North America

North America is a continent in the Earth's northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the south and west by the North Pacific Ocean; South America lies to the southeast. It covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers (9,540,000 sq mi), about 4.8% of the planet's surface or about 16.5% of its land area. As of July 2007, its population was estimated at nearly 524 million people. It is the third-largest continent in area, following Asia and Africa, and is fourth in population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. North America and South America are collectively known as the Americas.

"America", a Paul Simon song, was made popular by 1960s folk-rock duo Simon and Garfunkel. It was included in their album Bookends, released on 3 April 1968.

The song was released as a single in 1972, to coincide with the album Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits, and eventually hit #97 on the Billboard Hot 100. The flip side of the single, "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her," surprisingly did slightly better, reaching #53.

The song describes in first-hand terms with non-rhyming lyrics, the physical and metaphorical journey of two companions in search of the true meaning of America. Their initial hopefulness, indicated by such lyrics as "Let us be lovers," turns to a sense of frustration and sadness, accompanied by the breakdown of their relationship. "'Kathy, I'm lost,' I said, though I knew she was sleeping" is a reference to Kathy Chitty, with whom Simon had had a relationship while living in England in 1965.

The song mentions the cities of Saginaw, Michigan, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; the New Jersey Turnpike; and Mrs. Wagner's Pies.

The song was rearranged by the progressive rock band Yes in 1971. Yes added elements typical to progressive rock, such as changes in time signature and long instrumental segments, while dropping the song's original repeat and fade ending, clocking in at ten and a half minutes. This version hit #46 on the pop chart, first appeared in 1972 on the sampler album The New Age of Atlantic and was later included on the compilation album Yesterdays in 1975. It also appeared on the Yesyears and Yesstory boxed sets in an edited form, and again on the 2003 re-issue of their album Fragile in its full length. The shortened version of the song that had been released a single was included as a bonus track on the re-issue of Close to the Edge. A memorably minimalist performance of it was given by David Bowie to open The Concert for New York City, held in response to the September 11 terrorist attacks. The baritone Josh Groban also did a rendition of it on his live album.

In 2000, "America" was featured in the soundtrack to the film Almost Famous. The main character's sister, Anita, cites the song as her reason for leaving home to become a stewardess.

"America" is a poem by Allen Ginsberg, written in 1956. It appears in his collection Howl and Other Poems.

The poem is in the first person and reads much like a monologue. It is presented in a somewhat rambling, stream of consciousness format, consisting mostly of long lines, with little interior punctuation, separated into four nonuniform stanzas.

America is a largely political work, with much of the poem consisting of various accusations against the United States, its government, and its citizens. Ginsberg uses sarcasm to accuse America of attempting to divert responsibility for the Cold War ("America you don't want to go to war/ it's them bad Russians / Them Russians them Russians and them Chinamen. / And them Russians"), and makes numerous references to both leftist and anarchist political movements and figures (including Sacco and Vanzetti, the Scottsboro Boys and the Wobblies). Ginsberg's dissatisfaction, however, is tinged with optimism and hope, as exemplified by phrases like "When will you end the human war?" (as opposed to "why don't you...?"). The poem's ending is also highly optimistic, a promise to put his "queer shoulder to the wheel," although the original draft ended on a bleaker note: "Dark America! toward whom I close my eyes for prophecy, / and bend my speaking heart! / Betrayed! Betrayed!"blank">http://honors.umd.edu/HONR269J/projects/kagan.html

America is also an intensely personal poem, making references to Ginsberg's use of marijuana and his homosexuality, as well as fellow Beat writer _William S. Burroughs. The longest line in the poem is a sentimental description of a Communist meeting his mother took him to when he was a child, ending abruptly with the ironic pronouncement "Everybody must have been a spy."

"America" was the final U.S. single off Prince and The Revolution's 1985 album, Around the World in a Day. The song is appreciative of the mid-1980s United States, condemning Communism, and worrying about nuclear war. The song begins as if it is a record being spun by a DJ. This leads into a guitar solo and a rising keyboard line. The main tune is standard rock and roll and fades out at 3:40. The 12-inch single extended version is notable for being over 20 minutes and including various instrumental solos. The song even fades in this version; in the original extended version the listener can actually hear the audio tape run out, being that Prince and the Revolution had jammed the song out until there was no more room on the tape. The video for this song was shown on MTV during an entire segment dedicated to the single. Prince refused to speak during the inteview and thus bandmates spoke for him. He did appear playful and introduced his use of the phrase "Good God!" (inherrited from The Godfather of Soul James Brown), a phrase which would soon be adopted by his entire band and all of his protogee's during this prolific era in his career.

The B-Side of the track was "Girl", a light pop number which speaks of Prince's lust for a woman. Featuring a minimal drum loop and sparse synthesizer lines, Prince's lust is in such force that he declares that "all I have to do is think about you and i can have an orgasm" as he invites her to feel how sweaty his hands have gotten from their meeting. The full length version from the 12" features backmasking of Wendy Melvoin reciting the lyrics with the word "boy" replacing "girl".

A trimotor Fokker C-2 monoplane, the America was flown in 1927 by Richard E. Byrd, Bernt Balchen, George Noville, and Bert Acosta on their transatlantic flight. It was the third aircraft to successfully travel nonstop across the Atlantic, after Lindbergh's historic "Spirit of St. Louis" hop and Clarence Chamberlin's "Columbia" flight from New York to Berlin, all aspiring to win the Orteig Prize. It was also the first aircraft to carry official airmail across the Atlantic.

The America was destroyed after it was ditched near the French village of Ver-sur-Mer. After it was towed ashore, it was torn apart by souvenir hunters. Portions of the aircraft reside in several museums in Europe and in the United States. Some portions of the plane are commercially available.

The "America" is also the subject of the "America-Gold Beach museum", located in Ver-sur-Mer.

"America" is a song by Anglo-Swedish indie rock band Razorlight, and is the fourth track to their self-titled second album, Razorlight. It was written by the Razorlight drummer Andy Burrows and was also released as the second single from that album in October 2006. It became the band's first #1 single in the United Kingdom (see 2006 in British music) and on September 30, it shot to #1 the iTunes Most Downloaded Songs Of The Day. The single was the UK's seventeenth best selling single of the year. The song debuted at #37 in the Dutch Top 40 in October 2006, after the act performed the song at the Dutch TMF Awards of 2006, which were held on October 13, 2006. A few weeks later, it peaked at #9 in the Netherlands.

"America" (also known as "They're Coming To America" or "Coming To America") is the name of a patriotic song written and originally recorded by Neil Diamond, released in 1980 as part of the The Jazz Singer soundtrack album. The song was a hit single in 1981, reaching number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. Although the single version was a studio recording, it sounds live because of crowd overdubs in the song.

The song's theme is a positive interpretation of the history of immigration to the United States, and seems to take place both during the early 1900s wave as well as in contemporaneous times. Formed of Diamond's typical combination of powerful melody, dynamic arrangement, and bombastic vocal, it ends with an interpolation of the traditional patriotic song "My Country, 'Tis of Thee". In Diamond's concerts, the song is a very popular number both home and abroad, with a large United States flag often displayed from the rafters on cue to the lyric, "Every time that flag's unfurled / They're coming to America."

The song has since been used in a number of contexts, including as a theme song for Michael Dukakis's 1988 Presidential campaign, because of its immigrant theme. Also, the song was used for conservative talk-show host Ken Hamblin's Black Avenger radio show prior to commercial breaks.

A Saturday Night Live sketch featuring Will Ferrell as Diamond explains the song as an expression of the singer's "massive" hatred of immigrants.

Shortly after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Diamond modified the lyrics to "America" slightly during live performances. Instead of "They're comin' to America," towards the end, it became "Stand Up for America."

Despite the song's patriotic message, it was included on a list of songs deemed inappropriate by Clear Channel following the September 11, 2001 attacks .

"America" is a well-known song from the musical West Side Story. Leonard Bernstein composed the music; Stephen Sondheim wrote the song's lyrics. It is well known for using a mixed meter:

In the original stage version of the musical, Anita (a female member of the Sharks, and the musical's most important female character besides Maria) literally sings the praises of America, while a fellow Shark, Rosalia, sings in favor of Puerto Rico. This version of the song arguably provides an unfavorable caricature of the island, while only highlighting positive qualities of the United States ("I'll drive a Buick through San Juan," "if there's a road you can drive on").

In the 1961 film version of the musical, Anita still sings in favor of the United States, while Bernardo responds to her praises with corresponding criticisms satirizing latent racism in American society, especially towards Puerto Ricans ("Life is all right in America," "If you're all white in America"). Most of the song's original disparaging elements towards Puerto Rico have been removed.

From a technical standpoint, the song is also noteworthy for its use of hemiola meter, which the composer highlights during the song's bridge. The alternating of 3/4 (three groups of two eighth-notes) with 6/8 (two groups of three eighth-notes), while the value of the eight-note remains constant, is a distinctive characteristic of the song. This rhythm has been called both a hemiola and a habanera, although it is not really either. The "two" and "three" bars alternate, but they are not superposed, as in a hemiola. The alternating two and three is similar to the aria "Habanera" from Carmen, but "America" lacks the distinctive characteristic underlying rhythm of the "habanera" form. The composer's tempo instruction indicate "habañera".

In 1967, The Nice, featuring future Emerson, Lake & Palmer keyboardist, Keith Emerson, covered this song for their second single. This version featured extended improvisations and also included pieces of Dvořák's New World Symphony.

Heavy metal band Metallica also sampled the tune in the song "Don't Tread on Me".

"America" is a song recorded by Bree Sharp about contemporary American culture. It was the second single from Sharp's debut album, A Cheap and Evil Girl.