In 2022, as part of a Grammy salute to Paul Simon, Rhiannon Giddens joined Simon on stage to sing his song, “American Tune.” Besides the great artist tribute and the wonderful performance by Giddens, a significant aspect of this performance was a change in lyrics that further broadened the meaning of the song.
When they taught us as kids in the early 1960s about the United States, we may have learned with a less critical eye than what we understand about history today. Still, one thing that always stands out is that the country thrives when it moves forward to become broader, more accepting, and more loving.
Many of our leaders have understood this truth about our history, perhaps nobody more than Abraham Lincoln, when after a contentious reelection in 1864 during the midst of a Civil War, America did the right thing in choosing the best person for President. He spoke at his inauguration, while the war continued, of having “malice toward none with charity toward all.”
Simon’s “American Tune” has always connected the conflicting views of America as one of both hope and loss. We’ve previously written in another post about the song and its musical origins by composer Johann Sebastian Bach. We noted there are beautiful covers of “American Tune” by artists like Eva Cassidy and Willie Nelson.
Giddens’ version makes the song even more relevant for today. As sung by a woman with African-American and Native American ancestry, her moving performance further reminds us of America’s complicated history, while still maintaining the hope for tomorrow.
The lyric change appears across two lines near the end of the song, a change approved by Simon. In Simon’s original 1973 version, with the nation’s Bicentennial approaching, Simon sang about arriving aboard a certain ship we learned about as kids: “We come on the ship they call The Mayflower/ We come on the ship that sailed the moon.”
But in Giddens’s retelling, she reminds us that not everyone came on the Mayflower. Importantly, though, the lyrics also remind us that those who did not come on the Mayflower play an essential part of singing our American Tune.
And high up above my eyes could clearly see,
The Statue of Liberty,
Sailing away to sea;
And I dreamed I was flying.
We didn’t come here on The Mayflower;
We came on a ship in a blood red moon;
We come in the age’s most uncertain hours,
And sing an American tune.
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(2013), her first with record company 
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). The American Experience series — written, directed and produced by Rob Rapley — is an entertaining and informative look at some important people that you may not know much about.
