There’s no law that says musicians from the United States have a monopoly on writing songs about their native country — so let’s expand your horizons with the following list of 11 great songs about America by non-U.S. artists.
These bands and solo stars arguably had more interesting perspectives on the U.S. as outsiders. Some of these songs celebrate America, while others take jabs at the nation’s status as a political and cultural epicenter.
From Kim Wilde to Rammstein, here are 11 must-hear songs about America by non-American artists.
Throw these on your Fourth of July playlist and see if anybody calls you out on them.
READ MORE: Rock + Metal Songs About U.S. History
Blur, “Look Inside America”
“Look inside America
She’s alright, she’s alright”
After taking aim at various unsavory elements of American pop culture on “Miss America” and “Magic America,” Britpop pioneers Blur finally reconcile their complicated relationship with the country on “Look Inside America” and concede “she’s alright.”
That’s the most ringing endorsement you’re likely to get from them.
David Bowie, “Young Americans”
“All night, you want the young American”
The ebullient chorus to Bowie’s “plastic soul” excursion belies a desperate tale of “a newlywed couple who don’t know if they really like each other,” in his own words. The real lyrical gut punch: “We live for just these 20 years, do we have to die for the 50 more?”
David Bowie, “I’m Afraid of Americans”
“I’m afraid of Americans
I’m afraid of the world
I’m afraid I can’t help it”
Twenty-two years after the release of Young Americans, Bowie addressed the nation once more in this Brian Eno co-write (which was later remixed by Trent Reznor).
“It’s not as truly hostile about Americans as, say, ‘Born in the USA’: it’s merely sardonic,” Bowie said in a press release for the song. “I was traveling in Java when the first McDonalds went up: It was like, ‘For fuck’s sake.’ The invasion by any homogenized culture is so depressing, the erection of another Disney World in, say, Umbria, Italy, more so. It strangles the indigenous culture and narrows expression of life.”
The Clash, “I’m So Bored With the U.S.A.”
“Yankee detectives
Are always on the TV
Because killers in America
Work seven days a week”
“I’m so bored with the U.S.A
I’m so bored with the U.S.A
But what can I do?”
If the Clash’s Joe Strummer were alive to witness Kid Rock and RFK Jr. chugging whole milk and working out in a sauna with their shirts off (and denim jeans on in the pool), the British punk icon would realize what a privilege it is to be merely bored with the U.S.A.
Crazy Lixx, “Anthem for America”
“What happened to the youth of the USA?
Would you help me understand?
You used to be the model of non-conformity
Now it’s all the same, oh”
Your guess is as good as mine, my Swedish rockers in arms. Have you tried posting this song on TikTok?
The Guess Who, “America Woman”
“American woman
Stay away from me
American woman
Mama, let me be”
The Guess Who guitarist Randy Bachman has insisted the Canadian rockers’ signature hit is an anti-Vietnam War protest song (see the “war machines / ghetto scenes” lyrics). But lead singer Burton Cummings countered that it’s about American girls who “seemed to grow up faster” than their Canadian peers.
Which interpretation do you think Lenny Kravitz subscribed to when he scored a hit with “American Woman” 30 years after its initial release?
Ian Hunter, “All American Alien Boy”
“Well I’m an All American Alien Boy
Look out Mary Tyler Moore”
Shooting your shot with the titular star of The Mary Tyler Moore Show is crazy work, but if anybody has the swag to pull it off, it’s Ian Hunter, lead singer of British rockers Mott the Hoople.
Protest the Hero, “Rivet”
“All praise be to the new god who speaks so elegantly
Who says, ‘America is not great, but it can be'”
Canadian prog-metallers Protest the Hero addressed various pivotal events in U.S. history — and their subsequent whitewashing — on their 2020 album Palimpsest. The album ends, appropriately, with an mocking invocation of President Donald Trump‘s campaign slogan.
“The greatness that Donald Trump and all his cronies want to return to is only great for the old, white, male, rich elite,” singer Rody Walker told Loudwire. “That is the greatness of America that the rest of the world views as its tragic flaw.”
Rammstein, “Amerika”
“We’re all living in Amerika
Amerika ist wunderbar”
“We’re all living in Amerika
Coca-Cola, Wonderbra”
These are some of the only English lyrics in the German metal giants’ satirical anthem about American exceptionalism and political imperialism. That’s probably for the best. And they also insist, “This is not a love song.”
Supertramp, “Breakfast in America”
“Take a jumbo across the water
Like to see America
See the girls in California”
All these English rockers wanted was to ogle some of those pretty California girls that Brian Wilson sang about. Instead they got sampled by Gym Class Heroes. Life’s a raw deal.
Kim Wilde, “Kids in America”
“We’re the kids in America (Whoa)
We’re the kids in America (Whoa)
Everybody live for the music-go-round”
Kim Wilde’s debut single shot to No. 2 in her native England and effectively launched her career. It only reached No. 25 in the U.S., but its pop cultural ubiquity was set in stone when American girl group No Secrets covered it for the 2001 film Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.
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Gallery Credit: Loudwire Staff
