The media loves to celebrate round-number anniversaries, even when nobody cares. The American semiquincentennial is a good example. Was anyone jazzed about celebrating it? Not that I could tell. Still, institutions felt duty-bound to mark the occasion.
The folks at WXPN at least took a creative approach – literally. They commissioned new music from a dozen Philadelphia artists, giving them a question rather than a directive: What does independence mean today? They’re calling the results “Philly Anthems.”
The reason I know about this is that I heard the second song in the series, “America the Beautiful,” when it dropped last week. It’s by Eliza Hardy Jones, who’s played keyboards with The War on Drugs since the band’s 2021 tour, but this sounds nothing like their indie rock. Jones sings her scathing protest lyrics in a sweet soprano over a folk-rock melody, undercutting the idea of America the beautiful by adding, “only if you close your eyes.”
The last best hope of the earth just put another kid in a cage
We’re all born to be free to kiss the ring and dig our graves
It’s a party in the USA where we left another child to die
America the beautiful, but only if you close your eyes
Our crowning good of brotherhood, all yearning to be free
To manifest a kingdom where we claim our destiny
It’s a party in the USA, let’s drop another bomb from the sky
America the beautiful, but only if you close your eyes
America the beautiful, send your “tempest-tost” to me
Built on a dream, but the dreamers couldn’t see
That shining city on the hill belongs to everyone that breathes
Don’t let the rich men write the story, tell you who’s the enemy
When every heart’s a branch on the tree of liberty
It’s a party in the USA, don’t you feel a little horrified
America the beautiful, but only if you actually try
America the beautiful, but only if you open your eyes
A couple of years ago, this song from Eliza Hardy Jones made my year-end Top 50:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Oivd8_96qk