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12 Patriotic Songs Better than Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the U.S.A." (Paste)


Jahfin

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I respectfully disagree. There are some good songs on that list for sure but none of them are better than Lee Greenwood's. It kind of feels like another Ted Nugent situation where he isn't being given his due credit because of his political views. I mean why say these are better than some other song? Why not just say they are the best songs or just great songs? I could be wrong but it looks like a shot at Lee. Plus the list is silly. Especially because Jimi Hendrix's version of The Star Spangled Banner was a complete butchering. Now if you want a patriotic song better than God Bless The USA here it is (which also was not mentioned for likely political reasons):

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That Skynyrd song, like Greenwood's "God Bless the U.S.A." is the very definition of suck. Hendrix's version of the "Star Spangled Banner" isn't exactly the first song to come to mind when I think of patriotic tunes but I've never thought of it as a "butchering" either.

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That Skynyrd song, like Greenwood's "God Bless the U.S.A." is the very definition of suck.

That's a little extreme. Especially since the Lynyrd Skynyrd song is freaking awesome. B)

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That's a little extreme. Especially since the Lynyrd Skynyrd song is freaking awesome. B)

Pretty much everything Skynyrd has done post-crash is horrible, that jingoistic "Red, White & Blue" song is a shining example. I'm sure it had Ronnie Van Zant rolling over in his grave.

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Pretty much everything Skynyrd has done post-crash is horrible, that jingoistic "Red, White & Blue" song is a shining example. I'm sure it had Ronnie Van Zant rolling over in his grave.

They are not near as good for sure but they have had some good stuff. I really doubt Ronnie would have such a problem with songs like Red, White and Blue. He wrote Sweet Home Alabama to tell Neil Young off just for insulting the region of the country he was from so I doubt songs like Red, White and Blue and That Ain't My America defending Ronnie's country would offend him one bit. Besides, southern folk tend to get really patriotic and I see that a lot in Skynyrd both pre and post-crash.

Edited by DAS
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Ronnie Van Zant never struck me as being particularly jingoistic or the flag waving type so those tunes aren't characteristic of his work in the least. They are, however, very characteristic of the post-crash version of the band, which has little to nothing to do with the pre-crash version, especially politically speaking. The pre-crash version of the band actively campaigned for Jimmy Carter. As for "Sweet Home Alabama", that was more like a good natured jab at Neil and was never meant as anything more than that. As the Drive-By Truckers sing in "Ronnie & Neil", "their feud was just in song". I doubt Van Zant would have gone around wearing a Neil t-shirt if there was anything less than respect between the two. Not to mention Neil offering up a couple of songs from Rust Never Sleeps for them to record.

Back to patriotic songs, I also really like this one (which is one of the few on the Paste list that I actually care for):

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Jimmy Carter did a great job of selling himself to pretty much everyone (mostly because of Watergate) but after he showed his true colors no one supported him and he won 2 states. I don't really judge a band on that since a certain Gary Rossington was a part of the 1976 campaign and what's going on today. So either there was a change of view or they, like most people, just bought the hype that one time. Either way I doubt Ronnie would be appalled at these songs. Especially not a song like Red, White and Blue that is not very political at all and just a good old fashion patriotic song. Also either way it doesn't really matter to me because Lynyrd Skynyrd is still one of the greatest bands of all time pre-crash and still a great band post-crash. We can just agree to disagree on the current line up. ;)

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Jimmy Carter did a great job of selling himself to pretty much everyone (mostly because of Watergate) but after he showed his true colors no one supported him and he won 2 states. I don't really judge a band on that since a certain Gary Rossington was a part of the 1976 campaign and what's going on today. So either there was a change of view or they, like most people, just bought the hype that one time. Either way I doubt Ronnie would be appalled at these songs. Especially not a song like Red, White and Blue that is not very political at all and just a good old fashion patriotic song. Also either way it doesn't really matter to me because Lynyrd Skynyrd is still one of the greatest bands of all time pre-crash and still a great band post-crash. We can just agree to disagree on the current line up. ;)

The reason Carter lost was twofold: First, Bush negotiated a back room deal with the Iranians in Sept 1980 to keep the hostages until after the election in exchange for arms. Second, his 1979 speech of responsibility to America went over like a fart in church. If its one thing the American public don't like it is having to take responsibility for anything. That is why Carter lost. As a proud American I always thought this was our country's greatest fault, lack of humility and responsibility. No one is perfect, nor is America and that is not a crime. The issue is when we as a nation cannot, will not recognize our mistakes and faults, take responsibility, make necessary changes, and move on.

Second, I agree 100% with Jahfin, LS post crash sucks BAD!!! I saw them at their first reunion back in 87' I believe and besides being a trainwreck of a concert, they proved themselves complete whores by dragging out Ronnie's father on-stage to hawk merchandise of all things. At that point, me, my friends, the 200 or so bikers, and everyone else not stoned got up and left.

Edited by Sagittarius Rising
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^ Jimmy Carter lost his reelection bid because of the economy. It's that simple. No back room black helicopter deals or bad speeches. The economy tanked and he got booted for it. Honestly if he worshiped Satan on stage and then ate a bag of live puppies it could not have made him unpopular enough to win only 2 states. One bad speech can't make you that unpopular. And hostages or not, a lack of getting hostages released cannot make you so hated you only win 2 states. He just did a poor job.

We really need a political bickering thread. ^_^

Also, I saw Skynyrd a few years ago and they put on a great show.

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Patriotic songs tend to suck as do anti-establishment songs. Torture to me is hearing Lee Greenwood & Pete Seeger songs back to back. If I must it's Chuck Berry's "Back In The USA" or Johnny Cash's "Man In Black" for patriotic, for anti-establishment The Dead Kennedy's "California Uber Alles" or REM's "Exhumng McCarthy" other than that I'll take "Be Bop A Lula" or "Surfin' Bird" anyday over "We Shall Overcome" or "This Land Is Your Land".

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