Top 30 Soldier Songs: #30 – “American By God’s Amazing Grace” by Luke Stricklin
What better way to begin a list of soldier songs than by addressing the war going on right now. Luke Stricklin turned from soldier to singer almost overnight after writing a song reflecting the conditions of the world he and his comrade’s have been fighting in sense 9/11.
Luke addresses the living styles and unfortunate conditions of the people our troops are defending over there in the current conflict, as well as the personal thoughts from him as a soldier. It is only appropriate for someone involved in the matter to take the reigns and offer up a soldier’s front line point of view of the Iraq war considering that their only voice has been the general public who have yet to experience what they do. In the end Luke comes to two conclusions to summarize how a real soldier feels about what has become such a controversial subject in the public’s eyes. First he declares that he is proud not to be born into the terrible conditions he has seen overseas, and second he goes so far to explain that he doesn’t care why Bush sent them to war, he just knows he is doing what he needs to to keep things safe.
Luke made a bold statement by recording this album as he chose his soldier status over becoming a huge star. Of the many songs that come from the soliders that grace this genre so much, Luke is the only who was able and willing to put to music the reality of the soldiers in Iraq and how they feel about serving their country and their people for the cause putting aside any bias of public opinion. This was a well needed eye opener to bring some understanding to the American people.
I only heard this song once but I remember liking it, but thinking there’s no was this will be a song radio’d play.
I have not heard this song, but is it really a bold statement to release a song that promotes soldier status or the war within the country music genre? Country music tends to welcome such subject matters.
It wasn’t so bold to target soldier status LeeAnn, obviously you are right that it is welcomed or this list wouldn’t exist. What I was refering to was the fact that he tried to express what the soldiers in the current war are feeling about a war that has been a huge social conflict for people in the homeland. I actually respect him for standing up and basically saying “you guys at home have no idea, so here’s how WE really feel”.