Many authors wrote songs about America: some of those songs present the American dream and others talk about the real life in America. For example the song of Neil Diamond, "America", is a nationalist song because the author talks about the dream life in America and liberty in America : he shows that lots of people came:"everywhere around the world" to America. West Side Story is a musical where there is a fit between Rosalia who sings in favor of Puerto Rico while Anita and the others sing in favor of America because they put forward the symbol of America like "automobile", "deal", "free", "Manhattan", "Buick". These songs also show the reality of America like "the war" in the song of Bruce Springsteen "Born in the USA": it is a story of a daddy who made war against the Asians; Another example is Madonna who denounced the materialistic life and modern life in America in 2003. She is a star so America gave her everything. To finish "the Boxer", written by Simon & Garfunkel, talks about the American dream and explains the reality of this country.

CL - MH - EB

The American dream is a concept that promises a country where everybody is free, equal and can become rich. But there is sometimes a difference between the myth and the reality. A lot of artists as Neil Diamond and Madonna questioned the American dream. Through five songs named “The Boxer”; “America” (one by West Side Story and another by Neil Diamond); “Born in the USA” and “American life”, we will analyze different points of view of this concept.

First we pore over songs that present America as an Eldorado. In the song of West Side Story it is described as a modern country with a consumer's society “Chromium steel”; “wine-spoke wheel”. In his song “America”, Neil Diamond spoke about emigrants who dreamt of going to America that they see as a “Sweet land of liberty” and to seek opportunities.

These songs report the point of view of emigrants. However some artists don’t have the same vision of their country.

Indeed, in the song “the Boxer” Simon and Garfunkel told us about the social misery and explain that the American dream is simply a myth. “Born to USA” was in part a tribune to Springsteen’s friends who had experienced the Vietnam War. So you aren’t free because you must accomplish a duty for your country and risk your life if necessary. Today an artist like Madonna still questions the shallowness of modern life and the American dream.

To conclude we can say that artists who envisage and dream of living in the USA present the country as a perfect dream without the problems that there are in their country. But for others, the reality is sometimes more complex and cruel.

CM – CM - IP

A lot of artists have written about the American Dream: Neil Diamond wrote about a beautiful American Dream in his song ''America ''. In the musical ''West Side Story '' there are arguments in favor and arguments against the American Dream. Madonna, Bruce Springsteen and Simon & Garfunkel don't believe in the American Dream so they wrote about that in their songs ''American Life'', ''Born in the USA'' and ''The Boxer''. We thought about the question '' How does this song represent the US Dream ?''.

    In 1980, Neil Diamond wrote '' America '' which is a patriotic song about the history of immigration to the USA. He wrote that immigration is a good thing for America and repeats ten times '' They're coming to America'' speaking about migrants. In ''West Side Story", there are two opinions, Anita is in favor of going to America when she says ''I like to be in America '', whereas Rosalia sings in favor of Puerto Rico.

    ''Born in the USA'' is a song written by Bruce Sprinsteen. He told the story of men who went to Vietnam to do the war to support democracy in the world but they lost... so when they came back to America, they were ignored by the other Americans. In ''American Life'' by Madonna, she said that she doesn't believe in the American Dream. Simon & Garfunkel sang about a poor working class boy and denounced the difficulties of poor people to live their American Dream.

    So some singers are in favor of the American Dream and some singers are against the American Dream.

MH - KP - EB

In the 50s - 60s, everyone wanted to achieve the American Dream. Everyone dreamt about a consumer's society where everybody would be happy, where immigrants would manage to get a better life. That's what "American"'s West Side Story tells us.
Madonna makes a critique of the selfish and materialistic way of life in the USA. The singer had the typical American dream but she is not sure that it is what she wants after all.
"Born in The USA" criticizes the war in which the American Dream doesn't really exist.
Simon &Garfunkel teach us the American Dream is a myth which is based on money ; and if you don't have enough money, you live in misery .
Neil Diamond sees America through an immigrant's eyes .He thinks that everything is possible, that America is a "sweet Land of liberty ". He really believes in The American Dream

LJ - KS - ML

First of all, those songs give different points of view of America. Some of them give a good image of the USA, presenting the American dream like heaven.

We can see that Bruce Springsteen denounces the country. First, we can suppose that he makes the apology of patriotism, but indeed, he denounces the return of soldiers, using the vocabulary of war and fight.

Just like him, Madonna criticizes the American dream explaining that it's based on money, because she uses the vocabulary of wealth. She says that we can't do what we want in the USA.

Then, the musical "West Side Story" is a duel between two girls. One of them is an immigrant from "Puerto Rico". The other tells her to go back home. This song denounces America, showing that the immigrants aren't welcome. 

The last song which denounces the country is "The Boxer". Indeed, Simon & Garfunkel denounce the poor working-class, using the vocabulary of poverty.

Finally, the only song which praises the USA is "America" by Neil Diamond, because he uses the vocabulary of dream, liberty and he repeats many times the word "America".

We can see that the different authors have different points of view of America. Indeed, some of them criticize the American Dream, patriotism and the hypocrisy of the country. On the other hand, some of them praise America, as if the country was a heaven.

ILF - AA - ALC