"Keep On Rockin' in the Free World"

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Submitted for your consideration, just what was ol' Neil getting at with this song? A vague depiction of urban injustice framed by a chorus instructing us to do what? Rock? Seems kind of trite and inspecific, no? Or is this an ironic statement? How will "rocking" in the "free world" help solve any of the problems he seems to be lamenting? Or is "Rocking in the Free World" Neilspeak for "Relax, don't worry -- be happy -- pay no attention to the man behind the curtain," etc. Why is this hailed as such a meaningful anthem?

"There are colors in the street : red, white and blue.
People shufflin their feet, people sleeping in their shoes.
There´s a warning sign on the road ahead.
There´s a lotta people saying, we´d be better off dead.
Don´t feel like Satan but I am the man.
Oh I try to forget it anyway I can.

Keep on rockin in the world 4 x

I see a woman in the night with a baby in her hand.
There´s an old street lite near a garbage can.
Now she puts the kid away and she´s gonna get a hit.
She hates her life and what she´s done to it.
There´s one more kid who will never go to school
Never get to fall in love - never get to be cool.

Keep on rockin in the world"

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 7 February 2003 23:22 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm sorry, I can't think of anything but that album cover. Dearie me.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 7 February 2003 23:24 (twenty-two years ago)

It's a lament for all of those people too put-upon by circumstances to rock. (Note: I am not being sarcastic.)

― Amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 7 February 2003 23:34 (twenty-two years ago)

So, by that logic, is Neil instructing us to rock on their behalf? To rock for those less fortunate and/or without the means to rock?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 7 February 2003 23:39 (twenty-two years ago)

You got a line wrong. It's "Don't Feel Like Satan, But I Am To Them. So I try to forget it anyway I can." You know, suburbanites thinking about terrorists.

I always assumed the chorus was SOMEWHAT ironic. He doesn't sound happy when he sings the chorus so I figure his saying that would be like me saying "Keep On Rock Critickin'/Library Clerkin' in the Free World" after noting the problems in the world.

I don't know if it's meaningful but I think it aptly represents the emotions of somebody who knows they've got it good but things are shitty elsewhere, and they're probably gonna stay in their own comfort zone.

Is he saying we're all shmucks for rockin'. I dunno. But I find the whole thing pretty gripping. Like Born In The USA, people may miss the complexity and assume it's just a Rah Rah song. That'd be a shame.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 7 February 2003 23:41 (twenty-two years ago)

i guess i always took it to be a sardonic hit at the limitations of mere unthinking freedom: ie there's more to right living in the world than this *blistering guitar solo*

― mark s (mark s), Friday, 7 February 2003 23:43 (twenty-two years ago)

so yeah, what mr miccio said

― mark s (mark s), Friday, 7 February 2003 23:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Very similar song, if greatly less overwraught: Randy Newman's "I Love LA."

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 7 February 2003 23:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Anthony is OTM.

Plus Alex you forgot to quote all the anti-Bush stuff.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Friday, 7 February 2003 23:48 (twenty-two years ago)

yes, Anthony is OTM. Not that artists are ever the final arbiters on the meaning of their work, but there's a bit in Young's bio "Shakey" where they discuss this song and he discusses it's deliberate ambiguity. If I recall correctly, Young said he was drawn to the phrase because it was both so jingoistic and hokey, but also capable of conveying desperation, cynicism, etc. and that his whole point with the song was to make you question what the fuck it meant - to deliberately obscure its meaning. Is it a rebuke of complacency and blind patriotism, or is it a silly self-righteous anthem of survival...? It's both.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 7 February 2003 23:55 (twenty-two years ago)

I've always assumed it was kind of a "yeah, keep on rocking... you'll get what you deserve, eventually" thing

(Thinking about this sort of thing tends to suck all the fun out of the Moog Cookbook cover, tho. I suppose that's ironic in its own special way.)

― Curtis Stephens, Friday, 7 February 2003 23:56 (twenty-two years ago)

btw, I've been on a huge Neil kick lately and this album is pretty weak in a lot of places, but he really hit the atmosphere of 80s Reagan America with this tune. It's both paranoid and grim and completely stupid and "rah-rah!" Western civilization.

Altho we probably want to avoid a discussion of Neil's personal politics, because they're very convoluted and almost nonsensical.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Saturday, 8 February 2003 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

also he has a very silly nickname :)

― mark s (mark s), Saturday, 8 February 2003 00:05 (twenty-two years ago)

one among many (my moniker has nothing to do with Neil, I hope you know...)

Perhaps you prefer his Phil Spector persona - Phil Perspective?

― Shakey Mo Collier, Saturday, 8 February 2003 00:07 (twenty-two years ago)

hey shakey yr line on this song is like my line on nvr mind the bollocks!! i hereby take it back abt the nickname!! (not that i actually meant it anyway)

― mark s (mark s), Saturday, 8 February 2003 00:07 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm a big fan and I didn't even know that was his nickname until that book came out. I guess maybe I'm not a big fan. Anyway, I have a lot of his records.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Saturday, 8 February 2003 00:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Good point, Shakey. Which is why I prefer the song were I can get off on the air of anguish to his nonsensical politics in an interview. Personally, if an artist isn't (or can't) gonna think things out, I like it when they don't sound happy about that.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 8 February 2003 00:09 (twenty-two years ago)

He has a bunch of nicknames - both for himself, and for pretty much everyone around him. "Shakey" comes from his penchant for seizures in the late 60s/early 70s.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Saturday, 8 February 2003 00:09 (twenty-two years ago)

ten years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmmllvSfMVc

I sped it up for fun.

― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Tuesday, 24 September 2013 06:00 (twelve years ago)

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