Today is the day the U.S. celebrates its adopting the Declaration of Independence, breaking itself off from the Kingdom of Great Britain. It is interesting to note, that the actual vote to separate the colonies from their current government occurred on July 2^nd, 1776, in a secret vote. July 4^th was when the actual, public document was approved and released. And the rest, as they say, is history. The U.S. survived that first war, and a few others, and has grown from being a fledgling underdog to a world power, with all the baggage that goes with that title.

In the meantime, so many songs have been written about the country, for good and for bad, that just listing songs mentioning the country would be too short, so today, we are looking at songs that mention the actual day listed on the Declaration, July 4^th.

1. Yankee Doodle Dandy – George Cohan
2. Saturday in the Park – Chicago
3. Goodbye – Night Ranger
4. Miss Fourth of July – Bon Jovi
5. 4^th of July – Soundgarden/X/Shooter Jennings (Waylon’s son)
6. 4^th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) – Bruce Springsteen
7. On the 4^th of July – James Taylor
8. Fourth of July – Mariah Carey
9. Yankee Rose – David Lee Roth
10. Good – Better than Ezra

One of the great things about summer is the shades—sunglasses perched on every nose I see.

“Sun Cheaters”, as they once were called for reasons completely unknown to me (if anyone happens to know, please enlighten me), have been around longer than we have recorded history. The Intuits wore walrus tusks with thin slits cut in them to reduce the amount of glare they saw off the water and snow.

Tinted lenses did not appear until the 18^th Century (about 1752), courtesy of the work of James Asycough. By the early 1900′s, the silent screens movie stars were all wearing them, some think to avoid recognition, while others think it was due to the red eye caused by the powerful arc lights used to light the set. By 1936, we hit the big time, when Edwin Land began experimenting with lenses made from his patented Polaroid filters.

Ever since, sunglasses have been a much needed wardrobe accessory.  Who can picture Jackie O without those large, dark sunglasses?  Can you imagine James Dean without his Ray-Bans?  When you think of John Lennon or Ozzie, can you not think of teashades, those little round sunglasses barely bigger than the eye?  So no matter what style of sunglasses you prefer, slip them on, even if its night, sit back, be cool, and enjoy these songs that refer to shades.

1. Cheap Sunglasses – ZZ Top
2. Sunglasses at night – Cory Hart
3. The Future is so bright, I have to wear shades – Timbuk3
4. Boys of Summer – Don Henley (and as mentioned before, The Ataris)
5. Outlaw Blues – Bob Dylan
6. Black Sunglasses – Mount Sims
7. Tire Me – Rage against the machine
8. Sunglasses – Divine Brown
9. Sunglasses after dark – The Cramps
10. Get Over – Lil Wayne

This year, there have been 182 days in the year. We have 182 days remaining. July 2^nd is the midpoint. At noon today, we are exactly at the midpoint of 2010 (how are your resolutions coming?).

In an effort to keep in mind that we are “halfway there”, we’ll look at songs that take us halfway (or at least mention something being halfway, even if its just a half a cup of coffee (as in Tom’s Diner). This one is for everyone who thinks the cup is half full AND for all those who think its half empty.  Enjoy!

1. Livin’ on a Prayer – Bon Jovi
2. Meet Me Halfway – Blackeyed Peas
3. The Trickster – Radiohead
4. Halfway Gone – Lifehouse
5. Anywhere for you – Backstreet Boys
6. Playboy to a Man – Elvis Costello
7. Halfway There – Big Time Rush
8. Tom’s Diner – Suzanne Vega
9. Halfway to the Bottom – Aqualung
10. Half the way – Crystal Gayle

Today we honor the holiday formally known as Dominion Day, celebrating the anniversary of the birth of Canada.  Before 1867, Britain had assumed control of most of the land of Canada through various treaties, even if there were still pockets of French loyalist scattered throughout the land (mostly in New Brunswick, which is the only constitutionally bilingual province). In 1867, The Province of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick merged and formed a confederation called the Dominion of Canada, with 4 provinces (The Province of Canada split into two separate provinces, Quebec and Ontario, joining New Brunswick and Nova Scotia)  and its own government (even if the British parliament kept some sort of political control until 1982).

Because of this limited control, many Canadians believed themselves to still be British and they did not truly celebrate this change in status until 1917, when they celebrated the golden anniversary, 50 years of their own government of the change.

In 1946, a bill was introduced to change the name from Dominion Day to Canada Day, however this was not formally accomplished until 1982, and even then with some protest.

By the 1980′s, most of Canada had some sort of local celebration. There are concerts, parades, festivals, and often fireworks. The Queen of England has appeared several times on this national holiday, as she did this year. So in honor of the birthday of Canada, today’s list is made of a few of the songs that refer to Canada in some mostly positively, way (purposely leaving out South Parks, Blame Canada and Canadian Idiot by Weird Al).

1. Canadian Please - Julia Bentley & Andrew Gunadie – An Absolute MUST-SEE video
2. Oh Canada/Welcome to the Maritimes - Classified
3. Great White North – Bob and Doug McKenzie
4. Canadian Railroad Trilogy/Alberta Bound - Gordon Lightfoot (or Alberta Bound)
5. Dire Wolf - Tragically Hip
6. Lakeside Park/Spirit of Radio – Rush
7. Helpless - Neil Young
8. Life is a Highway - Tom Cochran
9. Canadian Dream – Sam Roberts
10. Crabbuckit /Flypaper – K-os

For an impressive collection of Canadian songs, check out this list.