American Dream (Casting Crowns song)
| "American Dream" | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song by Casting Crowns from the album Casting Crowns | ||||||||||||
| Recorded | Glow in the Dark Studio (Decatur, GA), Zoo Studio (Franklin, TN) | |||||||||||
| Genre | Rock | |||||||||||
| Length | 4:11 | |||||||||||
| Label | Beach Street, Reunion, PLG | |||||||||||
| Writer(s) | Mark Hall | |||||||||||
| Producer(s) | Mark A. Miller, Steven Curtis Chapman | |||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| 10 tracks |
|---|
|
"American Dream" is a song recorded by Christian rock band Casting Crowns. Written by Mark Hall and produced by Mark A. Miller and Steven Curtis Chapman, the song was included on the band's 2003 self-titled debut album. A rock song, "American Dream" features loud electric guitars similar to those on Chapman's 2001 album Declaration. Lyrically, the song discusses how fathers caught up in advancing their career can neglect their family responsibilities. It received mostly positive reviews from critics, many of whom praised its lyrics; several critics felt the song's instrumentation was average or mediocre, however.
"American Dream"'s accompanying music video, the band's first, depicts the deterioration of a relationship due to a man's neglect of his family. The song received nominations for Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year and Short Form Music Video of the Year at the 36th GMA Dove Awards, but lost in both categories. Although it was not officially released as a single, it was sent out to Christian rock radio between the release of the album's second and third singles; although it received airplay on that format, it failed to chart. "American Dream" was later included on the band's 2004 live album Live from Atlanta, and was re-recorded and released in an acoustic form on the band's 2013 album The Acoustic Sessions: Volume One.
Casting Crowns' lead vocalist Mark Hall said that "[American Dream] song was written from every student I’ve ever ministered to, to their dads. It’s everything they could never say. It’s the story of a dad who provided financially, but was never there physically or emotionally". While Hall noted that he had a great father as a child, he felt the message needed to be conveyed to dads. Hall and the band wrote the song in about two days, in order to get it done prior to an annual NASCAR event held by their church. The band felt that the event, attended by around two to three thousand families, would be an opportunity to convey that message.
...
Wikipedia