Looking for a playlist to celebrate America’s birthday? Here are positive songs from various eras in our history. To find more, see the GreenBookofSongs.com® category Holidays: Fourth Of July.

1. American Child Phil Vassar; American Child (Arista)
2. Back In The U.S.A. Chuck Berry; Chuck Berry’s Greatest Hits (Everest)
3. Better In The USA Glenn Frey; The Allnighter (MCA)
4. Chicken Fried Zac Brown Band; The Foundation (Atlantic/Home Grown/Big Picture)
5. R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A. John Cougar Mellencamp; Scarecrow (Riva)
6. This Is Worth Fighting For Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra; 4^th Of July-Living In America-C (Goldenlane)
7. You’re A Grand Old Flag Jon Peterson; George M. Cohan Tonight! (Sh-k-boom)

 C = Compilation

It’s all about being with the ones you love! Here are a few songs from our List of the Week about being together for the holidays.

SONGS FOR CHRISTMAS:  Together for the Holidays

Candle In The Window Alabama; Alabama-Christmas (RCA)

Coming Home For Christmas Jim Brickman; Homecoming (Savoy Jazz)

Home On Christmas Day Cyndi Lauper; Merry Christmas…Have A Nice Life (BMG Spec. Prod.)

Merry Christmas, Here’s To Many More Relient K; Let It Snow Baby, Let It Reindeer (Capitol)

To Someone That I Love B.B. King; A Christmas Celebration Of Hope (MCA)

We all love the traditional Christmas songs. Can’t hear “Silver Bells” too many times, right? But admit it, sometimes holiday madness calls for a good laugh.

That’s why GreenBookofSongs.com® created the category Christmas: Humor & Satire, one of more than 20 categories that cover every aspect of Christmas.

For those times when the fa-la-la gets to be too much, here are 10 songs sure to put the merry back in you.

• Carol Of The Meows Guster
  Yes, it’s ridiculous. But come on, it’s funny.
• Christmas Is Almost Here Arrogant Worms
  If you haven’t even started preparing, give up and listen to this. You’re not as behind as they are!
• Decorations Bob Rivers
  The legendary spoofster puts the danger in decorations, and gives you an excuse to quit and sit down.
• Elf’s Lament Barenaked Ladies
  2,000 years in the same job? Elves have career aspirations, too!
• I Broke My Arm Christmas Shopping At The Mall Housewives On Prozac
  Black Friday gone wild, or, Best reasons to shop online.
• Jingle Bells The Singing Dogs
  Because this is an equal opportunity pet lovers’ list.
• Nuttin’ For Christmas Spike Jones
  Your little darlings won’t behave? Don’t let them hear this traditional humor hit – they’ll get new ideas.
• Stop At The Nearest Mall Hollytones
  Remember the days of irresponsible credit card spending? Here’s some holiday nostalgia for you!
• Suddenly It’s Christmas Loudon Wainwright III
  Wonder why your holiday spirit is frayed? It’s because Christmas isn’t just 12 days anymore.
• Twelve Days Of Christmas Bob & Doug McKenzie
  Beer. Trees. Beer in a tree. Just a normal Christmas.

We’re excited about two new additions to the GreenBookofSongs.com® songs-by-subject search tools. In response to popular demand, we’ve now made it possible to sort search results by one or more popular genres and/or by “hit” status as well.

Users can now choose to see all songs about a particular subject, or select Pop, Rock, Country, R&B or Hip Hop songs. Subscribers may also choose to see only songs that were hits, based on widely used standards of national popularity. 

For now, these tools are in ”beta” because tagging of the database is not yet complete. This means that filtered results will reflect only a portion of what’s available by searching the full category.

Still, Green Book users will now be able to get lists of songs matching specific needs even more quickly. For example, are you looking for songs for the Fourth of July? In addition to 109 songs in our category Holidays: Fourth Of July, you can instantly find 82 Country songs about America in Countries: America, or 60 Rock songs in the category Freedom.

We are continually tagging more data to improve filter search results, and we plan to feature filtering by more of the 31 genres included in the GreenBookofSongs.com® database. Stay tuned as we add new features and new categories to make searching for songs by subject even easier!

If you think Mother’s Day songs are only for the traditional, mom-and-apple pie kind of family, think again! According to a review of Mother’s Day songs done by GreenBookofSongs.com® for Katherine Lewis’ Working Moms Blog (WorkingMoms.About.com), there’s a selection of positive, loving songs for the mom in every kind of family.

Single moms are getting their due in songs like Fantasia’s “Baby Mama” and Clint Black’s “The Strong One”, which salute young mothers taking care of their children on their own. Songs like 2Pac’s “Dear Mama” and Jay-Z’s “Anything” express gratitude for moms who brought their sons through poverty and the challenges of the inner city, while O.C. Smith’s “Son Of Hickory Holler’s Tramp” – well, the title says it all.

These days, there’s financial stress in the suburbs too. Some dads are out of work and caring for the kids, while Mom is on the job. That’s the scenario of Lonestar’s “Mr. Mom”, who learns first-hand about the hard work stay-at-home moms do every day.

For adoptive moms (and dads too), there’s “I Am Your Mother Too”, by Keb’ Mo’ with Brenda Russell. For birth mothers who choose adoption, there’s Michelle Wright’s “He Would Be Sixteen”, in which a birth mom does what’s best for her baby, but never forgets him. And here’s one in praise of the step-mom: Sufjan Stevens’ self-explanatory “Decator, Or, Round Of Applause For Your Step Mother!”

There’s even a song for families dealing with illness. Craig Morgan’s “Tough” is an ode to a mother with cancer who continues to care for her husband and kids.

So whatever style of family you have, whatever role your mother fills, there’s a way to say thanks with a song. There’s no excuse not to follow Al Jolson’s timeless advice and “Remember Mother’s Day”!

Here’s the Top 10:

• Anything Jay-Z
• Baby Mama Fantasia
• Dear Mama 2Pac
• Decatur, Or, Round Of Applause For Your Step Mother! Sufjan Stevens
• He Would Be Sixteen Michelle Wright
• I Am Your Mother Too Keb’ Mo’ with Brenda Russell
• Mr. Mom Lonestar
• Son Of Hickory Holler’s Tramp O.C. Smith
• Strong One, The Clint Black
• Tough Craig Morgan