4. juli er dagen hvor USA hvert år fejrer sig selv og mindes det ideal om frihed som nationen er bygget på. Men som tingene er nu for et efterhånden mere og mere verdensforhadt USA, med en FN-ulovlig krig i Irak, åbenlys tilsidesættelse af menneskerettigheder og W. Bush/Rumsfeld-klanen solidt ved roret, kan man vel godt mene, at der ikke er ikke er så fandens meget at holde fest for.
Så hellere nøjes med at kippe med Stars & Stripes for d. 4. juli 1976, hvor New York’s egne Ramones for første gang spillede her i Europa. Det var på The Roundhouse i London, hvor Da Brudders spillede support for siden glemte Flamin’ Groovies og dermed kickstartede punk rock-scenen i England med en nu legendarisk koncert. Både Sex Pistols og The Clash var der blandt publikum, den aften for længe siden…
Well Papa go to bed now it’s getting late
Nothing we can say is gonna change anything now
I’ll be leaving in the morning from St. Mary’s Gate
We wouldn’t change this thing even if we could somehow
Cause the darkness of this house has got the best of us
There’s a darkness in this town that’s got us too
But they can’t touch me now
And you can’t touch me now
They ain’t gonna do to me
What I watched them do to you
So say goodbye it’s Independence Day
It’s Independence Day
All down the line
Just say goodbye it’s Independence Day
It’s Independence Day this time
Now I don’t know what it always was with us
We chose the words, and yeah, we drew the lines
There was just no way this house could hold the two of us
I guess that we were just too much of the same kind
Well say goodbye it’s Independence Day
It’s Independence Day all boys must run away
So say goodbye it’s Independence Day
All men must make their way come Independence Day
Now the rooms are all empty down at Frankie’s joint
And the highway she’s deserted down to Breaker’s Point
There’s a lot of people leaving town now
Leaving their friends, their homes
At night they walk that dark and dusty highway all alone
Well Papa go to bed now it’s getting late
Nothing we can say can change anything now
Because there’s just different people coming down here now
and they see things in different ways
And soon everything we’ve known will just be swept away
So say goodbye it’s Independence Day
Papa now I know the things you wanted that you could not say
But won’t you just say goodbye it’s Independence Day
I swear I never meant to take those things away
Bruce Springsteen
“Well say goodbye it’s Independence Day
It’s Independence Day all boys must run away
So say goodbye it’s Independence Day
All men must make their way come Independence Day”
Bruce Springsteen: “Independence Day”