A patriotic one from the outlaw.
In 1984, the same year as the Los Angeles Olympics, Waylon Jennings released his patriotic anthem, “America.”
Like how the Summer Olympics affected Americans this year, Jennings was beyond moved to see the patriotism throughout our nation and wanted to tip his hat to how far the United States has come and how hosting the Olympics brought the country together.
In a rare raw interview clip from the ’80s, Jennings talked about why he felt called to release the song written by Sammy Johns”
“I was watching the 1984 Olympics, and I got caught up in that. The patriotism that Americans had, you know, as well as the athletes and spectators. I thought about writing a song about it, and it didn’t quite get off the ground.
But then I remembered this song that was written in 1973 by Sammy Johns from one of his albums, and I remembered I liked that song. But at that time, in ’73, it just didn’t have the effect. I think the whole country right now…there’s a whole feeling of patriotism.
I mean, I’m not trying to get into politics or anything like that, but I think we made our mistakes and everything like that. We’ve paid for them in a lot of ways, and like I say… the way I best describe that song, and what that song means to me, is what I feel about America today.
It’s like, when you see what is happening to the Statue of Liberty. She’s being repaired. Maybe that’s what we are doing… repairing.”
The music video, directed by David Hogan, features scenes from all over the country, from farmers and people lounging on the beach to mountainous scenes. For most of the song, Jennings sits in front of an old country store, singing the lyrics until the end when he takes off in a Cadillac Presidential Seville.
The song details that no matter where you live, your occupation, or your skin color, we all cherish the freedom of our home country and love this land.
“And the men who fell on the plains
And lived, through hardship and pain
America, America
And the men who could not fight
In a war that didn’t seem right
You let them come home, America
And my brothers are all black and white, yellow too
And the red man is right, to expect a little from you
Promise and then follow through, America…”
While Jennings released the song due to his overwhelming sense of patriotism at the time, he was worried that his label might hold him back because it was not his usual rough and rowdy honky tonk sound. However, since the song carried an important message, he didn’t care how it charted.
“When I talked to the label, I talked to Joe Kalani about putting this record out, and I said, ‘Now, I don’t want to hear about is this going to be a hit or is this not going to be a hit. I just want it out.’ I think he felt about the same way I did about it.”
And the rest is history:
Maybe we all need to take the lyrics of “America” to heart these days. I hope that “America” has a resurgence for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games… what a full-circle moment that would be for Waylon Jennings.
Fire it up…