today's the fourth of july
a little musing on music and TWO prompts
I will start by admitting that my family has never been much for celebrating the Fourth of July. We don’t do cookouts. Years ago, we used to go to a local parade, but there isn’t one where we live now (and I’m kind of over loads of fire trucks, bad marching bands, and cheap candy thrown by local politicians). We used to attend the big fireworks show in Grant Park on July 3rd when it coincided with Taste of Chicago, but we haven’t been interested in braving those crowds for years, either, especially considering that we can see the explosions of numerous local shows from our deck if we’re interested.
I am partial to some songs that feature the holiday, however. None of them are patriotic in any way, so if you’re looking to add an odd assortment of songs to your playlist, here you go.
Fall Out Boy’s “Fourth of July” features some good high range vocal work by Patrick Stump and some strange (typical FOB) lyrics like “In between being young and being right/You were my Versailles at night” and “Had my doubts but I let them out/You are the drought/And I'm the holy water you have been without.”
If you want to break your heart a little bit, you could add Sufjan Stevens’ “Fourth of July” to the mix. A song that he wrote about his dying mother, if the lyric “did you get enough love, my little dove?”doesn’t get you, its repeating refrain of “We’re all going to die” might. (Oddly enough, this song also has Versailles in its lyric…) It’s tender and haunting, but maybe not the best party song…sorry, not sorry.
Panic! at the Disco makes the list with “Victorious,” which has turned up recently on some of my workout playlists. Brendon Urie brings the drama and the vocal pyrotechnics into the bridge of “Oh, we gotta turn up the crazy/Livin' like a washed up celebrity/Shooting fireworks like it's the Fourth of July” before he slides up the octaves into “until we feel all right.”
Springsteen’s “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)” is a perfect example of his early storytelling ramble including multiple anecdotes including “And you know that tilt-a-whirl down on the south beach drag/I got on it last night and my shirt got caught/
And that Joey kept me spinnin’ I didn’t think I’d ever get off.” It’s got angels on Harleys, greasers, switchblades, boardwalks, cops, casinos, factory girls under the pier…in other words, it’s a cornucopia of early Springsteen imagery and talk-singing.
But, by far, my favorite tune featuring the holiday is Aimee Mann’s “Fourth of July” from her album Whatever. A slow burn of a song about loss and regret, it starts with the best description of the holiday I’ve heard:
“Today’s the Fourth of July/another June has gone by/and when they light up the town, I just think/what a waste of gunpowder and sky.”
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If you want to write today instead of watching a waste of gunpowder and sky:
If you were to write a song/poem/flash that incorporated a holiday, which holiday would you choose? Go ahead, draft your best piece about Arbor Day or Epiphany.
Challenge: Based on the five songs above, draft a piece that includes:
a reference to Versailles
a carnival ride
a washed up celebrity
a refrain that repeats a hard truth
an unusual or negative description of something people usually find enjoyable