There's colors on the street
Red, white, and blue
People shufflin' their feet
People sleepin' in their shoes
But there's a warning sign on the road ahead
There's a lot of people saying 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 . . .
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 . . .
~ Neil Young
I'm a little bit blue about election results in my home county, but I am happily "blue" about the governor-elect in my home state! I'm ready to keep on rockin' in the free world. Written as a criticism of George W. Bush's administration, the song has had a complicated life ever since. While the verses point to our problems (still the same ones, by the way), the chorus sounds like a rallying cry. "Don't give up!" And that's what those of us who lean left are thinking now.
The song appears on Young's 1989 release, Freedom. Although Young is a champion of the environment and an advocate for social justice, he is no sheep. He's not even an American citizen! But if he leans in any direction, it would certainly be left. So there was a bit of a brouhaha back in 2015 when Donald Trump announced his candidacy for President and used "Rockin' in the Free World" as part of that announcement. Young claimed that he did not give Trump permission to do so, but as it turned out, the song was legally available for use. So Neil backed off, but explained his position on his Facebook page, saying that he has a problem with the corporate dominance in America, something which Trump certainly symbolizes. And after the dust settled, the Trump campaign stopped using the song, with DT saying he didn't really like the song that much anyway.
So look at the verses. In the first one, there's the suggestion of war, with the reference to the Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini calling America the "Great Satan." There's a warning sign on the road ahead. In the second verse, our opioid crisis is front and center. And the third verse hints at homelessness, the compromised environment, and the gun culture which has only become more pronounced. And yet the man of the people says keep hope alive.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Although I, like many, think that, comparatively, W wasn't so bad. Ugh.
But Tuesday's elections offered some of that hope that we might keep alive. So let's keep on rocking' in the free world, okay?
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