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This is a great song by Neil Young played by Young and an all star cast (including Bruce Springsteen, Max Weinberg, John Fogarty, Nils Lofgren and Michael Stipe).  Young is known for his social commentary (Ohio, Welfare Mothers, Cortez the Killer, etc.) Enjoy this live show, but hear the bite.


"Rockin' In The Free World"

There's 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,
any way 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
There'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.
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Comments

June Butler said…
The all-star cast is rockin' to a sad but surely relevant song.
July 21, 2012 at 10:21 PM
Ray Barnes said…
Ouch!! All too relevant. If only singing, talking about the problems could solve them.
July 22, 2012 at 2:14 AM
Bill Bynum said…
I'm not really a Neil Young fan, but this is indeed an enjoyable track with some good rock guitar and biting lyrics. I checked Wikipedia about the piece, since I hadn't ever heard it before. I was surprised at how widely played the piece has been from its introduction by Young in 1989 to the present, everyone from Buffalo Springfield to Steve Vai.
July 22, 2012 at 2:02 PM
Penelopepiscopal said…
Yes, Mimi, things aren't any different than they were in 1989. Or long before that.
July 22, 2012 at 10:09 PM
Penelopepiscopal said…
Yes, Ray. I wish we could talk about them, but we seem so polarized here on so many issues. I have to think that it helps, though, for musicians to do what Young does here and what he has done for his whole career. He keeps these things part of the larger conversation, I think.
July 22, 2012 at 10:10 PM
Penelopepiscopal said…
Thanks, Bill. Even my jazzer son's former garage rock band covered this one at their rock band camp one summer when they were 13 or something. I've always been a fan of Neil Young, partly because I admire his determination to continue the "protest song" genre.
July 22, 2012 at 10:12 PM
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