Independence Day, Vol. 2
- jordannswright
- Jun 28, 2021
- 5 min read

July 4th, the anniversary of America's first big step towards freedom, is right around the corner. It's definitely the biggest of the summer holidays, and it's the perfect time to listen to some good music. The Independence Day Playlist remains one of my more eclectic collections, including songs from the Americana genre, classic patriotic anthems, songs about American cities, or music that just reminds you of this time of year. Let's go ahead and jump in to this year's "volume!"
July by BOY (written by P. Steinke, S. Glass, V. Steiner)
Featured on their 2013 album Mutual Friends, this song from Swiss-German duo BOY is a laid back, chill tracked named after Independence Day's home month. The whole album is great, and July is a great album ender that's worth a listen.
Take off your shoes now, you’ve come a long way/You’ve walked all these miles and now you’re in the right place/This is your party, everyone came/Everyone’s smiling and singing your name/And the nightmares and monsters and your biggest fears/Will seem light years away, no they won’t find you here/I’ll hold your head, my dear/Make sure no one’s gonna wake you/Tomorrow, you’ll still be here/No mater where your dreams will take you/And do you realize all the falls and flights/All the sleepless nights, all the smiles and sighs/They brought you here/They only brought you home
Hello Seattle by Owl City (written by A. Young)
Featured on his 2009 album Ocean Eyes, this electronic track from Owl City's Adam Young is another chill, relaxing number named after Washington's largest city. Young's lyricism creates some really beautiful imagery that really enhances the listening experience.
Hello, Seattle, I am a mountaineer/In the hills and highlands/I fall asleep in hospital parking lots/And awake in your mouth/Hello, Seattle, I am a manta ray/Deep beneath the blue waves/I’ll crawl the sandy bottom of Puget Sound/And construct a summer home/Hello, Seattle, I am the crescent moon/Shining down on your face/I will disguise myself as a sleeping pill/And descend inside of you
Hollywood's Bleeding by Post Malone (written by A. Post, B. Walsh, B. Lee, C. Lang, L. Bell)
The title track from Posty's 2019 album Hollywood's Bleeding is a dark, eerie tribute of sorts to Hollywood, California. I think this song shows off Post's vocals really well and is a great opening number to a really excellent album.
Outside, the winter sky turning gray/City up in smoke, it’s only ash when it rains/Howl at the moon and go to sleep in the day/Love for everybody ’til the drugs fade away/In the morning, blocking out the sun with the shades/She gotta check her pulse to tell herself that she ok/It seem like dying young is an honor/But who’d be at my funeral, I wonder/I go out and all the eyes on me/I show out, do you like what you see/And now they closing in on me/Let ‘em sharpen all they teeth/This is more than I can handle/Blood in my Lambo/Wish I could go, oh, I’m losing hope/I light a candle, some Palo Santo/For all these demons, wish I could just go on/I just keep on hoping that you call me/You say you wanna see me, but you can’t right now/You never took the time to get to know me/Was scared of losing something that we never found/We’re running out of reasons, but we can’t let go/Yeah, Hollywood is bleeding, but we call it home
America by Simon & Garfunkel (written by P. Simon)
Featured on their 1968 album Bookends, I really like Apple Music's description of this Simon & Garfunkel song as being about "youthful wanderlust." It does encapsulate the feeling of a cross-country road trip and the feeling of seeing the beauty of parts of the country you've never been to before.
Let us be lovers, we’ll marry our fortunes together/I’ve got some real estate here in my bag/So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner pies/And walked off to look for America/"Kathy," I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh/"Michigan seems like a dream to me now"/It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw/I’ve come to look for America/Laughing on the bus/Playing games with the faces/She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy/I said, "Be careful, his bowtie is really a camera"
Cold Day In July by The Chicks (written by R. Leigh)
Featured on their iconic 1999 album Fly, this song from The Chicks is admittedly here because it has July in the title. It is still a really good song though, and kind of shows a breaking down of an ideal "American dream" of sorts, so we'll just go with that and leave it be.
The moon is full, my arms are empty/All night long, I’ve pleaded and cried/You always said the day that you would leave me/Would be a cold day in July/Your bags are packed, not a word is spoken/Guess we said everything with goodbye/Time moves so slow, and promises get broken/On this cold day in July/Sun’s coming up, coming up down on Main Street/Children shout as they’re running out to play/Head in my hands, here I am standing in my bare feet/Watching you drive away, watching you drive away
Made in America by Toby Keith (written by B. Pinson, G. Reeves, T. Keith)
Featured on his 2011 album Clancy's Tavern, this is one of many American-themed tunes from Toby Keith. Keith's father, a proud retired Marine, has been the subject of many of Keith's songs regarding his intense American pride.
My old man’s that old man spent his life living off the land/Dirty hands and a clean soul/It breaks his heart seeing foreign cars filled with fuel that isn’t ours/And wearing cotton we didn’t grow/He’s got the red, white, blue flying high on the farm, Semper Fi tattooed on his arm/Spent a little more in the store for a tag in the back that says, "USA"/He won’t buy nothing that he can’t fix with WD40 and a Craftsman wrench/He ain’t prejudiced, he’s just made in America
Jambalaya by Tom Hiddleston & The Saddle Springs Boys (written by H. Williams)
Originally recorded as a single by Hank Williams in 1952, this cover was performed by Tom Hiddleston for the soundtrack to the 2016 Williams biopic I Saw the Light (starring Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olson). Williams was inspired to write the song after hearing a conversation between Cajun people regarding food, and while the original is a classic, Hiddleston is a HUGE celebrity crush of mine so his version gets to be on the post.
Goodbye Joe, me gotta go, me oh, my oh/Me gotta go pole the pirogue down the bayou/My Yvonne, the sweetest one, me oh, my oh/Son of a gun, we’ll have big fun on the bayou/Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and fillet gumbo/‘Cause tonight, I’m gonna see my ma Cher amio/Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-o/Son of a gun, we’ll have big fun on the bayou
Happy early 4th of July, ya'll! Hopefully ya'll found some fun new songs to add to your playlists. Happy listening and see ya'll next week!
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