Paul’s Fourth of July Playlist – Top 10 America Songs [VIDEOS]

"After all it was a great big world
With lots of places to run to
And if she had to die tryin'
She had one little promise she was gonna keep"

This song is creates one of the best feelings I've felt from music. I loved it from the moment I heard it!

"American woman, said get away
American woman, listen what I say
Don't come a-hangin' around my door
Don't wanna see your face no more
I don't need your war machines
I don't need your ghetto scenes
Coloured lights can hypnotize
Sparkle someone else's eyes
Now woman, get away from me
American woman, mama, let me be"

For anyone who has had their heart crushed by an American Aphrodite, this is your song.

"So I put my hands up
They're playing my song,
The butterflies fly away
I'm noddin' my head like yeah
Movin' my hips like yeah
I got my hands up,
They're playin' my song
I know I'm gonna be OK
Yeah, it's a party in the USA
Yeah, it's a party in the USA"

Once again, this song just makes me feel great. We all know what it's like to feel nervous, and then let a groove enter your body that brings confidence. Or, if you don't, you should try it. In the U.S.A.

"Smokestack, fatback,many miles of railroad track
All night radio, keep on runnin' through, your rock 'n' roll soul
All night diners, keep you 'wake, on black coffee, and a hard roll

You might have to walk the fine line,
you might take the hard line
But everybody's workin' overtime

Livin' in America-eye to eye, station to station
Livin' in America-hand to hand,across the nation
Livin in America-got to have a celebration"

James Brown kills it on this one, and even made a special appearance in Rocky IV to sing in Ivan Drago's face. American style. Then Apollo Creed got punched to death. Don't Youtube that on the Fourth. It's just sad.

"Born down in a dead man's town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that's been beat too much
Till you spend half your life just covering up
Born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A."

It's not super uplifting when you read the words, because it's a slice of life in America, but not really the good life. Maybe it's a reminder that we should try to create, as Leslie Knope put it, 'better, less offensive history.'

"From The Sound up in Long Island
Out to San Francisco Bay
And everything that's in between them is our own
And we may have done a little bit
Of fightin' amongst ourselves
But you outside people best leave us alone
'Cause we'll all stick together
And you can take that to the bank
That's the cowboys and the hippies
And the rebels and the yanks
You just go and lay your hand
On a Pittsburgh Steelers' fan
And I think you're gonna finally understand"

This is a great "We'll kick your @#$%%#ing ass every time!" song.  I'm not in for the violence, but if it came down to it, it would probably be true. Don't mess.

Plus, they are a tight group. One of the best. And, any song with a Pittsburgh Steelers reference has me at hello.

"Oh, but ain't that America
For you and me
Ain't that America
Something to see, baby
Ain't that America
Home of the free, yeah
Little pink houses
For you and me
Oooh, little baby
For you and me"

It may be Mellencamp's finest effort. A slice of life that isn't depressing and borderline protest as is Born in the U.S.A., it still is modest, admits that all is not perfect, but we are still the home of the free. Kinda makes you want to dance through a field filled with sunflowers, and is a huge hit and easy to play on acoustic guitar at Fourth of July barbecues.

"I started singin' bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin' "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die" "

An ode to the day the day the music died, referring to the aviation crash that claimed the lives of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens. On Feb. 3, 1959, the three were flying to do a concert in North Dakota when their plane crashed. No one knows what popular music would be like today if Buddy Holly had made it to the 60's. He was a fearless innovator, and his death, and the death of the amazingly talented Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper, shook the country.

"Oh beautiful, for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties,
Above the fruited plain,
But now wait a minute, I'm talking about
America, sweet America,
You know, God done shed his grace on thee,
He crowned thy good, yes he did, in a brotherhood,
From sea to shining sea."

Let us not forget, not every country has a 'sea to shining sea'. In fact, not many countries have it. Some don't even have coasts. This land mass we call home is about as nice as it gets, because we have it all. Mountains, plains, hills, tropics, glaciers, snow, desert, deciduous forests, coniferous forests, lakes, rivers, everything under one unified flag. Not only that, but we are highly defensible, because you have to cross an ocean to attack us. Not all are so lucky. But we are.

"From the lakes of Minnesota, to the hills of Tennessee
Across the plains of Texas, from sea to shining sea
From Detroit down to Houston and New York to LA
Well, there's pride in every American heart
And it's time to stand and say that

I'm proud to be an American where as least I know I'm free
And I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me
And I'd gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today
'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land God bless the USA"