"In America" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Charlie Daniels | ||||
from the album Full Moon | ||||
B-side | "Blue Star" | |||
Released | May 24, 1980 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:21 | |||
Label | Epic | |||
Songwriter(s) |
| |||
Producer(s) | John Boylan | |||
Charlie Daniels singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Music video | ||||
Listen to "In America" (Official Music Video) on YouTube |
"In America" is a song written and recorded by American music group Charlie Daniels Band. It was released in May 1980 as the lead single from their album Full Moon . [1] A live music video was released in 2001 shortly after the September 11 attacks.
The song was a reaction to the varying difficult issues facing America in the late 1970s – the fallout from the Watergate scandal, the simultaneous double-digit inflation, unemployment, and prime interest rates (leading to the misery index), and the 1979–1981 Iran Hostage Crisis.
Notwithstanding all the problems America was facing, the song described a patriotic, united America which would overcome the obstacles and return to its greatness ("we'll all stick together and you can take that to the bank / That's the cowboys and the hippies and the rebels and the yanks"). At one point, it quotes the title of Bobby Bare's "God Bless America Again," a song that asks for God's blessing over a struggling United States.
The song experienced a revival following the September 11 attacks, when it was floated around the Internet as "F*** Bin Laden."
The line, "Just go and lay your hand on a Pittsburgh Steelers fan" stems from Daniels' feeling that the people in Pittsburgh are "The salt of the earth, the finest, just the greatest people. The strength of America." He says, "I've gone to ball games at different places, but I've always felt the Pittsburgh Steelers fans, especially in the old stadium - I mean, they're steel workers and they're good old guys with blisters, or calluses on their hands. The strength of America is not in Washington, D.C., It's in our people, it's on the farms, in the factories. It's the people out here that make this country work. The truck drivers, the farmers. And these people, that's what they were, and I just felt like if you want to go to war, let me take some of these guys with me. Go lay your hand on a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, and you're gonna find out what American anger is, because it's the kind of people they are." [2] Also at the time of the song's release, the Pittsburgh Steelers were Super Bowl XIV Champions.
Chart (1980) | Peak position |
---|---|
US Hot Country Songs ( Billboard ) [3] | 13 |
US Billboard Hot 100 [4] | 11 |
Canadian RPM Country Tracks | 62 |
Year-end chart (1980) | Rank |
---|---|
US Top Pop Singles (Billboard) [5] | 96 |
Charles Edward Daniels was an American singer, musician, and songwriter. His music fused rock, country, blues and jazz, pioneering Southern rock. He was best known for his number-one country hit "The Devil Went Down to Georgia". Much of his output, including all but one of his eight Billboard Hot 100 charting singles, was credited to the Charlie Daniels Band.
"The Devil Went Down to Georgia" is a song written and recorded by American music group Charlie Daniels Band and released on their 1979 album Million Mile Reflections.
"Singing the Blues" is a popular song composed by Melvin Endsley and published in 1956. The highest-charting version was by Guy Mitchell and The first recording of the song was by Marty Robbins. It is not related to the 1920 jazz song "Singin' the Blues" recorded by Frank Trumbauer and Bix Beiderbecke in 1927.
Highway 101 was an American country music band founded in 1986 in Los Angeles, California. The initial lineup consisted of Paulette Carlson, Jack Daniels (guitar), Curtis Stone, and Scott "Cactus" Moser (drums). Prior to the band's founding, Carlson was a solo artist. With her as lead vocalist, the band recorded three albums for Warner Bros. Records Nashville. After Carlson left in 1990 to pursue a solo career, the band recorded a fourth album for Warner with Nikki Nelson on lead vocals before exiting the label. One album each followed on Liberty, Intersound, and Free Falls Records under various lineups.
Mark Nelson Chesnutt is an American country music singer and songwriter. Between 1990 and 1999, he had his greatest chart success recording for Universal Music Group Nashville's MCA and Decca branches, with a total of eight albums between those two labels. During this timespan, Chesnutt also charted twenty top-ten hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, of which eight reached number one: "Brother Jukebox", "I'll Think of Something", "It Sure Is Monday", "Almost Goodbye", "I Just Wanted You to Know", "Gonna Get a Life", "It's a Little Too Late", and a cover of Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing". His first three albums for MCA along with a 1996 Greatest Hits package issued on Decca are all certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); 1994's What a Way to Live, also issued on Decca, is certified gold. After a self-titled album in 2002 on Columbia Records, Chesnutt has continued to record predominantly on independent labels.
Rumor Has It is the fourth studio album by American country music singer Clay Walker. It was released April 8, 1997, on Giant Records. The album was certified platinum by the RIAA and reached #32 on the Billboard album charts. Singles released from it include the title track, "One, Two, I Love You", "Watch This", and "Then What?", which respectively reached #1, #18, #4, and #2 on the Hot Country Songs charts between 1997 and 1998.
"40 Hour Week (For a Livin')" is a song written by Dave Loggins, Don Schlitz and Lisa Silver, and recorded by American country music band Alabama. It was released in April 1985 as the second single and title track from Alabama's album 40-Hour Week.
"A Few Questions" is a song written by Ray Scott, Phillip Moore and Adam Wheeler, and recorded by American country music singer Clay Walker. It was released in April 2003 as the lead-off single and title track from his album A Few Questions. It peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts.
"Hello Darlin'" is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Conway Twitty. It was released in March 1970 as the first single and title track from the album Hello Darlin. The song was Twitty's fourth No. 1 song on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart. The song spent four weeks atop the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart that summer, and was named the No. 1 song of 1970. Aside from being Twitty's standard concert opener, the song became a country standard as well as his signature song. When performing with Loretta Lynn, Twitty would frequently sing the song directly to Loretta. Twitty's recording was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
"How Can I Help You Say Goodbye" is a song written by Karen Taylor-Good and Burton Banks Collins. It was first recorded by American country music singer Patty Loveless for her 1993 album, Only What I Feel and released in March 1994 as the fourth single. A version by American singer, songwriter, and actress Laura Branigan was released later the same year on her final studio album, Over My Heart, also being released as a single. The song was later included on Branigan's 1995 greatest hits album, The Best of Branigan.
"Come on Over" is a song by American recording artist Jessica Simpson from her sixth studio album, Do You Know. It was released on June 24, 2008 by Columbia Nashville as the lead single of the album. It was co-written by country music artist Rachel Proctor, Victoria Banks, and Simpson herself.
They Don't Make 'em Like My Daddy is the twenty-fourth solo studio album by American country music singer-songwriter Loretta Lynn. It was released on September 2, 1974, by MCA Records.
"People Are Crazy" is a song written by Hunter Montgomery, Bobby Braddock, and Troy Jones, and recorded by American country music singer Billy Currington. It was released in March 2009 as the second single from Currington’s 2008 album Little Bit of Everything. The song became Currington's third number one hit on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. On December 2, 2009, the song was nominated for two Grammy Awards for Best Male Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song. The song was also nominated for "Song of the Year" at the 2010 Academy of Country Music Awards.
"This Ain't No Rag, It's a Flag" is a song by American music group Charlie Daniels Band and released as a bonus track on their 2001 album Live!. The song was written solely by Daniels and was released in November 2001 as the first and only single from the live album. This song was written in response to the September 11 attacks. Its peak position was number 33 on the US Country charts. The song is his highest-charted single since 1989's "Simple Man".
"Simple Man", is a song written and recorded by American music group Charlie Daniels Band. It was released in August 1989 as the lead single from their album of the same name.
Land That I Love is a compilation album by American musician Charlie Daniels. Released on August 8, 2010, the album consists of Daniels' previously recorded patriotic work, as well as two new songs, "Iraq Blues" and "(What This World Needs is) A Few More Rednecks 2010". Charlie Daniels felt that "it was the perfect time for a compilation of patriotic music". Charlie Daniels said in an interview that the album is called Land That I Love because the United States of America is the land that he loves.
Based on a True Story… is the eighth studio album by American country music artist Blake Shelton. It was released on March 26, 2013, through Warner Bros. Records, and debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200. In a career best for Shelton at the time, nearly 200,000 copies of the album were sold in its first week. Based on a True Story... became the ninth best-selling album of 2013 in the US, earning Shelton a Platinum certification by the RIAA on September 30, 2013. In 2016, Based on a True Story… was certified double-platinum by the RIAA.
Gabby Bernadette Barrett is an American country music singer. She finished third on the sixteenth season of American Idol. Her debut single "I Hope" was the first top 10 Hot Country Songs debut by an unaccompanied woman since October 2017. It became a top three hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and has been certified 7× platinum by the RIAA. Her debut album Goldmine was released on June 19, 2020. Country Now called Barrett "country music's next female superstar".
Heart & Soul is the seventh studio album by American country music singer-songwriter Eric Church. The album was split into three separate albums: Heart, & and Soul. The album was released by EMI Nashville, who have been Church's label home since 2011's Chief. It was preceded by the singles "Stick That in Your Country Song", which received a nomination for Best Country Solo Performance at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, and "Hell of a View".
"Country Again" is a song recorded by American country music singer Thomas Rhett for his fifth studio album, Country Again: Side A (2021). The song was written by Rhett, Ashley Gorley, and Zach Crowell, while produced by Jesse Frasure and Dann Huff. It was released by Valory on April 12, 2021, as the second single from the album.