{"id":1378,"date":"2010-07-04T21:34:40","date_gmt":"2010-07-04T21:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/?p=1378"},"modified":"2018-07-04T18:34:02","modified_gmt":"2018-07-05T02:34:02","slug":"fourth-of-july-soundtrack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/2010-07\/fourth-of-july-soundtrack\/","title":{"rendered":"Fourth of July Soundtrack"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1383\" title=\"X\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/X-400x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/X-400x400.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/X-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/X-650x650.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/X.jpg 700w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Oh sure, we could pull up John Philip Souza, Aaron Copland, or Bernstein.\u00a0 But as good as they might be, their music wouldn&#8217;t be the soundtrack to our Fourth of July.\u00a0 And what&#8217;s the point of an instrumental version from U2?\u00a0 We can think of a million (and one) songs that subtly evoke our Independence Day and its history.<\/p>\n<p>But for explicit musical reference, we always turn to two of our favorite songs on the 4th.<\/p>\n<p>First is X&#8217;s fine cover of Dave Alvin&#8217;s song, <em>Fourth of July.<\/em> We have been X men (and women) since we first bought their 7&#8243; vinyl, <em>Adult Books, <\/em>in a prior lifetime (when &#8220;Slash&#8221; magazine ruled the California punk scene).\u00a0\u00a0 X always had drilling deliveries and literate lyrics, but the gift was in the beautiful meshing of Exene&#8217;s high-edgy-monotone vocals with John Doe&#8217;s more melodic intonations.\u00a0 The world hasn&#8217;t heard anything like it since, and it won&#8217;t again.<\/p>\n<p>X&#8211;<em>Fourth of July<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"625\" height=\"425\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/K_tyWt_9Bfs\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;She&#8217;s waitin&#8217; for me<br \/>\nWhen I get home from work<br \/>\nOh, but things ain&#8217;t just the same<br \/>\nShe turns out the light<br \/>\nAnd cries in the dark<br \/>\nWon&#8217;t answer when I call her name<\/p>\n<p>On the stairs I smoke a<br \/>\nCigarette alone<br \/>\nMexican kids are shootin&#8217;<br \/>\nFireworks below<br \/>\nHey baby, it&#8217;s the Fourth of July<br \/>\nHey baby, it&#8217;s the Fourth of July<\/p>\n<p>She gives me her cheek<br \/>\nWhen I want her lips<br \/>\nBut I don&#8217;t have the strength to go<br \/>\nOn the lost side of town<br \/>\nIn a dark apartment<br \/>\nWe gave up trying so long ago<\/p>\n<p>On the stairs I smoke a<br \/>\nCigarette alone<br \/>\nMexican kids are shootin&#8217;<br \/>\nFireworks below<br \/>\nHey baby, it&#8217;s the Fourth of July<br \/>\nHey baby, it&#8217;s the Fourth of July<\/p>\n<p>What ever happened<br \/>\nI apologize<br \/>\nSo dry your tears and baby<br \/>\nWalk outside, it&#8217;s the Fourth of July<\/p>\n<p>On the stairs I smoke a<br \/>\nCigarette alone<br \/>\nMexican kids are shootin&#8217;<br \/>\nFireworks below<br \/>\nHey baby, it&#8217;s the Fourth of July<br \/>\nHey baby, baby take a walk outside&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1384\" title=\"aimee\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/aimee-400x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/aimee-400x400.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/aimee-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/aimee.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Our other favorite 4th of July song is by Aimee Mann.\u00a0 Ms. Mann has stood the test of time, both in the band Til Tuesday and solo, and has been one of America&#8217;s best female songwriters.\u00a0 Having intermittently abhorred fireworks (so shoot me!) and the resulting throngs, certain lyrics (&#8220;what a waste of gunpowder and sky&#8221;) from this song have always resonated with us.<\/p>\n<p>Check it out.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"625\" height=\"425\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vOYI85anqmQ\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Aimee Mann&#8211;<em>4th of July<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Today&#8217;s the 4th of July<br \/>\nAnother June has gone by<br \/>\nAnd when they light up our town I just think:<br \/>\nWhat a waste of gunpowder and sky<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m certain that I am alone<br \/>\nIn harboring thoughts of our home<br \/>\nIt&#8217;s one of my faults<br \/>\nThat I can&#8217;t quell my past<br \/>\nI ought to have gotten it gone<\/p>\n<p>Oh, baby, I wonder<br \/>\nIf when you are older someday<br \/>\nYou&#8217;ll wake up and say<br \/>\nMy God, I should have told her!<br \/>\nWhat would it take?<br \/>\nBut now I am here, and<br \/>\nThe world&#8217;s gotten colder<br \/>\nAnd she&#8217;s got the river<br \/>\nDown which I sold her&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>So that&#8217;s today&#8217;s memory lane<br \/>\nWith all the pathos and pain<br \/>\nAnother chapter in a book<br \/>\nWhere the chapters are endless<br \/>\nAnd they&#8217;re always the same<br \/>\nA verse, then a verse<br \/>\nAnd refrain<\/p>\n<p>Oh, baby, I wonder<br \/>\nIf when you are older someday<br \/>\nYou&#8217;ll wake up and say<br \/>\nMy God, I should have told her!<br \/>\nWhat would it take?<br \/>\nBut now I am here, and<br \/>\nThe world&#8217;s gotten colder<br \/>\nAnd she&#8217;s got the river<br \/>\nDown which I sold her&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Yeah, she&#8217;s got the river<br \/>\nDown which I sold her&#8230; &#8220;<!--ringtones and media links --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oh sure, we could pull up John Philip Souza, Aaron Copland, or Bernstein.\u00a0 But as good as they might be, their music wouldn&#8217;t be the soundtrack to our Fourth of July.\u00a0 And what&#8217;s the point of an instrumental version from U2?\u00a0 We can think of a million (and one) songs that subtly evoke our Independence [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1378"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28453,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1378\/revisions\/28453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}