There are three things I absolutely must have on the 4th of July.

I can live without the hamburgers. I’ve been known to miss the fireworks. And there’ve even been years when I’ve skipped the obligatory comic book blockbuster popcorn movie at the local multiplex. But when I wake up in the morning on the glorious 4th, there is no question that these three pieces of music will hit the stereo sooner or later.

First of all, an obvious classic. They probably don’t play this song in every parade everywhere, but it feels like they do. In any case, they should. Sousa claimed that he quickly composed it in his mind on Christmas Day 1896 and then simply wrote it down. Here’s John Philip Sousa himself and his band to play it.

The idea that “The Stars and Stripes Forever” is played by every band in every parade ever sort of underlies the next piece. Charles Ives’s day job was in insurance; he composed his music in his spare time, and it wasn’t until after his death that that he became regarded as one of our first important composers. The “Fourth of July” movement from his Holiday Symphony evokes that theoretical band playing Sousa, and all the other sounds associated with the day, up to and including the fireworks. It’s modernist and ephemeral and intensely American.

If you ask me, the most American of American composers was George Gershwin. The exuberance of the American spirit has never been captured better than in “An American in Paris.” I can’t really believe that this is the very first recording, as claimed on YouTube; it sounds way too clear and digital. Still, it is gorgeous:

To make up for the dubious provenance of the above, here’s one that’s guaranteed: It’s Gershwin himself on the piano, playing with the Whiteman band. Happy Fourth!