Toby Keith - Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue

What do you have to do to get yourself uninvited from the 2002 Fourth of July celebration by ABC News' very own Peter Jennings himself?  Write a song subtitled The Angry American.

Well you know what?  Here on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, I'm pretty angry myself.



Ten seconds from hell to eternity.  This doesn't make me sad.  It infuriates me.

It infuriated Toby Keith, too.  He wrote this song in 20 minutes, and it became his biggest single, ever.  Yeah, Peter Jennings and all Right Thinking People™ were horrified; all right thinking people cheered. There's an advertisement here, but it's totally worth it.



Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American) (Songwriter: Toby Keith)

American girls and American guys, will always stand up and salute.
We'll always recognize, when we see ol' glory flying,
There's a lot of men dead,
So we can sleep in peace at night when we lay down our heads.
My daddy served in the army where he lost his right eye,
But he flew a flag out in our yard 'til the day that he died.
He wanted my mother, my brother, my sister and me.
To grow up and live happy in the land of the free.

Now this nation that I love is fallin' under attack.
A mighty sucker-punch came flying in from somewhere in the back.
Soon as we could see clearly through our big black eye,
Man, we lit up your world like the fourth of July.

Hey, Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list,
And the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist.
And the eagle will fly and it's gonna be hell,
When you hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell.
And it'll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you.
Ah, brought to you, courtesy of the red, white and blue.

Oh, justice will be served and the battle will rage:
This big dog will fight when you rattle his cage.
An' you'll be sorry that you messed with the U.S. of A.
'Cos we'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American way.

Hey, Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list,
And the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist.
And the eagle will fly and it's gonna be hell,
When you hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell.
And it'll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you.
Ah, brought to you, courtesy of the red, white and blue.

Oh, oh.
Of the red, white and blue.
Oh, hey, oh.
Of my Red, White and Blue.

To our men and women in harm's way - and to their families left behind here - thank you, more than I can say.  To our heroes and heroines who laid their ultimate sacrifice on the altar of our freedom, et lux perpetua dona eis, Domine, Amen.  To our wounded warriors, some of us will never forget you.

And to the slimeballs who sucker-punched us on that autumn day these ten years ago, and to the slimeballs who sheltered them: enjoy your dirt nap.



Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord.  Well, not this time.  Yeah, I'm still angry.