American music has a rich and varied history, like the country itself. Profoundly multicultural and deeply transnational, the nation’s musical trends have also been enmeshed in movements for social and political change. This seminar is somewhat experimental, but I hope it will pay off (since I am a historian, not a musicologist). We will use a selection of popular songs from different periods of US history to probe how these songs reflected important constellations and conflicts at the time. We will discuss the composers and artists behind them, cultural responses and adaptations, as well as how, where, by whom and for which purposes these songs were performed. I will try to pick songs from different musical traditions (church hymns, spirituals, folk and country songs, jazz, rock, pop, hip-hop etc.) to illuminate the nation’s cultural diversity. I won’t finalize the list, however, so students are able to make suggestions of their own. This seminar is designed for advanced BA, MA, and Lehramt students.