America turns 250 this year, and CBS News Sunday Morning asked a question worth sitting with: What songs actually define us?
The network asked nearly 90 notable Americans - including Stephen King, James Taylor, Cyndi Lauper, Joan Baez, Jeff Bridges, Ken Burns, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Wynton Marsalis - to each name the songs they believe best capture the American spirit.
Their answers became the Essential American Songbook: an interactive collection of 250 songs spanning every genre and generation, with the only rule being that each song had to be written and performed by an American.
The most-cited artist was Bob Dylan, who received 16 nominations, finishing ahead of Ray Charles with 13 and Aretha Franklin with 12. But the single most-cited song wasn't his.
The top spot went to Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land," edging out Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind," Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come," Ray Charles' "America the Beautiful," and Aretha Franklin's "Respect."
That list reads like a hymnal of the American conscience. Most of these songs were born out of struggle, longing, and an unshakeable belief that something better is possible. Sam Cooke - a gospel-trained singer raised in the church - wrote "A Change Is Gonna Come" after being turned away from a Louisiana hotel in 1963.
He poured his faith and his grief into three minutes that still carry the weight of both. Aretha Franklin brought the same church-rooted power to "Respect." Even Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" was written as a rebuke and a prayer - that the land, and its promise, belongs to everyone.
A special edition of CBS News Sunday Morning airs today, June 28, at 9:00 AM ET on CBS and streams on Paramount+, featuring performances by James Taylor, Sara Bareilles, and Jon Batiste, each singing one of the songs from the collection.
There is also an accompanying 250-song Spotify playlist for those who want to listen through the full list.
Music has always been how America tells the truth about itself - its grief, its hope, its hunger for justice and grace.
That so many of the songs on this list were written by people shaped by faith, or born directly out of gospel and spiritual traditions, is not a coincidence. It may be the most honest thing about us.
