Stella's Place

I’m feeling particularly patriotic today. I had to get off X because I tired of the stupid ungrateful U.S. citizens who are too blind to see how fortunate they are to live in a country where they still have the freedoms of free speech and religion, abundance and goodness.

I feel better listening to entertainers like Toby Keith and Lee Greenwood, so I’m sharing these songs today. When I played these videos while preparing this post, my eyes filled with tears. As I prayed as a child, thank you God for letting me be born in this wonderful country.

“Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)” is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Toby Keith. The song was written in late 2001, and was inspired by Keith’s father’s death in March 2001, as well as the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States later that year.

According to Wikipedia, at first Keith refused to record the song and only sang it live at his concerts for military personnel. The reaction, however, was so strong that the Commandant of the Marine Corps James L. Jones told Keith it was his duty as an American citizen to record the song. “It’s your job as a singer to lift the morale of the troops,” Jones said to Keith. “If you want to serve, that is what you can do.”

In a November 2003 interview with CBS, Keith gave his take on the song: “It wasn’t written for everybody. And when you write something from your heart – I had a dad that was a veteran, taught me how precious our freedom is – I was so angry when we were attacked here on American soil that it leaked out of me. You know, some people wept when they heard it. Some people got goose bumps. Some people were emotionally moved. Some cheered, turned their fists in the air.”

As you probably know, Toby died in 2024 after a long battle with cancer. God bless him.

Good Bless The U.S.A. is familiar to all of us because President Trump features it at every one of his rallies.

Released by MCA Nashville on May 21, 1984, it appeared on Greenwood’s third album, You’ve Got a Good Love Comin’.

That summer, the song was included in a film about President Ronald Reagan, the Republican presidential nominee, that was shown at the 1984 Republican National Convention. George H. W. Bush also used the song in television advertisement. It became popular again, and Greenwood re-recorded the track for his 1992 album American Patriot. It was rereleased in 2003 after the invasion of Iraq.

In the song, the singer sings about how, if he were to lose everything he had and had to start again from scratch, he would do it in the United States because he believes his freedom is guaranteed in America. He remembers how other Americans in history had died to secure this freedom, and declares that if he is ever called upon to defend the US today, he will gladly stand up and fight because he loves the country.

Today on YouTube I ran across one of those reaction videos for this song. The author explained how lucky we were to show allegiance to our flag – and therefore, the people – rather than a King or a government.

He said: As a British dad from England, I’ve always been fascinated by American culture, patriotism, and the deep pride many Americans have for their country. Today I’m reacting to “God Bless The USA” by Lee Greenwood for the very first time. I tried to approach this reaction with respect, curiosity, and an open mind. Songs like this clearly mean a lot to people in America, and I wanted to understand why. As someone watching from the outside looking in, it’s genuinely inspiring to see how music can bring people together and represent something bigger than just a song.