For America

Annotation

Jackson Browne, a singer-songwriter born in Heidelberg, Germany, where his father Clyde Jack Browne, an American serviceman, was stationed. His family moved to Los Angeles when he was three years old. In 1986 he released the political-charged album Lives in the Balance (Asylum Records # 9 60457-1-E) which addressed US foreign policy towards Central America during the Ronald Reagan presidency.1 It took an anti-war stance. Billboard wrote an article on the album, and its lead single of the same name, on 20 December 1986, under the headline: "Brown Funds Video on Central America". The report continued: "Jackson Browne wants to focus attention on US policy in Latin America with an information campaign built around one of his songs, Lives in the Balance...The song...centers on the current political turmoil in Central America...Browne...hoped listeners...would be encouraged 'to think about what is going on in Central America and examine closely what they are being told by our government and the major news media'".2 The album also featured the song "For America", released as a single (Asylum Records # 69566), which questioned American patriotism and cultural and political identity as expressed through continual wars over multiple generations. He criticised those who said "my country - wrong or right", as he searched for the "truth" and "conscience" of America. The song directly referenced Vietnam - he wondered if the parents "who send their sons to the Vietnams...really think their way of life has been protected". Thus, he suggested that Vietnam did not protect US values, and that future wars, such as in Central America, would be futile, and perhaps even contrary to his view of an American identity. It peaked at # 3 in Billboard Top Rock Tracks on 22 March 1986.3 On 19 April 1986 it reached # 30 in the Billboard Hot 100.4Sources1The Guide to United States Popular Culture (Ray Broadus Browne, 2001)↩2Billboard, 20 December 1986↩3Billboard, 22 March 1986↩4Billboard, 19 April 1986↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: As if I really didn't understand, that I was just another part of their plan / I went off looking for the promise / Believing in the Motherland / And from the comfort of a dreamer's bed and the safety of my own head / I went on speaking of the future, while other people fought and bled / The kid I was when I first left home, was looking for his freedom and a life of his own / But the freedom that he found wasn't quite as sweet when the truth was known / I have prayed for America...I was made for America... / As if freedom was a question of might / As if loyalty was black and white / You hear people say it all the time 'My country wrong or right' / I want to know what that's got to do with what it takes to find out what's true / With everyone from the President on down, trying to keep it from you / The thing I wonder about the Dads and Moms / Who send their sons to the Vietnams / Will they really think their way of life has been protected as the next war comes? / I have prayed for America, I was made for America / Her shining dream plays in my mind, by the rockets red glare / A generation's blank stare / We better wake her up this time, I can't let go till she comes around / Until the land of the free is awake / And can see and until her conscience has been found

Notes

Asylum 7-69566, 45 R.P.M., stereo, matrix ST-EA-69566-A-SP, ℗ 1986 Elektra/Asylum Records; "From Elektra LP 60457 - 'Lives in the Balance'"; "For America" (J. Browne), 5:10, Pub.: Swallow Turn Music (ASCAP), produced by Jackson Browne; manufactured by Elektra/Asylum/Nonesuch Records, 75 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, and 9229 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, a division of Warner Communications. The picture sleeve shows a hand-tinted portrait of Jackson Browne in a leather jacket against a magenta (front) and turquoise (back) window-grid design; the back lists the flip side "Till I Go Down", engineered by James Geddes and mixed by Greg Ladanyi and James Geddes, printed in U.S.A. [From the record sleeve and labels]

About the artist

American singer-songwriter, born 9 October 1948 in Heidelberg, Germany, raised in Los Angeles, California. [Source: Wikipedia]

In collections

European Songs