Galaxie 500's "Fourth of July" casts a wistful, lazy look at midsummer and finds the potential for change, and reason for optimism. Mann's "Fourth of July" languishes in nostalgia, self-pity and regret:
Today's the fourth of July
another June has gone by
and when they light up our town
I just think what a waste of gunpowder and sky
I'm certain I am alone
In harboring thoughts of our home
its one of my faults that I can't quell my past
I ought to have gotten it gone
Oh baby, I wonder if when you are older, someday
you'll wake up and say "My God, I should have told her
what will it take
but now here I am and the world's gotten colder
and she's got the river down which I sold her"
So that's today's memory lane
with all the pathos and pain
another chapter in a book where the chapters are endless
and they're always the same
a verse and a verse, and refrain
I think I need another burger.