The Men Without Hats lead singer wrote "The Safety Dance" after getting kicked out of a bar for dancing too aggressively. Gambino's dancing is contrasted against moments of violence. [4], Shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Diamond modified the lyrics to "America" slightly during live performances. At that time, the poem was titled "America" for publication. "America" is a song written and originally recorded by Neil Diamond, released in 1980 on the soundtrack album of Diamond's film The Jazz Singer. [10] Pete Fornatale interprets this lyric as a "metaphor to remind us all of the lost souls wandering the highways and byways of mid-sixties America, struggling to navigate the rapids of despair and hope, optimism and disillusionment. And mercy more than life! The author described the song "America" as "perhaps the most representative of Simon & Garfunkel's music: wistful and optimistic, personal and universal, and most of all, uniquely American."[16]. Just as Bates had been inspired to write her poem, Ward, too, was inspired. The British rock band, The Nice, made the song almost unrecognizable with their version in 1968. From sea to shining sea! For purple mountain majesties Bing Crosby included the song in a medley on his album 101 Gang Songs (1961). Garfunkel stated that he was a supporter of Sanders and his campaign, and that the usage of "America" did not take away from the song's original premise. Diamond also sang it at the centennial re-dedication of the Statue of Liberty. Wang Chung's '80s classic "Dance Hall Days" is about how things can start simple but end up complex. God shed His grace on thee Then I asked him why he hadn't pulled out, and he said he had to see what a city named Saginaw looked like. Apparently, he liked it; he wrote 'America' while he was here, including that line about taking four days to hitchhike from Saginaw.[4]. Our fathers' God to Thee, Author of Liberty, To thee we sing, Long may our land be bright With Freedom's holy light, Protect us by thy might Great God, our King. God shed His grace on thee [3], The song has been used in a number of contexts, including as a theme song for Michael Dukakis' 1988 presidential campaign and in promotion of the 1996 Olympics. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes covered this song in their 2008 album Have Another Ball. [3] Ward's music combined with the Bates poem was first published in 1910 and titled "America the Beautiful". U2 has snippeted the song on multiple occasions during their 2015 and 2017 world tours.[30]. Miguel wrote "Adorn" about his girlfriend, model and artist Nazanin Mandi when he was returning home from a long trip and was anxious to see her. It took him seven years to recover from his American hit "Fool (If You Think It's Over)," but Chris Rea became one of the top singer-songwriters in his native UK. According to Dyer, Simon wrote the song while visiting the town in 1966 after Dyer had booked him for Y-A-Go-Go, a concert series hosted by the Saginaw YMCA. The song follows two young lovers – "an apparently impromptu romantic traveling alliance" – who set out "to look for America. America! In one of the moves while dancing, Gambino positions his arms as though he is threatening others with a gun. A selection of songs made to be terrible - some clearly achieved that goal. See if you match the artist to the biblical lyric. Men lavished precious life. "Their third album didn't do nearly as well, with only a cover of a song about amorous rodents cracking the Hot 100. It was produced by the duo and Roy Halee. "Crimson and Clover." O beautiful for heroes proved "[25] Mahita Gajanan of Time quoted music history professor Guthrie Ramsey at the University of Pennsylvania: He's talking about the contradictions of trying to get money, the idea of being a black man in America. [15][16] CBS News stated, "The tracks have a similar sound, and share similar themes in the lyrics." It has also topped the charts in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. It holds the record for the longest running chart topper Down Under since the first ever ARIA Chart was listed in 1983. From sea to shining sea. America!   Harley stated that he felt "This Is America" was influenced by his song, but that he does not have an issue with it. "America" is a song performed by American music duo Simon & Garfunkel, which they included on their fourth studio album, Bookends, in 1968. Only 53 seconds into the video, Gambino shoots a man in the back of the head with a handgun, while assuming a comical stance similar to a Jim Crow caricature. An early scene in the film, set in 1973, finds the free-spirited character "Anita" (Zooey Deschanel) playing the song for her mother (Frances McDormand) to "... explain why [she] is leaving home to become a stewardess". O great for pilgrim feet [19] In an interview with the New York Times, Murai discussed his upcoming season for Atlanta, a show involving Gambino. The phrase is similar to the Latin phrase "A Mari Usque Ad Mare" ("From sea to sea"), which is the official motto of Canada. [2], "America" was inspired by a five-day road excursion Simon undertook in September 1964 with his then girlfriend Kathy Chitty. This song was written during the Vietnam era, and it addresses one of the most controversial conflicts of our time. Till souls wax fair as earth and air [28] On Black Friday of 2014, First Aid Kit released a 10" single containing the song as the title track. O beautiful for spacious skies, The song was a hit single in the United States in 1981, reaching number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and was Diamond's sixth number one on the Adult Contemporary chart. Here in America, He's the one we turn to every time the going gets rough. [18] A second, by Mickey Newbury, peaked at number 82 in 1980. Thy liberty in law. [38] It topped the Hot 100 for two weeks, and left the top ten after five weeks. Sting performs the song on a quarter size acoustic guitar live on stage on the Paul Simon with Sting tour. Thine alabaster cities gleam It had the following chorus: Only in America, land of opportunity Can they save a seat in the back of the bus just for me Only in America, where they preach the Golden Rule Will they start to … Men lavished precious life! The book points out that the poem has the same meter as that of "Auld Lang Syne"; the songs can be sung interchangeably. The song's accompanying music video was directed by filmmaker Hiro Murai, a frequent Gambino collaborator. "[15] American Songwriter deemed the song "essentially a road-trip song, but like all road trips, it tends to reveal as much about the participants as it does about the lands being traversed. A selection of songs made to be terrible - some clearly achieved that goal. 20 in New Zealand. Ray Charles' 1972 recording of this song was inducted into the, Katharine Lee Bates America the Beautiful, " 'America the Beautiful' by Katharine Lee Bates and Samuel Augustus Ward, arr. Viewers have said this resembles scenes from the 2017 film Get Out. Their versions – especially Moreno's – remain the definitive recordings of the song and it is rarely covered. Undimmed by human tears! It was the band's first and most successful single, released in late 1971 in Europe and early 1972 in the United States, and topped the charts in Canada, Finland, and the United States. [20], Popularity of the song increased greatly following the September 11 attacks; at some sporting events it was sung in addition to the traditional singing of the national anthem. [21] It also appeared on the Yesyears boxed set and its condensed version Yesstory, along with The Ultimate Yes: 35th Anniversary Collection. Across the wilderness! America! He stated, "There's sort of a world-weariness in both this season and the music video. "[13], Stephen Holden, in reviewing Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits in 1972, wrote, "'America'...was Simon's next major step forward. Neil Diamond 50 – 50th Anniversary Collection, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=America_(Neil_Diamond_song)&oldid=969900238, Billboard Adult Contemporary number-one singles, Works about immigration to the United States, Pages using infobox song with unknown parameters, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2013, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz work identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 28 July 2020, at 01:32. The lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates, and the music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. It starts off with a shirtless Gambino dancing through a warehouse, interacting with a series of chaotic scenes. After peaking in the charts in July 1972, the song was switched to the A-side of the single and re-entered the charts in November 1972. It was inspired by a 1964 road trip that Simon took with his then girlfriend Kathy Chitty. It quickly caught the public's fancy. [14] Billboard critics ranked it 10th among the "greatest music videos of the 21st century. [7][8], On the pinnacle of that mountain, the words of the poem started to come to her, and she wrote them down upon returning to her hotel room at the original Antlers Hotel. Instead of "They're comin' to America," towards the end, it became "Stand up for America. God shed His grace on thee However, the cast of the television show, The Muppets did a big production number to this song in a 1979 episode of, More songs from West Side Story Cast Ensemble, More songs with names of countries in the title. "[citation needed] The song was featured at the Stone Mountain Laser Show near Atlanta, Georgia. [7] David Nichols, in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, called the song "a splendid vignette of a road trip by young lovers; both intimate and epic in scale, it traces an inner journey from naive optimism to more mature understanding. America! It debuted with 78,000 downloads sold and 65.3 million US streams in the first week. The result was lyrics such as "Life is all right in America, if you're all white in America," which appear in both the film and stage version.