4th of July

Today's the Fourth of July
Another June has gone by
And when they light up our town I just think
What a waste of gun powder and sky.
(Aimee Mann - 4th of July)

I have to confess I'm really not very big on patriotism - neither for the country of my birth, nor for the country I now live in. I just don't feel it myself and, like Samuel Johnson, am a little wary of those who claim patriotism as their motive.

So I won't be celebrating too hard tomorrow (in fact I'll most likely write the first midterm) but I'll probably manage to play a 'patriotic' song or two.

• Aimee Mann's 4th of July
  
• Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA.
  
• I am a Patriot by Miami Steve. This clip is Eddie Vedder performing the song at a Ralph Nader rally in 2000.
• Neil Young's Rockin' in the Free World
  
• Jimi Hendrix version of the Star Spangled Banner, not at Woodstock this time, but at the Berkeley Community Theater.
  

Any other suggestions for ironically patriotic songs? (Extra points if a presidential candidate has tried to co-opt them).

You know I thought I had a tenuous link to the class when I started writing this but it escapes me now.

Enjoy the holiday.