Search - Jack Rodney :: AMERICA IS A MIRACLE

When I first wrote AMERICA IS A MIRACLE in 1988, I was spending my summers off from teaching traveling the country. The places that most affected me were the Vietnam Memorial, a cruise on the Baltimore Bay where Scott Key wrote the national anthem, and the Redwood Forest. I wrote my impressions into a song and recorded it in hopes of sharing it as a record. Unfortunately, every company I approached laughed at me. Patriotic songs? Are you kidding? Who'd listen? And then 9/11. The days when no planes flew. My friend was so distraught when she stared across the bay and saw the first tower down, she turned around. When she looked again, the last had fallen. My rewrite of AMERICA IS A MIRACLE is my call for us to remember the spirit that is America and to believe that our best days are still ahead.FIREWORKS FROM 40,000 FEET is the story of a girl flying miles above the war in Vietnam, wishing she were on the ground to see what she thinks are fireworks, while a soldier below sees the plane's lights, wishing he were there.MOTORCADE recounts my feeling of loss when I missed seeing JFK's motorcade passing by my house, and later on that day in Dallas when The motorcade moved along. DISTANT RADIO We're all connected in many ways: heritage, history, and communications. While driving across the continent, I heard radio signals from thousands of miles away.Tennessee is hearing Chicago and Erie--Toronto. Who hears their own town? Carolina coast to the Cape, everywhere I listen, Ohio seeps through. There's no place for escape. I'VE BEEN EVERYWHERE details a young man's joy at discovering his country in inspirational places: Standing on the spot where men first flew free. He relates how he hiked by fox and snakes and deer that startled me when I came near. His wanderlust is clear: I've heard planes take off like thunder, followed trains whose tracks ran underneath steep streets atop cliffed mountains far above the rivers below. Then there's Pepsi Cola, Florida's green Gulf waves slash down as if they warn of hurricanes. Corpus Crispy almost looks the same. See, I've been everywhere. BICENTENNIAL EVENING is a fun song about a young couple who enjoyed being together so much during the celebration, the guy exclaims, Oh, that Bicentennial Evening! I didn't bother to look at the sky. And if I have the choice, I'm not gonna die. I'm gonna find that girl for the Tricentennial night. WE'RE MOVING SO FAST, a poppy instrumental with a swing beat, expresses a positive attitude he have about ourselves. It feels like we're moving ahead with our eyes forward.JEFFERSON SUITE I wrote this when I was a ninth grader at Jefferson Jr. High School, near Pittsburgh, (where I first learned about Jefferson).This is a collection of songs with stories and instrumentals inspired by my traveling across the country. I'll donate a portion of the price to SUPPORT OUR TROOPS.