The songs mirror that diversity. Genres range from patriotic, religious, jazz, country and western to pop and show music to rock, punk rock, hard rock, on to hip-hop and rap. They chronicle the 20th century experience with its changing events and values. Some they will know from attending sporting events. Studying the songs reveals people's hope for something better in the face of what is going on at home, whether it is war, famine, or failure.
Many artists heed that call and sing of better times.
Then and now this song mirrors all American's hopes and dreams that the possibility of brighter days does exist, that there is world of singing bluebirds on the other side of the rainbow, a world waiting there for us to find. This song sparked hope in the hearts of Great Depression people who lived their daily hardscrabble lives making do on plenty of nothing, but keeping their eyes on the horizon and the rainbow. The '50s were the American Bandstand years, years of innocence. Then comes the turbulent '60s, the decade when innocence died. The '60s merged with the '70s, an era diverse as America itself.