Driving Through Mythical America

Annotation

Pete Atkin, British singer/songwriter, born 22 August 1945 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, UK, performed the track "Driving Through Mythical America" (Philips # 6308 070), written by Clive James, which looked at the Kent State killings, weaved together with references to American popular culture: "four students watched the soldiers load and aim...across the set and through the cardboard hills" - so presenting the killings as a surreal Hollywood film set, as the students became part of American mythology. It continued to quote famous film characters, actors, and directors, such as Orsen Welles, John Wayne, Bogart, and Gatsby. The lyrics also focused on the sudden nature of being shot "out of the blue", and that the students never saw it coming. (1) (2) Atkin also released the Vietnam War song "All the Dead Were Strangers" on the 1973 album A King at Nightfall, about the My Lai Massacre.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

About the artist

Pete Atkin (born August 22, 1945, in Cambridge, England) is a British singer-songwriter and broadcaster. A Cambridge Footlights performer/writer from 1966, he formed a decades-long songwriting partnership with lyricist Clive James, recording six albums together in the 1970s including "Driving Through Mythical America" (Philips 6308070, 1971), whose title track is the assigned song here. Atkin later had a long BBC Radio career (Light Entertainment Producer 1981, Script Editor 1983, Chief Producer of Radio 4 1986, Head of BBC Network Radio in Bristol from 1989), producing works including the…

Themes

Kent State

In collections

European Songs · Kent / Jackson State Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs