Last autumn I compiled a huge list of songs which had become favourites of mine over the years. I played a couple of selections at that time, and returned with another in January, following that up in May with a set of entirely British performers. As I have played songs which related to America for the past couple of weeks this seems like a good time to do the same for them too. So, with no particular theme in mind, other than that is where they come from and I like all of these a lot, I give you American Favourites.

There is really only one place I could start. I’ve played this one before, but not as part of a ‘favourites’ set. I think it deserves its place in the collection:

I’ve never been lucky enough to see Bruce Springsteen in concert, which is a great regret. I almost managed it once, but my co-worker was much prettier than me so the ad agency took her instead with their last ticket. She wasn’t a fan before the show, but came back a convert! Born To Run was Bruce’s third album, and it was the one where things really took off for him. It was released in August 1975, and got to #3 in the US and initially to #36 in the UK, eventually peaking at #17 here, outperforming his previous two albums by some distance. It sold more than 7m copies in the US alone and enjoyed some big sales figures in many other countries. This title track was released as a single at the same time, and despite chart placings at the time of #23 n the US and #56 in the UK it has gone on to sell more than 2m in the US and 600k in the UK. As anthemic rock songs go, I find it hard to think of a better one.

This next one is also a live performance, and I love the way they drive the song along:

For an ‘unplugged’ performance I think that is amazing. This was part of the 10,000 Maniacs performance for the MTV Unplugged series, which was recorded in April 1993 and released as an album and DVD in October of that year. In the meantime, the band’s leader and lead singer Natalie Merchant had left to pursue her solo career, and was replaced by Mary Ramsey, who plays the incredibly good fiddle part on this. She still fronts the band to this day, though I think their best days were with Natalie, if I’m honest – and they miss her dancing! The other vocalist on this is Morgan Fichter, who also plays viola on some of the tracks. The album did well, reaching #13 in the US and #40 here in the UK. I bought it at the time, and it was one of those that kept me company on my long commuter drive around London’s dreaded North Circular Road: good music was an essential for retaining sanity! Stockton Gala Days, in its studio form, had been a track on the band’s Our Time In Eden album, which came out in September 1992, reaching #28 in the US and #33 in the UK. I love all of their albums, but I think that one would just get the vote as my favourite. This live version was also released as the B-side to the band’s cover version of Because The Night – often referred to as a Patti Smith song but actually co-written by Bruce Springsteen. It gave them their highest US singles chart placing, at #11, and also made #65 here in the UK.

10,000 Maniacs may well be one of those bands who have gone under the radar for many. I think the same could probably be said of this next guy – in the UK, for sure:

Another incredibly good live performance. And those backing singers – wow! I would have bet on my having played this one before but it seems that I may not have done. About time, then! Ry Cooder released Little Sister as the opening track on his eighth album, Bop Till You Drop, in July 1979. Wikipedia is a little thin on detail, not giving him the honour of a separate page for his discography, but as far as I can see the album reached #62 in the US, actually doing best in the Antipodes, as he frequently did: it peaked at #7 in both Australia and New Zealand. This track was released as a single, but there don’t appear to be any details of how well it did. As an afterthought I looked up the website of the UK’s Official Charts Company, who were a little more forthcoming: this album spent nine weeks in the UK charts, with a peak of #36. So there, Wikipedia, you aren’t the fount of all knowledge after all!

If you’ve seen my posts before you may well know that I’ve long been a fan of R.E.M. It was very difficult for me to choose just one of their songs to play, as there have been so many great ones down the years. In the end I went for this one, as I love the song and the video is great:

R.E.M. released Imitation of Life as a single in April 2001. I have no idea why, but it only reached #83 in the US, though it did spend three weeks at #1 on their Adult Alternative chart, which is based on radio airplay. In sales terms it did far better here in the UK, where it peaked at #6. It was included on their twelfth album, Reveal, which came out the following month and did much better in the US, peaking at #6. But again, it outperformed that in the UK, where it topped our charts. I bought it on the day of its release and played it a lot in the car on that long commute I mentioned earlier. The video bears several viewings, as you see things that you missed first time round: it is beautifully done.

To close this set of American Favourites, how about one which names the country in its title:

The Americans was a track on John Mellencamp’s album Freedom’s Road, which was released in January 2007 and peaked at #5 on the US Albums chart and at #3 on their Rock Albums listing. It is an album very much in the country rock genre, and it is no coincidence that the country band Little Big Town provided backing vocals for eight of its eleven tracks. This one was released as a single: it didn’t make the main US chart but did reach #55 on the US Country rankings. John Mellencamp is well known for his liberal political views, which he writes into many of his songs. This is a case in point: you don’t really think that he believes that many Americans are like the guy described in this song, do you? I couldn’t find it now, but I recall seeing him interviewed on one of the chat shows when he said that this song is ironic, but that many people identified with it as being like them. A bit like Bruce Springsteen’s Born In The USA, really, and several others of John’s – Pink Houses comes to mind.

That’s all for this week. I hope you’ve enjoyed some of my favourites from the good ol’ USofA – I’ve loved a lot of music by American bands over the years and this selection is just the tip of the iceberg. A number of others featured in those previous collections of favourites that I mentioned, but for some reason I never got round to playing any of these before. The oversight is now duly corrected!

Have a great week, and I’ll see you again soon. Take care of you and yours 😊