"Sail Away" - The National Anthem!

Yes, Greil Marcus' great book about music and America (see previous post), reminded me of Randy Newman's great, great song "Sail Away." The Slave Trader, the Confidence Man, coaxing folks to get on the great big "slave ship" and head off to the shores of America.

This song really should be our National Anthem. There are other good candidates, Jimi Hendrix's "Star-Spangled Bannner," Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land," Dylan's "Masters of War," but if we are talking about "promises and lies," Newman's song takes the cake.

And the promises and lies are so seductive... makes you want to get on that ship... "you'll just sing about Jesus and drink wine all day, it's great to be an American..."