America - Waylon Jennings - 1984
This Week We Start The Top 25 On My List
This was closer to the end than the beginning of Waylon's great run on the country charts. Jennings had racked up about 20 number ones, and changed things in country upon his arrival years earlier. His leading - with others - of the Outlaw Movement is still being felt all these decades later. They were just different, far edgier, and a new kind of country and a new kind of country star. In the 1980's Waylon was not the same force he was in the 70's, but still found some gems and this is one of them. This song landed in the perfect hands, with his unmistakable voice that no matter what never wavered. For some reason there are some songs that are just destined to end up where they belong. Waylon sings this song that is more than honest about America, pointing out the good and the not so good of our great country. This peaked in the top 10, but many of Jennings' songs didn't chart as high as they should have. And even though this looks a bit dated, I think this video captures the essence of this song and country, while not being overdone. The real beauty of this song, is its simplicity, it's just Waylon, being direct and honest. That's this - Happy birthday America.
