Days ahead of the Presidential election, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Aaron Lee Tasjan shared a remix of “I Love America Better Than You” that features Widespread Panic bassist Dave Schools.
“Given the current political climate we’re facing in this country, the timing feels right for ‘I Love America Better Than You,’” Tasjan explained. “People need these moments of brevity during intense periods of social and political discourse, and that’s what we’re living through right now. ‘I Love America Better Than You’ is an anthem for this moment in time, and the lyric-forward approach will allow people to make it their own source of inspiration to fight for what they believe in and make their voices heard at the polls in November.”
“The song was my response to how the meaning behind celebrating of the 4th of July is so complicated,” Tasjan says. “In terms of form, it’s a modern version of a protest song. Protest songs are a bit tricky to write because you have to find a way to be both timely and timeless in the lyric. That’s why ‘Ohio’ by Neil Young still works today. The words written so many years ago still have meaning in today’s world. So lyrically, I’m walking that line on this song. As a queer person living in the southern United States in 2024, I am examining my country’s complexities, contradictions and hard truths in a way that’s conversational. I’m reaching out to a lot of different kinds of people in this song and doing it with an awareness that only love can change someone’s mind.”
WFPK Song of the Day spotlights a song we love - weekdays at 11:10
