Courtesy of History.com

 Long-time readers of my column may remember the column I wrote criticizing pseudo-patriotism in the wake of September 11, 2011. Feel free to read it if you want, and come back later—this column will still be here when you get back. But, one of the things most people close to me know is that I really do love this country. It‰’s funny to use overly-patriotic reaction gifs in group chats; it‰’s funny to have upwards of five t-shirts with eagles on them. A 3 by 5 foot flag hangs next to my bed, and a map of the country above my desk. Behind the fa̤ade of ridiculousness, though, there is a serious appreciation of the United States, and a great concern for the path the country is on and its future. This week‰’s song is one that I‰’ve been ruminating on since the first time I heard it, and it‰’s about damn time I wrote down my feelings about it.

            The song on question is “The Great American Novel‰” by British folk singer Beans on Toast.

 A personal friend of one of my favorite musicians, Frank Turner, Jay McAllister (his real name) was the first opener for Turner on the Positive Songs for Negative People tour. I have a policy where I go into concerts not having listened to much, if any, of the opener‰’s music, so I honestly had no idea what to except from Beans on Toast. I really liked what I heard, especially some stuff from his newest album, Rolling Up The Hill, including “The Great American Novel.‰Û

Courtesy of acoustixntones

            The song tells of a time McAllister was at a casino in Reno and was chatted up by the elderly patron next to him. He wonders what McAllister is doing “so far away from home,‰” and “Where [he‰’s] been, what [he‰’s] seen, and what [he] might‰’ve learned.‰” And throughout the song jay then tells him, first extolling the country‰’s natural beauty:

I‰’ve seen the rivers and the mountains,
The forest through the trees
I‰’ve seen the deserts and canyons,
I‰’ve seen the tumbleweeds
I watched the sunset off the west coast
With the sand between my toes
I‰’ve been east freezing my bollocks off
In six inches of snow

He continues to extoll the country, this time detailing the country‰’s diversity through music and artistic genres:

I‰’ve heard the banjos and the trumpets
Been to where the blues was born
Danced to dubstep and to punk rock
And shopped in record stores
I‰’ve read The Great American Novel
by the Great American Novelist
And give me half a chance
I‰’d build myself a white picket fence

But the man in the casino is not satisfied with Jay‰’s response; Jay apparently has not “learned‰” enough. The man then tells Jay what he‰’s seen throughout his lifetime in America, and it‰’s not as pretty a picture as the ones Jay has just spun:

…The fast cars and the titty bars,
The broken traffic lights
The homeless and forgotten folk
Downtown late at night
And I‰’ve seen the foreign policy,
The oily, bloody hands
I‰’ve seen the police brutality
Sweep across the land.

And these are legitimate criticisms of the state of the country. However, I don‰’t know a single person who is HAPPY that these things are plaguing our country. Especially people like myself who love the country—we want problems like this fixed as well, BECAUSE we are proud of the country. It is people like this old man who jadedly spout things they see wrong with the country without any pride for great parts of the country that leave a poor taste in my mouth. The old man in the song himself admits that he has not spent much time outside of his home state of Utah. He takes for granted all of the great aspects of this country and focuses on the negative. Now, I am nowhere near suggesting that we should sweep all of the issues under the rug and focus on what is good. I‰’m suggesting that the issues not taint your impression of the country and its ideals. It‰’s a great country, which is why the issues like police brutality and chronic homelessness NEED to be addressed. We may not all agree on how that should be done, but we at least agree that it needs to be done.