About The Song
In 2009, Toby Keith released the song “American Ride” as the first single and title track from his album of the same name. It quickly became Keith’s another No. 1 hit on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
Written by Dave Pahanish and Joe West, “American Ride” tells the tale of a man who is still proud to live in America despite the various politically oriented issues the state is going through – such as illegal immigration, political correctness, rising gasoline prices, and even the decreased importance of religion.
Keith said this up-tempo song “makes fun of all the wackiness that goes on in this country.”
“That’s us, that’s right. Gotta love this American ride. Both ends of the ozone burnin’. Funny how the world keeps turning. Look ma, no hands. I love this American ride. Gotta love this American ride,” the song goes.
Originally titled “American Life,” Pahanish said the song was “kind of written in the way that Bob Dylan would have written ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues.’” The fruition of the song started with Pahanish and West putting down a laundry list of things that would personally irritate them or something that made them ask themselves, “What about what happened this time?” or “Can you believe that so and so happened?”
“We started writing the song about the time we had seen that video on YouTube about that girl getting beaten up by her friends, and then the movie Mean Girls came out. It was just a lot of topical stuff,” West told The Boot.
“I never felt like the song was saying right or wrong, but absurdity or just wild. One of the things we heard was this comedian saying, ‘Why are kids in the Sudan not lactose intolerant like American kids are?’ Because of our culture, we have a whole sort of problems that other cultures don’t. So you could say we’re celebrating the absurdity.”
And though Pahanish and West did not write the song for Keith, they find him the only person capable of pulling off a song like this. “He’s the only artist who would have the inertia and size to do it,” Pahanish said.
“They sent it to me to listen to and said, ‘You’re the only guy in the world that could get away with cutting it,’” Keith recalled to Billboard magazine. “I held it for about a year; it was so different I thought I’d be tired of it. I just left it on my iPod and kept listening to it, and it never got old.”
The country singer also added that out of the four or five songs in sixteen albums that he did not write, “American Ride” sounds like he wrote it himself.
Video
Lyrics
Winter gettin’ colder, summer gettin’ warmer
Tidal wave comin’ cross the Mexican border
Why buy a gallon, it’s cheaper by the barrel
Just don’t get busted singin’ Christmas carols
That’s us, that’s right
Gotta love this American ride
Both ends of the ozone burnin’
Funny how the world keeps turning
Look ma, no hands
I love, this American ride
Gotta love this American ride
Momma gets her rocks off watchin’ Desperate Housewives
Daddy works his ass off payin’ for the good life
Kids on the YouTube learnin’ how to be cool
Livin’ in a cruel world, it pays to be a mean girl
That’s us, that’s right
Gotta love this American ride
Both ends of the ozone burnin’
Funny how the world keeps turning
Look ma, no hands
I love, this American ride
Gotta love this American ride
Poor little infa-Miss America’s down
She gained five pounds and lost her crown
Quick fix plastic surgical antidote
Got herself a record deal, can’t even sing a note
Plasma gettin’ bigger, Jesus gettin’ smaller
Spill a cup of coffee make a million dollars
Customs got a thug with an aerosol can
If the shoe don’t fit, the fits gonna hit the shan
That’s us
That’s right
Gotta love this American ride
Both ends of the ozone burnin’
Funny how the world keeps turning
Hot dog, hot damn
I love, this American ride
Gotta love this American ride, oh yeah