Now Playing - Rockin’ In The Free World
November 4th, 2006 | by christine |  |
Rockin’ In The Free World |
I’m sending this one out to my friends Tina & Jack. Is Neil Young freakin’ amazing, or what?
Lyrics below the jump
There are colors on the street
Red, white and blue
People shufflin’ their feet
People sleepin’ in their shoes
But there’s a warnin’ sign on the road ahead
There’s a lot of people sayin’ we’d be better off dead
Don’t feel like Satan but I am to them
So I try to forget it anyway I can
Keep on rockin’ in the free world
Keep on rockin’ in the free world
Keep on rockin’ in the free world
Keep on rockin’ in the free world
I see a woman in the night
With a baby in her hand
Under an old street light
Near a garbage can
Now she puts the kid away and she’s gone to get a hit
She hates her life and what she’s done to it
That’s one more kid that will never go to school
Never get to fall in love never get to be cool
Keep on rockin’ in the free world
Keep on rockin’ in the free world
Keep on rockin’ in the free world
Keep on rockin’ in the free world
We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder gentler machine gun hand
We got department stores and toilet paper
Got styrofoam boxes for the ozone layer
Got a man of the people says keep hope alive
Got fuel to burn got roads to drive
Keep on rockin’ in the free world
Keep on rockin’ in the free world
Keep on rockin’ in the free world
Keep on rockin’ in the free world
(Sounds like someone’s daddy, doesn’t it?)
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6 Responses to “Now Playing - Rockin’ In The Free World”
By Kevin McKague on Nov 4, 2006 | Reply
I love that song! Michael Moore put in at the end of “Bowling for Columbine”, and when the credits started rolling and that song kicked in, I got chills. I’m getting chills now!
That’s one more kid that will never go to school
Never get to fall in love never get to be cool
By christine on Nov 4, 2006 | Reply
When I was in college (about 100 years ago ..) I met a guy who was a Vietnam Vet. He was listening to Bob Dylan all the time. I told him, I can’t understand why Bob Dylan was so popular, with that whiny voice and weird lyrics. (the answer my friend is blowing in the wind … wtf does that mean????)
He said that Dylan was the only guy who could really connect with people and articulate what people were feeling at the time. The draft, the violence, dead kids on college campuses, etc. It went beyond Dylan’s voice and looks … it was about Dylan’s message, not Dylan the messenger.
I never really understood that until I got older. And now I like Dylan too. Crazy how life works.
By Kevin McKague on Nov 4, 2006 | Reply
Music is not an exact science. You can never tell what is going to touch something important to you.
I once saw an interview with Linda Thompson who was discussing what qualities made a good singer. She said that she thought that Mariah Carey has a great voice but couldn’t sing worth a damn. While many would disagree with that point (I would agree), I think she made a great point. It’s not necessarily what tool (voice quality) you have, it’s how you use what you have. Springsteen, Dylan, Young, Richard Thompson, Lucinda Williams, etc., etc…would probably get thrown out of choir practice, but have powerful performances, in part because they speak to those they want to speak to, and from a genuine part of themselves, and not to what some demographic conscious label exec or producer has decided is the ideal market.
Ya know what I mean?
By Kevin McKague on Nov 4, 2006 | Reply
Oh, and I think I goofed. This song was probably in “Farenheit 9/11″, not “Bowling for Columbine”. No matter, its a great song.
By Tina J on Nov 4, 2006 | Reply
YEAH!!!!!!!!!!! Two of my all time favorites!! Neil Young and Pearl Jam… and boy did you hit it on the head with Bob Dylan!!! Jack and I have to explain ourselves all the time with Bob Dylan. You will notice that at the entryway of our store we have a silhouette of Bob Dylan on stage, great picture that our daughter Skotti got for us, we have a great portrait of Neil Young framed and on the wall, a poster sized framed picutre of John Lennon and a covered Yoko Ono on stage with a sign stating ‘War is Over’. You just can’t count out us old hippie types
I still want to put together a compilation CD for election night with a ton of protest songs from Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Bright Eyes, Pink, etc…. we could have a Rockin’ Election Night!!!
Tina and Jack
By christine on Nov 4, 2006 | Reply
@Kevin, yes I do see your point about that … I never really thought of it outside the context of Bob Dylan before. Dylan used to just irritate me … back when I was taking guitar lessons, my instructor was sooo into Dylan, so that was my first intro to him. I always used to think that he could be saying “eeewwww, this is gross” and it would be in the same tone of voice as his singing. But now I get it.
@Tina, our conversation about protest songs got me looking for a daily youtube along those lines (through election day) … hopefully I’ll be able to pull it off.