"Independence Day" | ||||||||
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Single by Martina McBride | ||||||||
from the album The Way That I Am | ||||||||
B-side | "True Blue Fool" | |||||||
Released | April 25, 1994 | |||||||
Format | CD single | |||||||
Genre | Country | |||||||
Length | 3:25 | |||||||
Label | RCA Nashville | |||||||
Writer(s) | Gretchen Peters | |||||||
Producer(s) |
Paul Worley Ed Seay Martina McBride |
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Martina McBride singles chronology | ||||||||
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"Independence Day" is a song written by Gretchen Peters, and performed by American country music singer Martina McBride. It was released in April 1994 as the third single from her album The Way That I Am. The song peaked at number 12 on Hot Country Songs. Peters later recorded it herself on her 1996 album The Secret of Life. It was first offered to Reba McEntire, who turned it down.
In 2003, it ranked 50th in CMT's 100 Greatest Songs of Country Music. The following year, it ranked #2 in CMT's 100 Greatest Videos in Country Music. The song was also featured in CMT's Controversy in terms of release and included interviews from "The Today Show" reporter Tiki Barber, Brad Paisley, McBride herself, and former National Organization for Women president Patricia Ireland. In 2014, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the song #77 in their list of the 100 greatest country songs. The song has sold 550,000 copies in the US as of July 2015.
Songwriter Gretchen Peters received the Country Music Association's Song of the Year award in 1995 for "Independence Day."
The song is sung from the point of view of a daughter who recounts her mother's response to domestic abuse. The song's music video was somewhat controversial at the time of its release, because of its graphic depiction of domestic violence and how everyone in town seemingly knew about it, but did nothing to help stop it. The ending of the video is particularly intense, as it shows the young girl's home burning to the ground, implying that the mother had been responsible for the fire, and the abusive father perished in the fire. McBride has said the mother does not die in the fire, as she has now gained her independence from an abusive relationship. In the official music video, the girl is at the 4th of July parade when she sees two clowns pretending to hit one another and the sight hits too close to home. Suddenly, she no longer sees the parade as fun and returns home. The home is immolated by the time she gets back and she is shown towards the end of the video crying in the back seat of a police cruiser as she is being taken away to the county children's home. The music video was filmed by the American director team Deaton-Flanigen Productions, consisting of William Deaton III and George Flanigen IV.