Comments on: City of Chicago Fireworks Show: No Patriotic Songs Needed

By: tanstaafl1019

tanstaafl1019 — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:01:08 +0000

(Mellencamp reference completely coincidental) and while our display didn’t have official music, per se, we had it during our summer festival. During the time the fireworks were launching above our city hall, the rock band that had been playing for two hours at that point paused from their regular playlist and instead played “The Star-Spangled Banner.” It was an inspiring and pride-inducing moment that sounds as if it outdid many larger displays in major cities.

By: bauer

bauer — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 03:03:23 +0000

I think you meant The 1812 Overture, not William Tell.
1812 is an awesome fireworks tune — althogh it has nothing to do with America.

By: DONTREADONME

DONTREADONME — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:48:34 +0000

check out his last comment, quite the classy invocation of Hitler to make an argument.

By: The_Gadfly

The_Gadfly — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:02:00 +0000

And I happen to think it’s a great song which makes my patriotic play list often.

By: Jay_Cee

Jay_Cee — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:00:23 +0000

And the 1812 doesn’t really have any connection to US history at all.

But it sure makes for a good fireworks display!

By: Warner Todd Huston

Warner Todd Huston — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:53:21 +0000

… you wasted everyone’s time telling us so, too. See, it DOES take all kinds.

By: Warner Todd Huston

Warner Todd Huston — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:52:34 +0000

How about because it’s crap?

That would be good enough for me. Johnny Cougars melloncamp is also crap.

By: Lammo

Lammo — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:51:10 +0000

By: The_Gadfly

The_Gadfly — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:50:44 +0000

Title to Diamond’s song is just “America” no “Coming to” although that being the chorus it’s easy to forget. And I really do have to stand by these lyrics being fully and completely patriotic:

Everywhere around the world
They’re coming to America
Ev’ry time that flag’s unfurled
They’re coming to America

Got a dream to take them there
They’re coming to America
Got a dream they’ve come to share
They’re coming to America

By: The_Gadfly

The_Gadfly — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:46:40 +0000

I think it is one of the classic patriotic songs from the Reagan era, along with Charlie Daniel’s “In America.” I won’t speak to some of his other songs, but that one I always think of as patriotic. While I wouldn’t put “R.O.C.K. in the USA” in the same league, it does strike me as one of the songs the mushy middle would tend to think of as patriotic. I will agree they should have saved “The 1812 Overture” to last. Or even left it out completely rather than put it first.

The 4th is about celebrating our country as a whole, not just the fighting aspects of it.

By: uncledad

uncledad — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:46:02 +0000

What he said.

By: NotFooledByDistractions

NotFooledByDistractions — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:32:45 +0000

Patriotism and love of country is more than a song or waving a flag made in China.

This seems like a desperate attempt to complain about something…anything. Would it really have been that hard just to enjoy the day and the commaradere without looking at the events through the bitter lenses?

By: elliesue

elliesue — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:42:41 +0000

Change Chicago to Long Beach, California and this describes perfectly our experience at the fireworks display. Actually, it was even worse. The display lastest only 20 minutes but there was no music at all. Old Glory was blowing in the wind but you couldn’t tell because it was dark and there was no light on her. Many families turned out but it was hard to tell why. Our small hand held American flags and a very small percentage of the people wearing the red, white and blue were the only visible signs that we might be celebrating America’s birthday. I even heard one young man of age 12 or so making fun of celebrating “our nations birthday” and he was with his parents and brothers (one who looked to be about 8 years old sported a peace sign t-shirt). It was a discrace. We felt very depressed when we turned in that night. Next year we’ll stay in Orange County where we live. I hear Huntington Beach did American proud.

By: Jlerner

Jlerner — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:19:04 +0000

thought it was appropriate to play only American music. We had the usual Sousa marches and standard patriotic music. But they also worked in uniquely American sounds as well; classic folk songs (they even played Dixie!), Jazz standards, Gershwin (which was amazing, btw), etc. It was not “popified” or internationalized; it was a good mix of traditional and more modern musical forms. The only common theme was the quintessentially American sound they all invoked. It was lovely.

By: izoneguy

izoneguy — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:10:14 +0000

We went to a show on July 3 and on the 4th. Both shows were great.
Patriotic music all throughout both shows.

By: DONTREADONME

DONTREADONME — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:06:04 +0000

that was a snark comment BTW.

By: DONTREADONME

DONTREADONME — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:05:37 +0000

By: uncledad

uncledad — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:01:02 +0000

Sure why not. Hitler was fond of telling people what was and was not patriotic!

By: peg_c

peg_c — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:18:41 +0000

There may have been patriotic songs at the end but we quit mid-way. Not only were the NYC fireworks over-programmed, too synchronized and boring, but the accompanying music was so dreadful I sent a complaint email to NBC. (We actually unblocked NBC on our DVR to watch this dreadful show.)

I’m afraid patriotism really is relegated to Small Town America, now.