"American Soul"

This week U2 dropped another amazing single from their upcoming Songs of Experience album, and while I've loved "The Best Thing About Me" (especially hearing it live at their concert in September), I think I love "American Soul" even more.

My neighbor (we Pine Valleyans are all "neighbors" up here in a town of 1500) has been working with Jacob Needleman, author of American Soul: Rediscovering the Wisdom of the Founders which explains a lot about the mess America is in right now.

We've lost our soul.

And my neighbor, in her eighties, also loved the music and lyrics to U2's "American Soul" because some of the same ideas from Needleman's book--and Judith's latest writings in both poetry and prose--reflect the loss of America's soul.

At the U2 concert in San Diego in September, the pre-concert "show" was a selection of poetry about America. I didn't notice it scrolling down the large screens at first...until I caught a beloved line written by Langston Hughes, one of my top five poets. Poem after poem scrolled...another by Hughes, then Carl Sandburg, Rita Dove, Robinson Jeffers, even Robert Pinsky (whom I met at February's Writer's Symposium by the Sea)...all poems about the heart and soul of America. And the whole concert was backed by the imagery of America--the Joshua Tree songs as well as the new rhythms and lyrics, familiar because of their source and the talent of U2, but new-to-us in an uncomfortable-comfortable way that gently scolded and taught and celebrated.

So U2's "American Soul" reminds us of who we've been...and who we can be again.



Here are the lyrics, courtesy of ATU@.com:

"American Soul"

Blessed are the bullies
For one day they will have to stand up to themselves
Blessed are the liars
For the truth can be awkward

It’s not a place
This country is to be a sound
Of drum and bass
You close your eyes to look around
Look around, around
Look around, it’s a sound
Look around, look around
It’s a sound

It’s not a place
This country is to me a thought
That offers grace
For every welcome that is sought

You are rock’n’roll
You and I are rock’n’roll
You are rock’n’roll
Came here lookin’ for American Soul

It’s not a place
This is a dream the whole world owns
The pilgrim’s face
It had your heart to call her home

Hold on, brother John
Too many mothers weeping
Dream on, brother John
In your dreams you can’t be sleeping

You are rock’n’roll
You and I are rock’n’roll
You are rock’n’roll
Came here lookin’ for American Soul
American, American

Put your hands in the air
Hold up the sky
It could be too late
But we still gotta try

There’s a moment in a life
Where the soul can die
In a person, in a country
When you believe the lie
The lie, the lie, the lie

There's a promise at the heart
Of every good dream
It's a call to action
Not to fantasy

The end of the dream
The start of what's real
Let it be unity
Let it be community
For refugees like you and me
A country to receive us
Will you be my sanctuary
RefuJesus

You are rock’n’roll
You and I are rock’n’roll
You are rock’n’roll
Came here lookin’ for American Soul

You are rock’n’roll
You and I are rock’n’roll
You are rock’n’roll
Came here lookin’ for American Soul
American Soul, American Soul

May our soul be renewed, America!! 

Warmly,