# 25 America You're Freaking Me Out

or songs of angst and critique for the country I call home

It’s been a minute. Definitely a few minutes longer than I anticipated. I’m confident in believing this is how time probably has felt for you since mid January as well with the fire hydrant of terrible news thanks to the return of our current administration back on full blast

A Riso poster featuring the lyrics to Paul Robeson’s “What Is America To Me" by Lewis Allan. Let me know if you want me to send you one.

I’ve been exponentially less outspoken this time around. Much of this is intertwined with unpacking a lot of thoughts from spending the last 3 months of 2024 abroad and the unique zoom out on the world those times provide that leave me feeling that both the world is way more complicated but also our country does not need to be THIS complicated and dysfunctional. Which is also part of why I’m finding myself less publicly outspoken; The dysfunction, the division, the chaos, its all by design and it’s so much more brazenly so. On the one hand, as a practicing Christian, I’m grateful that this time around the right has dropped trying to co-opt faith as the cover for the terrible things they are doing, but on the other, how do we even begin to have a conversation in this country about the stripping of services and support for people at home and abroad, and illegal deportations and military occupations, and the endless ways our country is at risk due to decisions this president is making when the other side is completely consumed with things like canceling one of the greatest athletes on the planet because she is so radical to suggest trans people should get to play sports. How do you argue the value of human life when your opponent wants to fight about swim meets?

This playlist is another race towards the wind that is my soft activism. They’re the type of songs that love this country and want it to be better, which is why they are critical of it. This is by no means a comprehensive playlist of songs critiquing america, and is in fact probably the most myopic playlist I’ve made. There's also just a lot of songs that channel the form of frustration I’m feeling lately, in the form of 3rd and 4th wave emo and 90’s hardcore. I often say I am more drawn to sadness then anger, but I’m not immune to shouts and rhythmic physical outbursts as a way of working through frustration, I am a scorpio after all.

Frustrated and saddened as I am about the state of the country now and into the near future, I choose to strive for optimism, because I’m not sure what's attractive about the alternative. Hopefully this soundtrack helps you through this weekend and the times ahead.

#25 American You’re Freaking Me Out

Listen on Spotify

1. The Mezingers - America (You’re Freaking Me Out)

2. Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - Johnny Appleseed

3. Bruce Springsteen - Born In The USA

4. Phil Ochs - What Are You Fighting For

5. Simon & Garfunkel - America

6. Pretty Girls Make Graves - Parade

7. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive

8. The (International) Noise Conspiracy - Up For Sale

9. Snapcase - The Beat

10. Iron Chic - Plane, Chest Pains, and Automobiles

11. Kerosene Heights - Such Great

12. Against Me! - Americans Abroad

13. Billy Bragg - Help Save The Youth Of America

14. Talking Heads - Don’t Worry About The Government

15. Leonard Nimoy - If I Had A Hammer

16. Buffalo Springfield - For What It’s Worth

17. Wilco & Billy Bragg - Christ For President

18. The Weakerthans - Pamphleteer

19. Pavement - No More Kings

20. Bruce Hornsby and the Range - The Way It Is

21. Dillinger Four - Minimum Wage Is A Gateway Drug

22. Good Looking Friends - Jaywalker

23. PUP - Free At Last

24. Yard Act - Fixer Upper

25. Agriculture - In The House Of Angel Flesh

26. Woody Guthrie - The Land Is Your Land

27. Limbeck - Names For Dogs

28. John Prine - Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You into Heaven Anymore

29. Paul Robeson - What is America To Me? (The House I Live In)