From ‘Party in the U.S.A.’ to ‘Born in the U.S.A.’: 19 of America’s Most Patriotic (and Un-Patriotic) Musical Offerings

“Where hamburgers sizzle on an open grill night and day/ Yeah, and a juke-box jumping with records like in the U.S.A.”

The song’s lyrics were reportedly based on Chuck Berry’s return to America following a trip to Australia, where he witnessed the poor living standards of Australian Aborigines.

“You’d see ’em wearing their baggies/ Huarachi sandals too/ A bushy bushy blonde hairdo/ Surfin‘ U. S. A.”

The summer song makes reference to multiple American surf spots, including Del Mar, Swami’s and Trestles. Interestingly, only one member of The Beach Boys, Dennis Wilson, actually surfed.

“From California, to the New York Island/ From the Redwood forest, to the Gulf Stream waters/ This land was made for you and me”

Woody Guthrie wrote the song to combat what he believed to be an unrealistic and overly romanticized interpretation of the United States in Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America.”

“So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner pies/ And we walked off to look for America”

Simon & Garfunkel’s song describes the cross-country trip of two hitchhikers, whose initial hope gives way to sadness as they attempt to find “themselves” as they discover the country. The “Kathy” referred to in the song was Kathy Chitty, Paul Simon’s onetime love-interest.

“American woman, get away from me/ American woman, mama, let me be”

The Guess Who song was conceived from a live jam during a Kitchener, Ontario, concert with the studio recording featuring the original improvised lyrics in their entirety. Though the song often is thought of as anti-American and chauvinistic, Jim Kale, the group’s bassist, has said: “The popular misconception was that it was a chauvinistic tune, which was anything but the case. The fact was, we came from a very strait-laced, conservative, laid-back country, and all of a sudden, there we were in Chicago, Detroit, New York — all these horrendously large places with their big city problems. After that one particularly grinding tour, it was just a real treat to go home and see the girls we had grown up with. Also, the war was going on, and that was terribly unpopular. We didn’t have a draft system in Canada, and we were grateful for that. A lot of people called in anti-American, but it wasn’t really. We weren’t anti-anything. John Lennon once said that the meanings of all songs come after they are recorded. Someone else has to interpret them.”

Lenny Kravitz famously covered the song for the Mike Myers film Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.

“I was born in the U.S.A., born in the U.S.A./ Got in a little hometown jam/ So they put a rifle in my hand”

Though it is often misunderstood as a nationalistic anthem, Bruce Springsteen intended the song to call attention to the negative effects of the Vietnam War and how veterans were treated after they returned home.

“I don’t know if anybody could imagine what [Vietnam War veterans’] particular experience is like,” Springsteen told Rolling Stone in 1984. “I don’t think I could, you know? I think you had to live through it. But when you think about all the young men and women that died in Vietnam, and how many died since they’ve been back — surviving the war and coming back and not surviving — you have to think that, at the time, the country took advantage of their selflessness. There was a moment when they were just really generous with their lives.”

The song ranked 275th on the Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”

“Well, she was an American girl/ Raised on promises/ She couldn’t help thinkin‘/ That there was a little more to life somewhere else”

The song was rumored to be written about a girl who died by suicide after jumping from a residence hall at the University of Florida in Gainesville, where Tom Petty grew up. The singer rebuffed those allegations.

“We were singin‘ bye-bye, Miss American Pie/ Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry.”

This song is best known for its cryptic lyrics that have led to much speculation and a slew of interpretations. It is believed to be about the late singer Buddy Holly, who died in a plane crash and to whom Don McLean dedicated his American Pie album.

“New York to East California. /There’s a new wave coming I warn you. /We’re the kids in America.”

Though the song says different, Kim Wilde was not actually a kid in America. She grew up in west London, the daughter of rocker Marty Wilde, who wrote the song with son Ricky.

“My dad’s head went into a fantasy, this idea of everything being better in America,” Kim once said of the meaning behind the tune. “Of course for his generation, that was very true. Everyone was going to drive in movies and drinking milkshakes and having hamburgers in America. We weren’t doing things like that in the U.K. I think a lot of that got caught up in the lyrics — all the kids in America are having a better, more interesting, more dangerous time than we were here.”

“Some folks are born made to wave the flag/ Ooh, they’re red, white and blue/ And when the band plays ‘Hail to the chief’/ Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord”

Creedence Clearwater Revival lead singer John Fogerty told Rolling Stone that the song was inspired by David Eisenhower, grandson of President Eisenhower, and Julie Nixon, the daughter of President Nixon, saying, “you just had the feeling that none of these people were going to be involved with the [Vietnam] war.”

“Don’t wanna be an American idiot./ Don’t want a nation under the new media.”

The song title is a pretty good giveaway that this isn’t a rousing patriotic anthem. With its scathing criticism of the American media and national values, Green Day lead vocalist Billy Joe Armstrong never intended the song to be another “America the Beautiful.” Armstrong was inspired to write “American Idiot” after hearing the Lynyrd Skynyrd song “That’s How I Like It” on his car radio and strongly disagreeing with its pro-redneck sentimentalities.

“Little ditty about Jack and Diane/ Two American kids growin‘ up in the heartland”

According to John Mellencamp (then performing as John Cougar), “Jack & Diane” was written about a relationship he had with a girl who lived near his hometown of Seymour, Indiana.

“Man, it’s gonna be hell/ When you hear Mother Freedom/ Start ringin’ her bell”

Toby Keith’s father’s death in a car accident and the tragedy of the 9/11 terrorist attacks prompted Keith to write a song about his father’s faith in the United States. Keith initially refused to record the song and only sang it live at his concerts for military personnel.

Keith would go on to write another patriotic song about his father, 2011’s “Made in America.”

“Country of ours, the stripes and the stars for the rights that men have died for to protect/ The women and men who have broke their necks for the freedom of speech the United States”

Eminem wrote the song to combat allegations from parents and politicians, including Second Ladies Lynne Cheney and Tipper Gore, that he had influenced criminal behavior in young white Americans.

“So I put my hands up/ They’re playin‘ my song/ I know I’m gonna be OK/ Yeah, it’s a party in the U.S.A.”

Miley Cyrus has stated that she feels that the song does not properly reflect her musical capabilities and background, citing that when the song was recorded, she had never actually listened to a Jay-Z song — an artist who is referenced in the lyrics. Still, it’s become a Fourth of July staple.

“I pledge allegiance to my Grandma/ For that banana pudding, our piece of Americana/ Our apple pie was supplied through Arm and Hammer”

Off of Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Watch the Throne album, the inspirational ballad deals with themes of family, childhood and the American Dream. R&B singer Frank Ocean wrote the vocals for the track.

“Oh, but ain’t that America/ For you and me/ Ain’t that America/ Something to see, baby/ Ain’t that America /Home of the free, yeah/ Little pink houses/ For you and me.”

John Mellencamp (then performing as John Cougar Mellencamp) has said the song is actually a critique on American life, not a celebration. The chorus (above) is meant to be sarcastic.

“This one has been misconstrued over the years because of the chorus — it sounds very rah-rah. But it’s really an anti-American song,” Mellencamp has said. “The American Dream had pretty much proven itself as not working anymore. It was another way for me to sneak something in.”

“Let freedom ring, let the white dove sing/ Let the whole world know that today/ Is a day of reckoning/ Let the weak be strong, let the right be wrong/ Roll the stone away, let the guilty pay/ It’s Independence Day”

It sounds like a patriotic anthem, but it’s more of an empowering message of how an a woman escaped her abusive husband after setting her house on fire — thereby getting her own “independence day.” However, after it was released, many folks didn’t get the meaning of the song.

“Some people just don’t understand what the song is about at all,” singer Martina McBride has said. 

However, the song has had an impact on victims of domestic violence. “I started getting all these letters — handwritten letters, back in the day — from women saying, ‘This is my song,’” McBride said. “I got a few letters that said, ’I heard this song on the radio, I’ve been battered for 10 years, and I left. This was the thing that made me realize that it’s not my fault, that I need to make a change.’”