"For America" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Jackson Browne from his 1986 album Lives in the Balance. Released as the first single from the album, it reached No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, spending 12 weeks on that chart after debuting at No. 72, and peaked at No. 3 on the Mainstream Rock chart, making it his last top 40 hit in the United States.Allmusic.com. Jackson Browne Awards Accessed July 11, 2012.Wikipedia Jackson Browne Discography Accessed July 10, 2012.Whitburn, Joel. Billboard Hot 100 Charts – The Eighties. Wisconsin: Record Research, 1991. It was also released as a single in the United Kingdom, as an EP in Germany, and as a promotional issue in Spain and Japan. A Statue of Liberty-shaped vinyl picture disc single was also released by Asylum in 1986, manufactured in the United Kingdom.Paris, Russ. JACKSON BROWNE COMPLETE DISCOGRAPHY
History Although concern with the state of the world has always been found in Browne's lyrics ("Doctor, My Eyes", "For Everyman"), the more specifically referenced socio-political awareness of the previous album's lead single "Lawyers in Love" became even more overt and political in "For America" (the title of which seems to deliberately link the song to two of Browne's earlier "eulogy" songs, "For a Dancer" and "For a Rocker").
And the album from which it came, Lives in the Balance, is seen as his first overall "political" album, so critical reaction to the song reflected a perception of this movement in Browne's lyrical themes toward more specific and biting lines in "sharply etched political songs (that) question cultural imperialism, foreign policy and the current state of the American Dream:'"Harrington, Richard. Washington Post review quoted at Jackson Browne.com , June 18, 1986. Accessed July 13, 2012.
"When Browne sings in 'For America' of how he used to retreat into "the safety of my own head," he isn't kidding," wrote Jimmy Guterman in a 1986 Rolling Stone review of the album, but now Browne opens his new album with a song, "both a prayer and a love song, which damns 'a generation's blank stare.'" Critiquing the musical and production aesthetics, Guterman complains "a gratuitous Clarence Clemons-derived sax riff that mars 'For America' distracts the listener.Guterman, Jimmy. Rolling Stone, Review of Lives in the Balance. April 10, 1986. Accessed July 13, 2012.
The "first single, 'For America', is indicative of the collection's tone – staunchly anti-war and embittered by the sense of ironic betrayal that characterized political songwriting during the Nixon years," noted Billboard magazine upon the song's release.Billboard magazine. Review quoted at Jackson Browne.com , March 1, 1986. Accessed July 13, 2012.
Reception Cash Box called it a "penetrating look at American values and politics [that] stands as a mid-decade call for honesty and self-evaluation."
Chart positions Chart (1986)PeakpositionU.S. Billboard Hot 10030U.S. Billboard Top Rock Tracks3Canada Top 50 Singles (RPM)90
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