only the grinding roar of machines. We do not sing but mutter in the darkness. Our lips are cracked with dust and with the heat of furnaces. We but mutter and feel our way toward the promise of song.” MenWayFeelsAmericaSongTurnsMemoriesCitiesBoysDarknessStreetsMiddleFieldsPromiseShadowMachinesTownsLipsHungerAwakeningDustMaturityHeatFactoriesAwkwardCoalCrackedRoaringFurnacesOur TownCity StreetsMiddle America Author:Sherwood Anderson
“Well, the problem I've had with all the interviews I've had in America - I had meetings with about nine labels - and they all say to me "Will your new songs fit in with what is popular and what is in the chart?" And I say "Good God, I hope not!"” WellsProblemAmericaSongFitMeetingsNineLabelsInterviewsGood GodNew Songs Author:Steven Morrissey
“Deep patriots don't just sing the song, 'America the Beautiful' and then go home. We actually stick around to defend America’s beauty -- from the oil spillers, the clear-cutters and the mountaintop removers. Deep patriots don't just visit the Statue of Liberty and send a postcard home to grandma. We defend the principles upon which that great monument was founded -- 'give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.'” GivingHomeAmericaBeautifulSongPoorLibertyPrinciplesClearMassGive MeTiredSticksBreatheOilYearningPatriotStatuesMonumentGrandmaPostcardsStatue Of LibertyCutters Book:Rebuild the Dream Source: Rebuild the Dream
“Andy Wiliams' smooth voice and casual style turned the songs he sang into timeless classics and made him one of America's top pop singers. ... The entertainment industry has lost a giant piece of its living history today, but Williams' legacy will forever be enshrined in the annals of music and television.” MadeTodayAmericaSongLostVoiceForeverPiecesStyleTelevisionIndustryEntertainmentPopsSingersLegacyGiantsSmoothTimelessCasualEntertainment Industry Author:Neil Portnow
“As a white male in America, I have privilege. As a white male who happens to be an artist with a fan base, I have a platform to spread awareness about that privilege. However, songs about race and privilege are very difficult to A) write and B) dissect as a listener. They're heavy.” WritingHappensAmericaArtistSongDifficultWhiteRaceFansAwarenessMalesPrivilegeHeavySpreadPlatformsListeners Author:Macklemore
“Claudia Rankine's Citizen comes at you like doom. It's the best note in the wrong song that is America. Its various realities-'mistaken' identity, social racism, the whole fabric of urban and suburban life-are almost too much to bear, but you bear them, because it's the truth. Citizen is Rankine's Spoon River Anthology, an epic as large and frightening and beautiful as the country and various emotional states that produced it.” CountryStatesWholeRealityAmericaBeautifulSongSocialToo MuchIdentityEmotionalBearsCitizensRacismRiversNotesVariousFrighteningFabricUrbanEpicMistakenDoomSpoonsAnthologyClaudiaMistaken Identity Author:Hilton Als
“I don't enjoy "Dust in the Wind"as much. But I do enjoy "Song for America," "Carry on, Wayward Son," and many songs- Kansas is really a drummer's dream to play in. And I like 'em all.” PlayDreamAmericaSongEnjoySonWindDustEmsDrummerKansas Author:Phil Ehart
“A panoramic vision of Bob Dylan, his music, his shifting place in American culture, from multiple angles. In fact, reading Sean Wilentz's Bob Dylan in America is as thrilling and surprising as listening to a great Dylan song.” FactsAmericaSongCultureReadingVisionListeningSurprisingBobMultipleAngleShiftingThrillingDylanAmerican CultureSean Author:Martin Scorsese