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Home , American Skin (41 Shots), Lyrics, Miley Cyrus, We Take Care of Our Own, Where You Stand

and Historical Narrative

Overview related Activities Music has been a part of human culture since prehistoric • Sing for Your Rights! times. From the national to rock , music Learn about how the Constitution and Bill of brings Americans together. Rhythms, familiar choruses, Rights protect the rights of . and verses can unite people of various backgrounds • Born in the U.S.A.: Music as with a sense of their shared history and culture. How has Political Protest music, including ’s, shaped Americans’ Analyze Springsteen’s use of irony and understanding of our shared history? In this lesson, metaphor in this song that is more complex than it might first appear. students will trace the ways musicians have responded to events on a national scale and furthered political dialogue • Debate It! among citizens. They will also compare music in countries Role play two First Amendment scenarios and decide where you stand! where governments respect freedom of speech with those that don’t.

Developed in partnership with the Bill of Rights Institute National Constitution Center Developed in partnership with the Bill of Rights Institute teacher notes

Learning Goals Extension Students will understand: Music and Governments Around the World • Music can be a powerful “Whoever would overthrow the Liberty of a Nation, form of expression about must begin by subduing the Freeness of Speech.” political and social issues. – Benjamin Franklin, 1722

• Music is a widely accessible Citizens in countries that protect individual freedom means by which individuals of expression often take it for granted that people can understand themselves everywhere can express political views. However within a historical narrative. freedom of speech is relatively rare in the world. In the • In countries where many countries where people can be imprisoned for government does not speaking out against government, of political respect freedom of speech, protest are absent. Additionally, there may be a glut of musicians can be persecuted patriotic songs which children are forced to learn and for expressing their views. sing in school.

What actions have totalitarian governments around the world taken to suppress the right of individuals to criticize government? How does this lack of freedom affect the ways citizens can shape and even understand their history? Have students contrast freedom of expression in music in the United States with other countries with less freedom. Students may wish to research:

• The current state of freedom of speech and press in countries such as Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, the People’s Republic of China, and others. • Events associated with musicians who have been banned at one time in China, including Miley , Jay-Z, Oasis, and Bjork. • “Patriotic” songs in North Korea.

National Constitution Center Developed in partnership with the Bill of Rights Institute Music: Shaping Our Historical Narrative

Music has been a part of human culture we honor the community and the place we since prehistoric times. And from the came from.” In “” he contrasts national anthem to rock anthems, music the pride he believed he should feel for his brings Americans together. Rhythms, familiar hometown, with the ways the town is being choruses, and song verses can unite people left to die: of various backgrounds with a sense of their shared history and culture. “Now Main Street’s whitewashed windows and vacant stores Bruce Springsteen Seems like there ain’t nobody wants to come down here no more Bruce Springsteen’s music has struck a chord They’re closing down the textile mill with Americans looking to find meaning in across the railroad tracks their personal experiences of growing older and seeking fulfillment. His music also speaks Foreman says these jobs are going to Americans coping with political and social boys and they ain’t coming back to crises of the last 40 years, including the your hometown.” September 11 attacks and the consequences This theme of striving to cope with of wars and economic transformations on changes in our hometowns is evident America’s middle and working classes. In in his single “Born in the U.S.A..” From these ways, Springsteen personifies the the of the same name, this song as a teller of stories about the forced Americans to confront the aspirations, emotions, and values that make emotional scars of the Vietnam War. us human and that help us understand our With its repetitive, rousing chorus, own experiences. the song is often misunderstood as The America of Bruce Springsteen is a purely patriotic anthem. A closer complex. His songs are often double- look at the lyrics in the verses, edged: sometimes they appear to celebrate however, reveals a condemnation their subjects, while at the same time they of the war and the struggles often condemn or mourn them. His musical faced by returning landscape is often bleak. Darkness on the veterans. Springsteen Edge of Town (1978) told of broken dreams, sings of the veteran’s and Nebraska (1982) featured the stories and return to an America struggles of ordinary, blue-collar Americans, that holds few often told in first-person and often with stark opportunities, “Come and dismal imagery. back home to the refinery / Hiring Yet Springsteen clearly celebrates that man says ‘Son identity which people receive from the places if it was up to they grow up. Our hometowns, in his music, me’…” Without are part of what makes us who we are. “The a refinery job, Promised Land,” he said, was about “how the character

Developed in partnership with the Bill of Rights Institute of Springsteen’s song closes, “I’m ten years Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions in burning down the road / Nowhere to run 2006. This album of contained ain’t got nowhere to go.” Explaining his lyrics, no original music, but rather Springsteen’s Springsteen later said, “when you think about renditions of traditional songs of American all the young men and women that died in identity and struggle. Over his entire career, Vietnam, and how many died since they’ve Bruce Springsteen has shown that the been back—surviving the war and coming language and feelings of music often overlap back and not surviving—you have to think with conversations about politics. that, at the time, the country took advantage of their selflessness.” (, Issue 436, December 6, 1984) How does music shape our identities and Springsteen continued to confront national understanding of shared history? What is struggles with his 2002 album, The Rising. the tradition in the United States of musical The album is regarded as a series of commentary on matters of American identity reflections on the terrorist attacks of 2001, and politics, and how does Bruce Springsteen even though some of the songs pre-date the fit into that larger musical tradition? attacks. Springsteen performed “,” which he wrote in November 2000 The American Revolution about his hometown of Asbury Park, on a As soon as the United States came into post-9/11 telethon. Many saw the song with being, songs were written about the struggle its haunting lyrics take on a new, broader for independence. The first political songs go meaning. The album’s title song, “The back to the American Revolutionary era. John Rising,” seems to be about both an individual Dickinson of Pennsylvania wrote “The Liberty firefighter, as well as a nation struggling to Song” in 1768, which is considered the first make sense of the senseless. American patriotic song:

Springsteen’s music highlights the role of the “Then join hand in hand, musician in helping us make sense of human brave Americans all, longings, including those for relationships, hope, and meaning. He By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall… released To die we can bear, We but to serve we disdain. For shame is to Freedom more dreadful than pain.”

The Revolutionary War lasted from 1776 until the defeat of British forces in 1781. Throughout this time, much music focused on the wrongdoings of King George, the evils of tyranny, and the prospect of freedom for British subjects living in the colonies. Dr. Joseph Warren, a member of many pro- independence organizations including the famed Sons of Liberty, participated in both legislative and military battles against King

National Constitution Center Developed in partnership with the Bill of Rights Institute George. Before dying at the Battle of Bunker Hill, Warren wrote this war set to the tune of the British Grenadiers.

“Torn from a World of Tyrants, beneath this western Sky, We form’d a new Dominion, a Land of liberty; ...God bless this maiden Climate, and thro’ her vast Domain, Let Hosts of Heroes cluster, who scorn to wear a Chain…”

Slavery Songs with political significance were not perform, as well as to pass the time during limited to military subjects. In the 18th and tedious work. As they had no right to own 19th Centuries, Abolitionists used music to property, enslaved people could not publish convince people of the injustice of slavery. their own works, but music remained a source “Oh Freedom” is a Civil War Era song with of private reflection and self-expression. This repetitive lyrics that emphasize freedom musical legacy has been inherited by many above all else. Despite its influence, modern musicians, black and white. historians do not know who authored it.

“Oh freedom, oh freedom, oh freedom World War II over me During World War II, many musicians And before I’d be a slave I’ll be buried in continued to construct a narrative of patriotic my grave Americans willing to die for freedom by And go home to my Lord and be free reaching back to the Revolutionary War period. World War II occurred at a time when No more mourning, no more mourning, no millions of Americans were gaining easy more mourning over me…” access to music through radio—which was “Oh Freedom” transcended its period: more quickly becoming the most popular media than a century later during the Civil Rights forum in the country. Songs from this period, movement, musicians would reach back to including the famous “Boogie Woogie Bugle the abolitionist era for inspiration. Joan Baez Boy of Company B” by the Andrews Sisters, sang “Oh Freedom” in the 1963 March on often conveyed patriotic or nationalistic Washington. sentiments.

We know from oral histories and slave “There’s a Star Spangled Banner Waving narratives that music was an important feature Somewhere,” written in 1942 by Paul Roberts, in slave life. Enslaved people found hope continues the narrative of patriotic Americans and the strength to persevere in fighting for freedom by invoking the valor of (religious songs). Field workers would often American heroes like George Washington, sing together to make group tasks easier to Ethan Allen, and Nathan Hale. This wartime

Developed in partnership with the Bill of Rights Institute National Constitution Center rally song conveyed honor, courage, and self Bruce Springsteen recorded “Eyes on the sacrifice in an appeal from a crippled man Prize” in We Shall Overcome: The Seeger requesting to fight in the war. Sessions.

“Can’t the U.S. use a mountain boy like me? The Vietnam War God gave me the right to be a free American, Songs about the Vietnam War, unlike much music from earlier wars, tended to be strongly And for that precious right I’d gladly die.” critical of the war. The Vietnam War raged on for nearly twenty years. The conflict The Civil Rights Era led to large numbers of casualties and the Drawing on the struggles of African-American United States’s prolonged involvement led to ancestors over a century earlier, Civil Rights protests throughout the nation. It was during era activists re-imagined cherished abolition this period that the modern protest song truly and songs from the 19th century for came to fruition. their harrowing struggle for legal and political “Blowing in the Wind” was written by Bob equality in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Civil Dylan in 1963. The song quickly gained Rights era music was influenced by African traction and was soon covered by many folk and gospel genres, and was frequently notable artists including Janis Joplin used to make political statements and boost and Peter Paul & Mary. Its references to the morale of fatigued protesters. cannonballs and death evoke a strong anti- Sam Cooke wrote “A Change is Gonna war sentiment and have contributed to it Come” in 1964 after speaking with sit-in being labeled a protest song. demonstrators in North Carolina. The song “How many times must the cannonballs fly became a hit and came to represent the essence of the Civil Rights movement. Before they’re forever banned? …How many deaths will it take till he “I was born by the river in a little tent knows Oh and just like the river I’ve been That too many people have died?” running ever since It’s been a long, a long time coming Debuting in 1969, Credence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” tells a story But I know a change gonna come, oh yes from the perspective of a soldier drafted it will…” into service in Vietnam. The lyrics critique Like other songs in this genre, “Eyes on the ways that prominent individuals from the Prize” has origins that pre-date the Civil wealthy and powerful families seemed to be Rights movement. Traditionally referred to exempted from from the draft more often than as “Gospel Plow,” the song alludes to the people of limited means. struggles African-Americans faced, including “It ain’t me, it ain’t me unjust imprisonment, discrimination, and conviction to the cause of freedom. I ain’t no Senator’s son… Some folks are born silver spoon in “Got my hand on the freedom plow hand… Wouldn’t take nothing for my journey now I ain’t no millionaire’s son, no, no…” Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on!”

National Constitution Center Developed in partnership with the Bill of Rights Institute Written a decade after the Vietnam war Sting’s “Russians,” released in 1985, criticized ended, Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the the leadership of Soviet Premier Khrushchev U.S.A.” revealed the emotional scars of and U.S. President Reagan, and condemned Vietnam. Again using first-person perspective, the idea of war itself: “There’s no such thing the song took on meaning both personally as a winnable war, it’s a lie we don’t believe and politically: it shared the experience of a anymore.” man who fought in the war and returned; at the same time it forced listeners to confront In contrast to Sting’s “Russians,” Lee the question of whether the nation failed in its Greenwood’s “I’m Proud to be an American” responsibilities towards those who serve in took on a more traditionally patriotic tone. the military. Written in 1984, the song echoed themes from the Revolutionary War and World War II, praising “Come back home to the refinery American freedom (implicitly contrasted with life Hiring man says “Son if it was up to me”… under the totalitarian government of the Soviet Union). The song took on new meaning for I had a at Khe Sahn many Americans in 2001 after the September 11 Fighting off the Viet Cong terrorist attacks, much as Springsteen’s “My City They’re still there, he’s all gone…” of Ruins” had done.

Bruce Springsteen has continued to write The Cold War songs addressing and protesting national The Cold War had already begun when issues including police brutality and racial United States involvement in Vietnam ended profiling (“ (41 Shots)”), the in 1973. The Cold War was a period of tension Iraq War (“Last to Die”), and the federal between the United States and the Soviet government’s response to hurricane Katrina Union. This period characterized by military (“”). escalation on both sides and the fear of “mutually assured destruction” via nuclear action.

Critical Thinking Questions 1. What common themes do you observe between songs about war? What connections can you draw between music from the Revolutionary War and World War II? How about between Vietnam, the Cold War, and more modern conflicts?

2. What historical events and trends can you think of that could have contributed to a change in the general character of war songs after World War II?

3. What common themes do you observe between songs about struggles for legal equality?

4. How has music, including Bruce Springsteen’s, shaped Americans’ understanding of our shared history?

Developed in partnership with the Bill of Rights Institute National Constitution Center