US road trips are often about the staggering possibilities of the American dream, full of new horizons, open roads and heart-pumping soundtracks. We forget that the great mythology of America started in the cities of Boston, Philadelphia and Washington DC: where the revolutionary war broke out in 1775; where the Declaration of Independence was signed a year later; and where the federal government has been seated since 1789. These places are the heartlands of the USA’s complicated, fascinating past and so much music evokes its rich history. So let’s clunk-click that seatbelt, and take a tour through the country’s history with this incredible array of genre-spanning songs.
We begin with Patti Smith’s tale of Amerigo Vespucci, the first explorer to reach and chart parts of the coast of the New World, confirming the existence of a supercontinent in between his native Europe and Asia – one which later took the feminised version of his name in Latin: “America”. On their voyage, his men “had neither King nor Lord, and bowed to no one,” Smith tells us, “lying on a ship and gazing at the western skies”.
Next up it’s country music legend Merle Haggard taking us “rolling down 200-years of track” in Here Comes the Freedom Train – a song originally written in 1973, but not released until 1976, when it was sold to raise funds for the American Freedom Train, which toured the country that year to celebrate the bicentenary of the US’s Declaration of Independence in 1776 – signed in Philadelphia on – you guessed it – 4 July of that year. “The train is called America,” Haggard sings; George Washington is its engineer, while Philadelphia’s favourite founding father Benjamin Franklin is punching the tickets.
Sticking with the 18th century, it’s The Schuyler Sisters (Angelica, Eliza and Peggy), from the box-office-busting Hamilton: The Musical. Harmonising like Destiny’s Child, they sing of reading “Common Sense by Thomas Paine” and getting excited by the fact that “the revolution’s happening”.
Next up, the country’s most famous protest song, This Land is Your Land – Woody Guthrie’s response to Irving Berlin’s bombastic God Bless America. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings make his socialist aspirations sing on this brilliant 2005 soul cover.
Now, picture yourself on the steps of Lincoln Memorial in 1963, listening to Martin Luther King declaring that he has a dream. Odetta gave her voice to the pivotal civil rights march that day in Washington, DC, performing I’m On My Way, which concluded her powerful Spiritual Trilogy.
The Byrds’ He Was a Friend of Mine is a beautiful tribute to Boston’s favourite son John F Kennedy next, before Joni Mitchell’s Woodstock captures the anti-war spirit and idealism of the late 1960s festival.
Moving on to the turbulent 1970s, it’s time to roll down the windows for the incredible spoken-word funk of Gil Scott-Heron’s The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. Scott-Heron fuses American politics and pop culture to make his message sing, getting Richard Nixon and General Abrams to rub shoulders with Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen.
Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire takes a more mainstream route through US history, travelling from 1949 to 1989 via Doris Day, Chubby Checker, and rock and roller cola wars.
We then end our journey a high note – quite literally – with Beyoncé’s version of Etta James’ At Last, which she sang at the White House as Barack and Michelle Obama had their first dance as president and first lady. It’s true that some other stuff has happened in US history since, but let’s keep the music playing, and keep those dreams alive.
For more inspiration and to book your trip to the US, visit ba.com/usa
