thedrifter
02-27-07, 08:11 AM
Playlists of pride
Readers share Top 5 patriotic tunes
By Rob Colenso Jr. - Staff writer
Posted : March 05, 2007
It seems like the toughest part of coming up with a list of “Top 5 patriotic tunes” is keeping the list to just five songs.
In the Dec. 11 issue, we asked readers to send us their lists, and it didn’t take long for our e-mail box to start filling up with entries — and quite a few were more like “Top 10” than “Top 5.”
After combing through the lists, we chose three winners — Spc. Jonathan D. Brayton, Spc. Renee E. Rice and Army spouse Dina Wilkins. Each will receive a copy of Darryl Worley’s new album, “Here and Now.”
Here’s what they said about their lists; their comments were edited for space.
Above and beyond
Brayton, a motor transport operator deployed to Ramadi, Iraq, was among those who couldn’t contain his list to five songs. He sent 10, but we only had room for his Top 5.
5. America the Beautiful, Ray Charles. “A moving rendition of an already moving song.”
4. Back in the USA, Chuck Berry. “I can relate, as I am sure many other service members [who] have been deployed can as well. There is nothing like coming home from overseas.”
3. Some Gave All, Billy Ray Cyrus. “A tribute to all those who [made] the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms that we enjoy today.”
2. Ragged Old Flag, Johnny Cash. “Wow! How moving [to] think about how much our flag has endured over the last 230 years.”
1. God Bless the USA, Lee Greenwood. “The No. 1 patriotic song that should bring a tear to every American’s eye ... I know it brings a tear to mine every time I hear it.”
War-zone ballads
Rice, an operating room technician with the 28th Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad, also put Greenwood at No. 1, but she had a few surprises on her list, too.
5. Come Home Soon, SHeDAISY. “This song hit the country charts shortly before I got married and my husband deployed to Iraq less than three weeks after our wedding,” Rice wrote of the pop-country trio out of Magna, Utah. “This song shows the reality of what those of us with loved ones deployed overseas go through on a daily basis.”
4. Letters from Home, John Michael Montgomery.
3. American Soldier, Toby Keith.
“These two songs describe, almost perfectly, what we go through as soldiers, both in the states and overseas,” she wrote. “It shows our more vulnerable side and that we are not as tough as we too often try to portray.”
2. The Star-Spangled Banner, LeAnn Rimes. “You never really appreciate the song until the first time you sit and listen to the words and understand the message it sends,” she wrote.
1. God Bless the USA, Lee Greenwood. “This song is my all-time favorite patriotic song because it describes perfectly why so many of us proudly serve/have served our beautiful country in the U.S. and overseas,” Rice wrote.
Home-front picks
Wilkins, who is married to an Army chaplain lieutenant, echoed Rice’s sentiments about the national anthem, listing Rimes’ rendition as her No. 5 pick. Also on her list: Montgomery’s “Letters from Home” and Keith’s “American Soldier.”
5. The Star-Spangled Banner, LeAnn Rimes. “She does an excellent job with this, and not until my husband was commissioned into the Army and then deployed did I truly understand patriotism. And the need to stand tall and proud for our country and defend our freedoms,” wrote Wilkins, of Lubbock, Texas.
4. Letters from Home, John Michael Montgomery. “Being married to a deployed soldier has shown me how important those letters and messages from home are to our soldiers,” she explained.
3. A Soldier’s Wife, Roxie Dean. “Haven’t come across many songs that express what a soldier’s wife feels like — sometimes I think we are forgotten,” she said of this track by Dean, a country singer from Louisiana. “This song seems to express much of what I have felt and experienced during my husband’s deployment.”
2. American Soldier, Toby Keith. “There is just something that seems to happen to a soldier when they put that uniform on, a pride that shines through and a willingness to serve and protect,” she wrote. “I don’t think I have ever been more proud of my husband than when he willingly puts on his uniform daily to serve our country.”
1. Welcome Home, Soldier, Mike Hammock. A Christian country singer, Hammock wrote this song for a soldier’s homecoming. “It ... gives me hope,” Wilkins wrote, “that other people are also thankful to our soldiers and glad to welcome them home from serving our country so faithfully.”
Looks like we’ve got a few more tunes to add to the patriotic playlist on our iPods.
Ellie
Readers share Top 5 patriotic tunes
By Rob Colenso Jr. - Staff writer
Posted : March 05, 2007
It seems like the toughest part of coming up with a list of “Top 5 patriotic tunes” is keeping the list to just five songs.
In the Dec. 11 issue, we asked readers to send us their lists, and it didn’t take long for our e-mail box to start filling up with entries — and quite a few were more like “Top 10” than “Top 5.”
After combing through the lists, we chose three winners — Spc. Jonathan D. Brayton, Spc. Renee E. Rice and Army spouse Dina Wilkins. Each will receive a copy of Darryl Worley’s new album, “Here and Now.”
Here’s what they said about their lists; their comments were edited for space.
Above and beyond
Brayton, a motor transport operator deployed to Ramadi, Iraq, was among those who couldn’t contain his list to five songs. He sent 10, but we only had room for his Top 5.
5. America the Beautiful, Ray Charles. “A moving rendition of an already moving song.”
4. Back in the USA, Chuck Berry. “I can relate, as I am sure many other service members [who] have been deployed can as well. There is nothing like coming home from overseas.”
3. Some Gave All, Billy Ray Cyrus. “A tribute to all those who [made] the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms that we enjoy today.”
2. Ragged Old Flag, Johnny Cash. “Wow! How moving [to] think about how much our flag has endured over the last 230 years.”
1. God Bless the USA, Lee Greenwood. “The No. 1 patriotic song that should bring a tear to every American’s eye ... I know it brings a tear to mine every time I hear it.”
War-zone ballads
Rice, an operating room technician with the 28th Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad, also put Greenwood at No. 1, but she had a few surprises on her list, too.
5. Come Home Soon, SHeDAISY. “This song hit the country charts shortly before I got married and my husband deployed to Iraq less than three weeks after our wedding,” Rice wrote of the pop-country trio out of Magna, Utah. “This song shows the reality of what those of us with loved ones deployed overseas go through on a daily basis.”
4. Letters from Home, John Michael Montgomery.
3. American Soldier, Toby Keith.
“These two songs describe, almost perfectly, what we go through as soldiers, both in the states and overseas,” she wrote. “It shows our more vulnerable side and that we are not as tough as we too often try to portray.”
2. The Star-Spangled Banner, LeAnn Rimes. “You never really appreciate the song until the first time you sit and listen to the words and understand the message it sends,” she wrote.
1. God Bless the USA, Lee Greenwood. “This song is my all-time favorite patriotic song because it describes perfectly why so many of us proudly serve/have served our beautiful country in the U.S. and overseas,” Rice wrote.
Home-front picks
Wilkins, who is married to an Army chaplain lieutenant, echoed Rice’s sentiments about the national anthem, listing Rimes’ rendition as her No. 5 pick. Also on her list: Montgomery’s “Letters from Home” and Keith’s “American Soldier.”
5. The Star-Spangled Banner, LeAnn Rimes. “She does an excellent job with this, and not until my husband was commissioned into the Army and then deployed did I truly understand patriotism. And the need to stand tall and proud for our country and defend our freedoms,” wrote Wilkins, of Lubbock, Texas.
4. Letters from Home, John Michael Montgomery. “Being married to a deployed soldier has shown me how important those letters and messages from home are to our soldiers,” she explained.
3. A Soldier’s Wife, Roxie Dean. “Haven’t come across many songs that express what a soldier’s wife feels like — sometimes I think we are forgotten,” she said of this track by Dean, a country singer from Louisiana. “This song seems to express much of what I have felt and experienced during my husband’s deployment.”
2. American Soldier, Toby Keith. “There is just something that seems to happen to a soldier when they put that uniform on, a pride that shines through and a willingness to serve and protect,” she wrote. “I don’t think I have ever been more proud of my husband than when he willingly puts on his uniform daily to serve our country.”
1. Welcome Home, Soldier, Mike Hammock. A Christian country singer, Hammock wrote this song for a soldier’s homecoming. “It ... gives me hope,” Wilkins wrote, “that other people are also thankful to our soldiers and glad to welcome them home from serving our country so faithfully.”
Looks like we’ve got a few more tunes to add to the patriotic playlist on our iPods.
Ellie