Friday Fix: Star-Spangled Lou
Friday, July 3, 2009
Lou Reed - “America (Star-Spangled Banner)”
(from Between Thought and Expression: The Lou Reed Anthology)
This weekend, as you’re grilling veggie dogs over an open flame and sipping on a few too many imported brews in the backyard with your loved ones, be sure to take a moment to reflect on our nation’s struggle for independence and, in the midst of that hefeweizen haze, consider the possibility that if Francis Scott Key had penned his famous poem with the help of a broken synthesizer and a post-glam band that was trying to age gracefully into the curious new world of the 1980s, the song you used to sing before the start of every little league game would have turned out quite differently indeed. The harmonies may have changed, but the message remains the same: Fuck yeah, America.