Mon, January 28th:
Let’s try to get along with the Primaries
- and if you want to follow the news: >>US Election 2008 [SPIEGEL online]
1.) article Süddeutsche Zeitung 26-01-2008 [3 persons]
2.) wikipedia.com: US Presidential Primaries >>article
3.) Nevada: Crushing Defeat for Clinton >>SPIEGEL online
4.) How the President is elected >>article Enchanted Learning
Mon, Jan 21st:
Wed, Jan 23rd
Thurs, Jan 24th
Born down in a dead mans town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog thats been beat too much
Till you spend half your life just covering up
Born in the u.s.a., I was born in the u.s.a.
I was born in the u.s.a., born in the u.s.a.
Got in a little hometown jam
So they put a rifle in my hand
Sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man
Born in the u.s..a….
Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man said son if it was up to me
Went down to see my v.a. man
He said son, dont you understand
I had a brother at khe sahn
Fighting off the viet cong
Theyre still there, hes all gone
He had a woman he loved in saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms now
Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
Im ten years burning down the road
Nowhere to run aint got nowhere to go
Born in the u.s.a., I was born in the u.s.a.
Born in the u.s.a., Im a long gone daddy in the u.s.a.
Born in the u.s.a., born in the u.s.a.
Born in the u.s.a., Im a cool rocking daddy in the u.s.a.
Videoclip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIekamBDiAw
Why this song is interesting?
It destroys the image of the US as a powerful and unbeatable nation by boiling down the effects of the Vietnam War to one victim, suffering from the aftermath of fighting in Vietnam. Back home he is a different person who neither gets a job nor is he able to be his former self again.
Born in the USA but not proud of being an American could be the sub-header, or: Lost in the USA, being a loser because of the nation’s involvement in South Asia which turned young men into broken persons.
The end of the mighty nation who lost its first war, and like the veteran, the US and its self-concept is down, grounded by a small nation.
Bitter parallel to the Iraq War, of course.
“The title track, “Born in the U.S.A.”, a stinging tale of the hardships suffered by returning Vietnam veterans, is one of Springsteen’s best known songs, and has accumulated a considerable amount of folklore. The song’s anthemic feel (and the music video, which featured scenes of waving flags and pastoral American communities reminiscent of a political campaign ad) led to widespread misinterpretation of the track’s meaning. (A darker, acoustic version of the song appears on the Springsteen collection “Tracks,” and is sometimes performed live.) Springsteen was praised by President Reagan as a great patriot; several days later at a concert, Springsteen introduced the track “Johnny 99″ (about a laid-off factory worker who kills a store clerk and is sentenced to 99 years) by saying that he didn’t think Reagan had heard this song”. [source]
Mo, January14th:
Wed 16th
Thurs 17th
Songs about the US/the West, etc. – Frau Münch’s list:
http://muenchen74.wordpress.com/2007/09/20/songs-dealing-with-america/
Vocab: “Reading Poetry” |good structures & worth learning|
Welcome back, folks and off into a new year
Mon, Jan 7th
Wed, Jan 9th
The American self-conception and how the US is seen & was seen from outside
basis: J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur [1735 - 1813]
Key-terms: American frontier, American Dream, self-determination, equal opportunity, American identity, lifestyle, religious freedom, melting pot, pride, freedom
Thurs, Jan 10th
The West, the American frontier |wikipedia.com|
