What are the essential American songs? Ahead of the nation's 250th birthday, we asked that question to Sunday Morning's familiar faces, from performers to artists and writers to community leaders. The songs span eras and genres, our only parameter being that they were written and performed by Americans.
The most-cited song? "This Land is Your Land." While nearly all the contributors who chose that song picked Guthrie's original recording, one selected a 1980 Bruce Springsteen cover performed live at the Nassau Coliseum.
Top-cited artists spanned genres and decades, with Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday, Sam Cooke, Simon & Garfunkel, and Woody Guthrie making up the top seven.
The most popular decades were the 1960s and 1970s by a landslide. Our contributors chose more than 100 songs from the '60s, and three of the five top songs were released in the 1960s.
-Bill Flanagan
