From the recording Live at Sweetwater Music Hall
Originally released as a single track and written during the turbulence of Covid 19, George Floyd and the 2020 presidential election season, American 2020 remains a timely hard hitting commentary set to a rootsy New Orleans tinged groove. Opening with claps and drumbeat and featuring a lap steel guitar solo that taunts The Star Spangled Banner, lighthearted lyrics like “Erykah Badu we need your funky voodoo” counter heavier “America, America what happened to us…never perfect but now we blasphemous.” This live performance features fiddle by Bay Area musician Anton Patzner, a third generation violinist. Anton’s grandfather, Gustave Patzner, played on the original Walt Disney Studios “Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs.”
Lyrics
America 2020
By Paula Boggs
2020 All Rights Reserved
Verse 1
I need a shower.
I’m on the brink.
This body snatching, nation bashing drives me to drink.
And I’m weary even three time zones away.
This never ending freak show rocks every hour every day.
Verse 2
An exorcism; I need it now.
Erykah Badu we need your funky voodoo.
Your nine inch nails and incensed smells.
Your “freaky-deaky get your boney ass off my grass” icy cool.
Cuz you don’t suffer fools.
Singing kumbayah ain’t enough.
Verse 3
When I was little l pledged the flag.
People need symbols, National swag.
I don’t begrudge protest or fight;
You see I wore the uniform to protect your rights.
Our mothers bled
So we could be well-read.
Singing kumbayah ain’t enough.
Bridge
“Help ain’t yet on the way,”
Said a homeless Oracle
I met yesterday.
Chorus
America, America what happened to us?
Never perfect but now we blasphemous
When you think about the blood our founders shed,
They’re rolling in their graves grateful they are dead.