My Favorite 4th of July Song

My favorite 4th of July song is, appropriately enough, titled, “Fourth of July”. Written by songwriter/guitarist Dave Alvin in the days when Alvin was in a Los Angeles-based band called the Blasters, “Fourth” starts out with this lyric,

She’s waiting for me,

When I get home from work,

Aw, but thing’s just ain’t the same,

That’s the setup - we get a couple whose relationship is on the rocks. Functional? Maybe, maybe not. Definitely not ideal. Next set of verses, and we find out the guy gets, “her cheek, when I want her lips,” and that they “gave up trying so long ago.” Certainly, these two are out of the candy-and-flowers portion of their love affair. Valentine’s Day is in the rearview mirror, and now they face the hangover that for whatever reason looms on Independence Day.

This is the kind of stuff that speaks to the lyrical titan that Alvin truly is. Haven’t we all been there? I know personally I’ve had that punch to the gut, that realization that comes from having missed one cue too many, or forgetting a special date, or just plain acting like an idiot to the point that spark of love flitters out the window one bad afternoon.

Yeah, yeah, I know this all sounds pretty bleak. Thing is, Alvin’s hero redeems himself when he apologizes for, “whatever happened.” It doesn’t matter at this point who said what, or did what - if these two are going to make it, they have to let “whatever” go.

Alvin has so many great songs like this. His musical world consists of blue-collar California towns filled with one-room apartments and juke joints and industrial parks. It’s a slice of America that persists on the margins. But it’s real, just the same.

Happy 4th, Dave Alvin. And thanks for the song.