Ray Charles, John Wayne, and America

Years ago -- at least five addresses and six computers ago -- my buddy Joe and I got the idea to write a book about the 100 greatest things in America. They could be places (Mount Rushmore, Key West) or events (the Kentucky Derby, the ringing of the bell on Wall Street). We'd take the giant advance that we would (obviously) get for the idea, and go around the country to see or do all these things. We really got into it -- we made up separate lists, argued about it over the phone, e-mailed revisions that took several hours to send (at least it seemed) on our dial-up connections.

Somewhere along the way the idea faded. I don't even have my list anymore. It's probably on a floppy disk in a landfill. But I remember we were certain about one thing: Ray Charles singing "America the Beautiful" was one of the 100 greatest things in America.

We figured we'd end the book by going to see him somewhere on July 4 with Ray swaying and stomping his feet and fireworks going off. We couldn't imagine anything more American.

So on Thursday I went to a rally in North Charleston for Nikki Haley, the Republican candidate for governor in South Carolina. (As I mentioned the other day, I'm working on a profile of her and I'm interested in your ideas.) This rally had a sound system playing patriotic songs while everyone waited for Haley to arrive. Most of it was the same playlist I've heard at all of these things -- Toby Keith, Billy Ray Cyrus' "Some Gave All," stuff like that.

But then, out of nowhere, John Wayne started saying the Pledge of Allegiance.

I vaguely remembered hearing it before, as part of a track where he goes on to riff a little bit about what each line means. But I don't think they played that part at the rally. It was just John Wayne and the Pledge of Allegiance. It could not have been more American if he had popped out of an apple pie.

Ray Charles had a challenger.

And to hammer the point home, the very next thing that came up on the sound system was Ray's "America the Beautiful."

So maybe this is for we the people to decide, in the Saturday Night Live "Quien es mas macho?" tradition. (I couldn't find that SNL clip online... help out if you know where it is.)

Here's John (with the extra stuff after the pledge):



And here's Ray (from the Dick Cavett Show in the '70s):



My fellow Americans, we can be proud of either one. But you have to pick. Who you got? Or is there some other performance even more American than these? If there is, I'm not sure we can take it... but throw it out there anyway.

UPDATE: Joe comes back with a poll about the most quintessentially American recording. Go see what you think.