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

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.

Ah, the first day of summer, a day celebrated in most of the Northern Hemisphere.  Jack in your headphones and touch the road with a playlist to kick off summer.

1. School’s Out – “Schooooooooool’s out for summer” The unofficial start-of-summer anthem: even 12-year-olds, regardless if they know it’s Alice Cooper, know this chorus.
2. Summertime Girls by Y&T -  “She’s hot!” As the temperature rises on more than just the thermometer.
3. Summer of 69 by Bryan Adams – “Those were the best days of my life” – This song has LOTS of meaning to different people.
4. Summer Nights – John Travolta, Olivia Newton John – “Summer lovin’, had me a blast” – Where this iconic couple prequel out what they did last summer.
5. That Summer - Garth Brooks – “That summer wind” – What an interesting summer job this sounds like
6. Summer Breeze – Seals and Croft – “Summer breeze, makes me feel fine” – The feel good song of the summer that has been around forever
7. Summer Nights – Lil Rob – “I feel good now, summer nights”  -  At least I found one line I could highlight in a PG rated blog.
8. Summer Nights – Rascal Flatts – “Everybody, are you with me?” – and an interesting video
9. All Summer Long “Singing, ‘Sweet, Home Alabama’” Lynard Skynard was obviously a prominent fixture in Kid Rock’s musical history.
10. Magic – The Cars – “Summer, Summer, Summer” – Ok ok, I had to get the Cars onto some list….and the phrase Summer Summer Summer seemed to fit
    

There are so many songs about summer that perhaps next time I need to break it down by time of day (Summer Nights alone could fill a couple of lists).  The Beach Boys did so many songs about summer they could provide a weeks worth of lists (Endless Lists?), but picking just one was difficult (maybe All Summer Long would be a good representation). How could I resist the chance to put up John Travolta before he became Mr. Pulp Fiction himself?  And as much as I would LOVE to include Boys of Summer, its almost a better end of summer song, so I’ll hold on to it until then.  I might have to take that long to decide which version to use, Don Henley’s classic original, or The Atari’s best cover of all time .

Of course, trying to do a list about Hot, Heat, Burning, Fever, or Temperature could be interesting as it relates to summer.  Perhaps on the first good heat wave I’ll make one of these lists. Then again, I am not the first, to do a list of summer songs, for another viewpoint, check out The Grammy

So slip on the sunglasses, slide on some sunscreen and pour yourself a tall glass of lemonade (Newman’s Own, anyone?) and add your favorite song of summer to the list!

The celebration of Father’s Day is now practiced in 55 countries.  It was first observed in 1910, and by 1913 a bill was introduced to Congress that would make Father’s Day a legal holiday.  However, they chose not to pass the bill into law for fear of the observance becoming too commercialized.  President Woodrow Wilson spoke in 1916 at a ceremony honoring fathers, but would do nothing to make it official for fear of offending Congress. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge recommended that we commemorate the day but stopped short of a Proclamation.  It was not until 1966 that the observance had any real standing, when President Eisenhower made the official Presidential Proclamation setting aside the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day.  Finally, in 1972, President Nixon signed the bill that Congress had finally passed to make the holiday a law.

Music seems to give fathers the same sort of respect that Congress did in dragging their feet nearly 60 years before making it an official holiday. In coming up with today’s list, songs that had to do with dads, the first few that jumped to mind are not all that flattering.  I’ve tried to exclude songs written exclusively from the perspective of the dad to the kids (Cat Stevens/Paul Simon/Elton John).

1. Cats in the Cradle – Harry Chapin (remade by Ugly Kid Joe) – folk song about a kid whose Dad is too busy to spend time with him, who ends up just like his dad in the end, too busy to go see the aging father.
   
2. Father of Mine – Everclear – an autobiographical song of a boy whose father leaves.
3. Janie’s Got a Gun – Aerosmith – an abused girl extracts her revenge
4. Our Father – Extreme – another broken home
5. Why Father – Walls of Jericho – more abuse
6. Dear Father – Sum 41 – another missing dad
7. Father -  LL Cool J – broken home and abuse
8. Hey Dad – Good Charolette – another missing dad
9. Had a Dad – Janes Addiction – yet another missing dad
10. Oh Father – Madonna – unloved child
    

But, I cannot leave the list like this and let everyone think all musicians hate their dads.  So here’s a little love for the fathers:

1. My Father’s Eyes – Eric Clapton – respect for a dad’s presence and perspectives
2. The Living Years – Mike and the Mechanics – Talk to your dad before its too late
   
3. Butterfly Kisses – Bob Carlisle – The love of a girl for a dad
   
4. Old Man – Neil Young  – Not always great, but he is going home to his dad who is a lot like him
   
5. Father Son – Peter Gabriel – Can do anything with Dad by your side
   
6. Daddy – Beyoncé  -  Appreciation for what her Dad has done and how she wants her son and husband to be like him
7. Papa was a Rolling Stone – Temptations – A father dies too young and the kids never hear a bad thing about him, even if he wandered
   
8. Dance with my Father - Luther Vandross -  Missing his father and how loved he felt when he danced with his dad
9. The Greatest Man I Never Knew – Reba McEntire – could go on either list, but there is regret instead of anger so it makes this list
10. Father – Cat Stevens – asking his dad for help through life

The first list is a real eye opener at the anger that resides in the hearts of kids after the angry breakup of their parents marriage or dads that don’t even bother to take responsibility for their actions.  We hear the statistics on the emotional problems kids have after nasty separations or abandonment, but hearing the results of it creep into our music in the form of bitterness makes us consider the pain they must of felt more clearly. Child support should be emotional and social, just not a rarely collected dollar figure.  Dad’s need to be present.  Who knows, maybe your child will be writing a song about his dad; what do you want it to say?