To America

Album: To Survive (2008)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Rufus Wainwright combines with JAPW vocalist Joan Wasser on this song reflecting on the state of the nation. Wasser had in mind her recent loss of her mother to cancer when she wrote this. She explained to the Independent newspaper June 6, 2008: "'To America' is about the relentlessness, the ruthlessness of disease. And how it has no feelings. And it just goes until it's done. I also had America represent one's mother. Because it feels like my country has a disease. And I'm looking forward to some sort of relief from that disease. I'm not expecting a miracle. Just a return to some semblance of democracy."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Little Big Town

Little Big TownSongwriter Interviews

"When seeds that you sow grow by the wicked moon/Be sure your sins will find you out/Your past will hunt you down and turn to tell on you."

Millie Jackson

Millie JacksonSongwriter Interviews

Outrageously gifted and just plain outrageous, Millie is an R&B and Rap innovator.

Don Dokken

Don DokkenSongwriter Interviews

Dokken frontman Don Dokken explains what broke up the band at the height of their success in the late '80s, and talks about the botched surgery that paralyzed his right arm.

Martyn Ware of Heaven 17

Martyn Ware of Heaven 17Songwriter Interviews

Martyn talks about producing Tina Turner, some Heaven 17 hits, and his work with the British Electric Foundation.

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In Songs

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In SongsSong Writing

Songs where something goes horribly wrong (literally or metaphorically), and help is needed right away.

John Lee Hooker

John Lee HookerSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for Bruce Pollock's 1984 conversation with the esteemed bluesman. Hooker talks about transforming a Tony Bennett classic and why you don't have to be sad and lonely to write the blues.