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Only In America

Jay And The Americans

Text File

#----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE--------------------------------#
#This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the#
#song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research.#
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From the liner notes to _The Brill Building Sound_:

    At the height of the civil rights furor, Barry Mann wrote a song for
  the Drifters, one he felt strongly about since it incorporated a lot of
  personal feelings in lyrics such as 'Only in America / Land of
  opportunity / Can they save a seat in the back of the bus just for me /
  Only in America / Where they preach the Golden Rule / Will they start to
  march when my kids want to go to school'.  To Mann's dismay, Leiber &
  Stoller told him to rewrite it along less controversial lines.  'They
  said there's no way the Drifters could do this song,' he recalls.  'No
  one would play it'.  At this point, record sales mattered less to him
  than voicing his message, but out of respect to Leiber & Stoller he went
  ahead and turned the song into this flag-waving anthem.  Stoller later
  told the authors of _Behind The Hits_ that the Drifters were afraid of
  recording the revamped version.  'They thought they'd get too much flak.
  It would be too controversial.  We felt it would make a strong ironic
  statement -- that it would be more effective -- four black guys singing
  aoubt what was obviously *not* taking place.'

    Resigned to the fact that the song was more suited to a whitebread pop
  group, Leiber & Stoller brought it to Jay & The Americans [some sources
  indicate that they used the same backing track].  It came out as the
  follow-up to their first hit, 'She Cried'.  A decade later, Mann
  confessed, 'It just makes me cry now.  It would've been a more honest
  song but I wasn't strong enough to stick to my guns.'


                           "Only In America"
                    (Leiber / Stoller / Mann / Weil)

	E        D        E        D
	/ / / /  / / / /  / / / /  / / / /

Verse 1:

	 E        D
	Only in America
	 E              D
	Can a guy from anywhere
	E              D          E
	Go to sleep a pauper and wake up a millionaire
	A         G
	Only in America
	A              G
	Can a kid without a cent
	A                G         A
	Get a break and maybe grow up to be President

Chorus:

	D        A/C#
	Only in America
	 D          A/C#
	Land of opportunity
	 Bm            F#m            G          A        [1: B  2: E, to coda]
	Would a classy girl like you fall for a poor boy like me

Verse 2:

	Only in America
	Can a kid who's washing cars
	Take a giant step and reach right up and touch the stars
	Only in America
	Could a dream like this come true
	 A               G              A           B           E
	Could a guy like me start with nothing and end up with you

Instrumental break:

	(chords as per Verse 1)

[repeat chorus]

Coda:

	  E        D                    E
	(Only in America) Poor boy like me
	(Only in America) Poor boy like me
	(Only in America) Only in America  [repeat to fade]


-- another ace 60's tab from Andrew Rogers