Songs of America from the Commonwealth

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     250 years ago, the United States was fighting a bloody war with Great Britain to gain independence, yet the two nations are still inextricably linked, especially in pop culture. Influences from movies, music, etcetera go both ways. So it makes sense that the Commonwealth would have songs showing mixed feelings of the U.S. (for the sake of simplicity I will define the Commonwealth as any country that had Queen Elizabeth on their money).   
     I open the album with "Kids in America" who is English and was an adult when she recorded this song. David Bowie follows with another song of American youth. The Scottish band Simple Minds follow, Brits Supertramp have a spot of "Breakfast in America" and The Clash say how they feel about the U.S.A. Aussies AC/DC give their appreciation of American thighs in "You Shook Me All Night Long". E.L.O. are "Calling America" while The Proclaimers of Scotland look forward to a "Letter from America". The next song is an oddity in that it is the fictional British band Spinal Tap played by American actors (and musicians) but since it is about America told from the point of view of someone English, I couldn't resist. Ray Davies of The Kinks outlines his thoughts on "Americana". Elvis Costello sings of an "American Without Tears" while his pal Nick Lowe made an "American Squirm". From Mr. Lowe, the Jesus of cool, we finish with "American Jesus". Since I didn't include the original version of "American Woman" last time because the band was Canadian, I decided balance it out. "American Jesus" was originally by American band Bad Religion but I used Canadian band, Simple Plans version here.

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