Toby Keith’s “Happy Birthday America” Sends A Bittersweet Message

To mark the fourth of July, Toby Keith’s “Happy Birthday America” was released as a single off his as-yet-untitled forthcoming album. He debuted the song while appearing on Fox News two days before Independence Day.

Story Behind The Song 

Written by Toby Keith himself, “Happy Birthday America” doesn’t fight for what makes our country great quite like some other patriotic songs. Instead, the poignant new single finds Keith examining the country’s condition as well as its citizens’ perception and what the world might look like without the United States.

Keith indicates the theme of American exceptionalism may now be a hallmark of the past as he highlights achievements made in World Wars I and II. In fact, during Election Days, Keith even said he’s often left feeling disheartened – having to choose “the lesser of two evils.”

Keith revealed that he was inspired to pen the song while watching a fireworks display on a boat last year, and one of his friends wished him a happy Fourth of July – to which he replied with, “Happy birthday, America. Whatever’s left of you.”

“It had been a screwed-up 18 months,” Keith reflected as he watched both parties’ concern over democracy’s end. He pondered on Charlie Daniels’ song that says, “God save us all from religion,” which made him realize that if we need God’s saving, it should be from politicians.

This is just one of the many patriotic Toby Keith songs the country star has released all through the course of his career. Keith has never shied away from expressing his love for America, and it is evident in his earlier hits like “American Soldier,” “Made in America,” and definitely the most popular one, “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue.”

Anyway, you can listen to “Happy Birthday America” by Toby Keith in the video below.