Our country, our truck: A modest proposal

Posted by Philip Barron at 1:11 PM on January 14, 2007.

In complete seriousness and in the spirit of a new beginning as embodied by the advent of our new Congress, I hereby propose that the ubiquitous John Mellencamp song in the Chevy Silverado advertisments be made our new national anthem. The tune has attracted hostility in some quarters because it's been overplayed, or perhaps because Mellencamp supposedly sold out to the Man in making this commercial ditty, or maybe because Mellencamp is a dirty hippie who opposed the war on Iraq, or just possibly because some NY Times crybaby whined because the imagery in the original ad acknowledged that American history hasn't been a trip down an unalloyed yellow brick road (gasp!).

Frankly, if both the left and the right dislike the song, it may well be worth consideration as a unifying theme. It does do something that The Star Spangled Banner does not: it speaks to our ideals. It reminds us of our goals and charges us with responsibilities, while the Francis Scott Key offering more or less revels in war. Besides - simply on its merits as a song - it's a good solid anthem that's much kinder to the throat than our current national vocal obstacle course. And not least of all, it's a hell of a lot easier to remember. After all, sports fans pretty much already know it by heart.

Imagine a stadium full of people, voices raised as one:

The dream will never leave

And some day it will come true

And it’s up to me and you

To do the best that we can do

And let the voice of freedom

Sing out through this land

This is our country

Write your congressman.

Tagged as: national anthem

Philip Barron is a St. Louis writer and author of the blog Waveflux.