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10 American Anthems That Tell It Like It Is

Captain America, Marvel's newest superhero movie, comes out today. We'll pause until the excitement passes.

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Rocks Off likes Captain America. The three comic books we read with any regularity as a scupper were Cap, Batman (Detective Comics), and Spider-Man. But we love America, as in the "United States of." The land of our birth, where we choose to live, work, and raise our family. At least until Our visa application to Tahiti clears.

But as with any relationship, there are disagreements. We often find ourselves at odds with our government over trifling matters like, oh, whether or not Willie Nelson's birthday should be a holiday, or how much money it likes to spend on blowing shit up rather than feeding and caring for its citizens.

In honor of this tough love - and the release of Captain America; check it out, his pecs are the bomb - here's a list of songs about our great nation that recognize sometimes she ain't always so great.

Iris DeMent, "Wasteland of the Free"

Lyrics like "We kill for oil and throw a party when we win" and "We've got CEOs making 200 the workers' pay/ But they'll fight like hell against raising the minimum wage" are - apart from being quite a mouthful - quite an indictment of Republican policies by the famously leftist DeMent. Or would be, if the song hadn't been released during the Clinton Administration. Consider your minds blown.

Find It: The Way I Should, 1996

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Peter Vonder Haar writes movie reviews for the Houston Press and the occasional book. The first three novels in the "Clarke & Clarke Mysteries" - Lucky Town, Point Blank, and Empty Sky - are out now.
Contact: Pete Vonder Haar