Story Behind The Song

Snapshots of my childhood and into my adult life and relationships were calling me to put them together. My life is not identical to anyone else's...and there in, becomes the 'typical' American Story; or song.

Song Description

America continues to be a place where cousins from the 'big city' visit those in the 'sticks' and still have something in common. Where immigrants come to this country when they are young and learn, grow, contribute and achieve the American dream....and spread our great story as they become part of it. We will always be a land of diversity, and in that diversity we will always be 'Americans'

Lyrics

v.1
My father bought a station wagon back in 1966
Used to take us driving on a Sunday through the Delaware sticks
My sister and my brother, riding in the back
Watching 20 miles of Railroad Track
Disappear behind them like a poem that was way too long
While my dad tapped on the steering wheel and whistled an American Song

v.2
My cousins came from New York every summer; we'd all sleep in tents
Never saw my uncle without that pork pie hat on his head
Yeah, he and my dad would talk late into the night
Wondering if the world would ever be right
While us kids were upstairs laughing and fighting and carrying on
Singing different verses of the same American Song

Bridge
Second jobs, second shifts
Second chances just like this
and not a second left to hate
American dreams and American plans
Electric guitars in American bands
.....we were already great.

v.3
My friend Salma came here when she was just 18
She worked hard, loved her country, helped her neighbor
She caught the dream
Yeah, every now and then she puts her sneakers on
Runs smilin' down the street in some marathon
And every now and then she gets to go back home to
Qaraoun,Lebanon
Where she sings them her own version of a brand new American Song
Yeah, she's singing...and American Song!

Outro:
Sing, sing, sing an American Song
Sing, sing, sing an American Song
Sing, sing, sing an American Song....