{"id":138,"date":"2016-01-26T23:28:53","date_gmt":"2016-01-27T04:28:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/67.249.26.136\/wordpress\/?p=138"},"modified":"2016-01-27T07:18:49","modified_gmt":"2016-01-27T12:18:49","slug":"america-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/?p=138","title":{"rendered":"America (2016)"},"content":{"rendered":"

This evening at bowling someone played Neil Diamond’s “America” on the jukebox.  I never saw “The Jazz Singer.”  I don’t even know the story, much less the context for the song as performed in the motion picture.  I’ve never cared especially for the song, but for some reason, hearing it now struck a chord.  The lyrics tell the story of how this country came together from, basically, the dregs of everywhere else on this planet.  For a long time, it was “y’all come!”  And all were welcome.  There have been some very dark times in our nation’s history, to be sure.  I won’t romantically gloss over all of that.  But we have always invited those like us to join us.  From Emma Lazarus’ “The New Colossus”, which is engraved on the pedestal of our very own Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.  Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”<\/p>\n

Reading recent headlines, it would seem that Neil Diamond’s “America” doesn’t exist anymore.  If that’s true, I mourn that loss.  Still, it’s a catchy tune–an anthem, really!  And I think the melody deserves to live on.  But it will need new lyrics.  And so, with humble apology to Neil Diamond, I offer “America (2016)”:<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Far…<\/div>\n
We all travelled so far<\/div>\n
To our new home<\/div>\n
Away from any Czar<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Free!<\/div>\n
We cut down all the trees<\/div>\n
And tamed this land<\/div>\n
While writing our own creed<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

On the boats and on the planes<\/div>\n
We all came to America<\/div>\n
Welcomed all who shared our pain<\/div>\n
They all came to America<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then<\/div>\n
We forgot from whence we came<\/div>\n
Now if they are not the same<\/div>\n
We don\u2019t want them here<\/div>\n
We don\u2019t want them here<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Home<\/div>\n
All they want is a new place<\/div>\n
It is to our great disgrace<\/div>\n
That we greet them with fear<\/div>\n
That we greet them with fear<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Everyone around the world:<\/div>\n
Stop coming to America!<\/div>\n
Just in case you haven\u2019t heard:<\/div>\n
We fear you in America.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

We don\u2019t care where else you go,<\/div>\n
Stop coming to America!<\/div>\n
You don\u2019t fit the status quo,<\/div>\n
Stop coming to America.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Stop coming to America!<\/div>\n
Stop coming to America!<\/div>\n
Stop coming to America!<\/div>\n
Stop coming to America!<\/div>\n
Go \u2018way, Go \u2018way<\/div>\n
Go \u2018way, Go \u2018way, Go \u2018way!<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

My country used to be (Go \u2018way!)<\/div>\n
A place where all would be (Go \u2018way!)<\/div>\n
Welcomed with Love (Go \u2018way!)<\/div>\n
We\u2019ve really lost<\/div>\n
OUR WAY!<\/div>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This evening at bowling someone played Neil Diamond’s “America” on the jukebox.  I never saw “The Jazz Singer.”  I don’t even know the story, much less the context for the song as performed in the motion picture.  I’ve never cared especially for the song, but for some reason, hearing it now struck a chord.  The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rants"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=138"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149,"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions\/149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}