America 2

America 2 single cover

America 2 is a song by The Midnight. It is the second single and seventh track from their album Kids. The single was released on August 3, 2018.

Track info

The song was written by band members Tim McEwan and Tyler Lyle and produced by McEwan. It has a running time of four minutes and one second and is in the key of [[WP>B-flat major|B-flat major]].

The line "I've come to look for America too" is an interpolation of the line "I've gone to look for America" from the song [[wikipedia:America (Simon & Garfunkel song)|America]] by [[WP>Simon & Garfunkel|Simon & Garfunkel]] - Lyle wrote America 2 as a response to that song from a pessimist's point of view. Additionally, the date on the single artwork, June 4, 1984, is a reference to the release of the [[WP>Bruce Springsteen|Bruce Springsteen]] album [[WP>Born in the U.S.A.|Born in the U.S.A.]].

Demo version

An early demo of America 2 was released as a prize during the Fall 2020 alternate reality game (ARG). Titled America 2 Demo, it is a stripped-down, acoustic version of the song that has no instrumentation other than Tyler Lyle's vocals and guitar. It was originally released as part of an episode from Lyle's podcast From The Secret Lair.

Track listing

America 2 {| ! style="text-align:left; border:none; background-color:#F8147230"| # ! style="border:none; background-color:#F8147230"| TITLE ! style="border:none; background-color:#F8147230"| LENGTH |- |style="border:none;"|1. |style="border:none;"|America 2 |style="text-align:right; border:none;"|4:01 |- ! style="border:none; background-color:#F8147230"| |style="text-align:right; border:none; background-color:#F8147230"|TOTAL LENGTH |style="text-align:right; border:none; background-color:#F8147230""|4:01 |}

Lyrics

I made my home in a ten-ton bomb

And I was so happy with 28 years of free fallin’ But now it’s all guts and I’m bawlin' She was born in a tenement walk-up With shit for nerves, you know she never learned to talk to adults

She said ‘everything's easier in here’

>

Like the dancer with bruises who gathers the cash

When the music is through, no she don’t look back

I’ve come to look for America too

>

All I ever wanted was a spot in the mountains

With an a-frame cabin and nobody counting our days Or cursing or praising our name But the best we could do is to enter the void Like a wide-eyed child waking up to the noise of East Harlem

Don’t they see that we’re starving?

>

Like the dancer with bruises who gathers the cash

When the music is through no she don’t look back I’ve come to look for America too And we stole the car on the 4th of July I pawned my guitar and we drove through the night

I’ve come to look for America too

Lyrics source