I've liked this album and song since it was released. Just a few years ago I realized that he must have written this song partly as a response to a song by the Panamanian singer Ruben Blades called "Buscando America." The title translates as "Looking for America." In that song, America refers not to the United States, but to all of Latin America. Maybe he's thinking of the US and Canada too.
Anyway, Buscando America is a fantastic song in which Mr. Blades laments the oppression and corruption which Latin America has suffered from since European conquest. "Living under dictatorships, I search for America but I cannot find her. Her tortured body, who knows where it is." It is an amazing song.
For America was released the year after Buscando America. I know that Jackson and Ruben Blades have appeared together and are friends. Also, For America is on the same album as Lives in the Balance, which explicitly talks about the US's role in Latin American wars and oppression.
I feel sure that Jackson wanted to write about the same topic that Ruben Blades wrote about, but from the perspective of the United States. He lays out the US's role in the suffering and exploitation that takes place in Latin America.
Ruben Blades calls out to all people to seek the truth and bring freedom to all the Americas. "Wrapped in shadows, we deny what is true. Where there is no justice, there cannot be peace.....they have kidnapped America and gagged her mouth. Now it falls to us to bring her to freedom."
It sounds beautiful in Spanish. So I think Jackson is doing his part to bring the truth out of the shadows. So people can be free.
I've liked this album and song since it was released. Just a few years ago I realized that he must have written this song partly as a response to a song by the Panamanian singer Ruben Blades called "Buscando America." The title translates as "Looking for America." In that song, America refers not to the United States, but to all of Latin America. Maybe he's thinking of the US and Canada too.
Anyway, Buscando America is a fantastic song in which Mr. Blades laments the oppression and corruption which Latin America has suffered from since European conquest. "Living under dictatorships, I search for America but I cannot find her. Her tortured body, who knows where it is." It is an amazing song.
For America was released the year after Buscando America. I know that Jackson and Ruben Blades have appeared together and are friends. Also, For America is on the same album as Lives in the Balance, which explicitly talks about the US's role in Latin American wars and oppression.
I feel sure that Jackson wanted to write about the same topic that Ruben Blades wrote about, but from the perspective of the United States. He lays out the US's role in the suffering and exploitation that takes place in Latin America.
Ruben Blades calls out to all people to seek the truth and bring freedom to all the Americas. "Wrapped in shadows, we deny what is true. Where there is no justice, there cannot be peace.....they have kidnapped America and gagged her mouth. Now it falls to us to bring her to freedom."
It sounds beautiful in Spanish. So I think Jackson is doing his part to bring the truth out of the shadows. So people can be free.