America by Neil Diamond may be the only song of my misspent youth that has evidence of the misspent time posted on one of my old websites. One night in @rassm, I brought up a drawing I did based on The Jazz Singer, a movie I watched (say it with me) while out of commission with a migraine. Jade, wise leader of The Porkinites, suggested I put my drawing online with musical backing and call it The Neil Diamond Experience. I still consider it one of the greatest uses of webspace ever. Go ahead, look at that and see how much better I draw now.
The drawing of course was based on this:
For the non-U.S. readers, today is the 233rd anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, which was a pretty bad-ass leap of faith for its time. To this day even people from states that weren't represented by the original thirteen states blow stuff up and have cookouts to celebrate the firing of King George III for acting all crazy by a bunch of dudes who did a way better job running the country on what would now be considered a shoestring budget. I just like to re-read the Declaration each year and marvel at how a relatively small group of people got things done back then.
I realize the song I chose is sort of more or less a wacky '80s pop tune about immigrants, but one of the problems the signers of the Declaration of Independence had with the old rule was that he was preventing immigration and I'm descended from loads of immigrants, and I love sequins, so it's perfectly logical that I would pick this song for today, really.
I could have gone with Miss America by David Byrne, a song I loved from the first time I heard it in the summer of 1997, during the time when I had to give up the idea of ever getting back to finish my degree because the roof needed to be replaced and carpenter ants were eating the laundry room and the water heater was gassing us and the mulberry tree had to be cut down and my mum was sick as hell but just had to sleep it off because she was uninsured and I spent a lot of time gardening and fixing computers because that's what girls like me do to turn a buck legally while staying really close to home where they're needed but that's all kinda depressing and I don't have a crazy drawing associated with that time, only the beginnings of a blog, but the color scheme was horrendous. Perhaps one day I'll doodle David Byrne in his kilt and link to this very post so it doesn't seem completely random and unwarranted.
I guess what I'm trying to say is don't be afraid to go off on your own if it means you ultimately get a standing ovation from your parents, but remember embrace your heritage, kids. It's probably got some weird history and maybe some parts you aren't entirely happy about, but it's all yours, so celebrate the good times. Don't lose any parts with the firecrackers tonight. Unless you're a hater, then feel free to blow off your reproductive parts in a spectacular fashion.
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