Windependence - Artist Level (Grade 5) An American Song is a collage that portrays the motto e pluribus unum by combining several dozen American tunes into a single whole. Fragments of hymns, spirituals, show tunes, jazz standards, country and western ballads, folk songs, and classical compositions are set into the collage like thin, translucent glazes, producing a musical surface that evokes the greatness and the struggle inherent in the American identity, at times clearly and at times dimly, through a haze of memory and association.