"America" is a song by English

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band

Razorlight Razorlight are an English indie rock band, formed in 2002 in London by lead singer and guitarist Johnny Borrell. Along with Borrell, the current line-up of the band is composed of founding members Björn Ågren on guitar and bassist Carl Delem ...

, included as the fourth track on their self-titled second studio album (2006). It was written by Johnny Borrell and Andy Burrows (credited to Borrell, Burrows, and Razorlight) and was also released as the second single from that album on 2 October 2006. The song garnered a negative reception from critics for its attempt at both political commentary and transatlantic crossover appeal. Nevertheless, "America" became the band's first and only number-one single in the United Kingdom and was the country's 17th best selling single of that year. The song also peaked within the top 10 in Ireland, the Netherlands and New Zealand, and within the top 40 in Austria, Belgium, France, Switzerland and Germany.

Critical reception

"America" received generally negative reviews from

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s, who found its attempt at serious commentary laughable and pretentious. Adam Zacharias of ''

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'' panned the song for cribbing the same lyrics from the previous single " In the Morning" and for coming off as trite commentary for the mass public, calling it "a terrible piece of faux-sentiment". Liz Colville of ''

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'' criticised the song's attempt at being a

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anthem in the vein of

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but without his particular musicianship. Michael Lomas of ''

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'' called the song "

soft rock Soft rock is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in Southern California and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, melodic songs with big, lush productions. S ...

hell", saying that it checklists every cliché of that criteria that makes it come off as similar to Foreigner and

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than U2 of ''

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''. John Murphy of ''

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'' was mixed towards the song, saying that it has the right amount of intimacy but found the lyrics "facile at best". Doug Kamin of

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praised Borrell's delivery of the song's overall message, saying that, "It's sung without judgment or criticism and could grab the ears of rock and pop lovers on both sides of the pond."

Track listings

UK 7-inch single :A. "America" :B. "Down to the Coast" (demo) UK limited-edition 7-inch single :A. "America" :B. "Wilfred Owen" (demo) UK maxi-CD single # "America" # "Teenage Logic" # "Fine" European CD single # "America" # "Teenage Logic"

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:America (Razorlight Song) 2006 singles 2006 songs British soft rock songs Mercury Records singles Razorlight songs Song recordings produced by Chris Thomas (record producer) Songs about the United States Songs written by Andy Burrows Songs written by Johnny Borrell UK Singles Chart number-one singles Vertigo Records singles