What is it about "Keep on rocking in the free world?"

[HEyHEY]

It's such a sobering song. I don't blame Moore for using it at the end of F911. It's wierd, the music is pretty rocking...but the sounds with the lyrics really hit home... agree?

[Fenris]

1. On "Freedom" Neil plays it acoustic and it's much more sobering.

[fearnobush]

2. It is an anthym of the GOP morality platform.

We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder, gentler,
Machine gun hand


In the post 9/11 world, the lyrics take on a sinister new meaning:


'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'

It is very hard to listen to these words today and think about what they mean to people of various religious beliefs. How could Neil have possibly known the prophetic power which these lyrics hold today?


<http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/07/03/195708.php>

[seventhson]

3. Go see Greendale (Neil Youngs Movie) awesome

the set on that is just awesome

antiwar, antiBush and very green environmental protest movie

[senseandsensibility]

4. Please let me preface by saying

that I LOVE Neil Young. He's a flat out genius. But a few months ago Bartcop went on a rant about him being a repuke. I e-mailed Bart to protest, and he printed my letter, but still insisted that he was a repuke. And he was very adamant about it. My husband said Bart didn't know what he was talking about. We just left if there. But we both love Neil. I, personally, find his lyrics to be pure poetry, and his music, well, it just ROCKS. But do any of you know about this repuke thing?

[Dogmudgeon]

5. Neil's "Republican" seizures

Every so often, when liberal cant and sloganeering gets under his skin, Neil Young says something that sends the liberal world into 40 days of darkness.

It's like with Bryan Ferry, except that Young doesn't let it change the way he thinks or votes.

I have to sympathize with Neil -- and Bryan, to an extent. There's a lot within liberalism that's just so much cliches and posturing that it makes me want to scream. I can rant about the "Latte Left" with the best of them, I posess the unmitigated gall to criticize Lord Chomsky and Saint Ralph, but I still pin the needle leftward in those on-line political tests.

It's normal and natural for people who are "allergic" to groupthink to respond this way every so often. It's a good thing, because groupthink has never done anything but hurt the cause of freedom and justice. And what the heck are liberals doing, parsing the political attitudes of celebrities, anyway?

--bkl

[regnaD kciN]

9. It's a bit more than that...

Neil was a huge Reagan supporter -- said he was "better than Mondale, and way better than Carter." He defended Reaganomics, on the grounds that, according to him, all it was saying was that we didn't have enough money to do everything we wanted, and had to be careful how we spent it. :crazy:

Keep in mind that, for all this, all NY could do was pontificate -- since he's a Canadian citizen, he can't vote in U.S. elections.

As Reagan's reign came to an end, Neil switched back again, on the grounds that he could never support a candidate (Bush 41) who had headed the CIA. During the '88 primaries, he backed Jesse Jackson. I have no idea whether he gave support to Dukakis in the GE that year, or just ignored the whole thing. And I don't know about his positions concerning Clinton, except to note that, in previous interviews, he has shown a great deal of animosity toward any candidate from the South. (Echoes of "Southern Man"...?)

[Dogmudgeon]

18. I didn't know that part of it

Most of this info I remembered from a rare interview he did way back when. No mention was made of Reagan; he was pretty mad about people trying to politically pigeonhole him, though.

Sometimes, the person is charmed by the politician before the politican becomes a world-class scoundrel. Kelsey Grammar is a major fan of Bush, but he hung out with Bush some time before the election. Personal feelings often get in the way of realizing that a politician has gone off the rails. Since celebrities tend to hang out with each other, that's why I don't take celebrity politics all that seriously. Many of the "Hollywood libbruls" aren't really all that liberal, and most of the Hollywood right-wingers are not nearly as conservative as most conservatives.

--bkl

[mac56]

10. Bryan Ferry?

Has he become a right-winger?

I've heard some disturbing comments from David Bowie as well, endorsing conservatism.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

13. Ferry's a British Tory, Bowie remains a progressive AFAIK

Perhaps you're thinking about his coke-fuelled fascism phase from 1976?

[mac56]

15. you may be right

But I read a quote from Bowie not too long ago to the effect of: "I wouldn't mind being the first English president of the US...I'm certainly right-wing enough."

[Fenris]

16. Remember his Nazi salute?

Lots and lots of drugs.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

17. I wouldn't read too much into that, he's a pretty sarky bastard.

He said that he'd like to be the first Fascist PM of Britain, back in '76. He has also voted Labour in the past, having been particularly supportive of Tony Blair in the run-up to the 1997 election.

[Westegg]

19. Very well said...

....But as JD Walley replied here, Neil had a real Reagan fascination for a while. Look, let's face it, Neil is a complex guy, a complicated artist, and he's led a weird and oft-times painful life. I was bummed in the '80s when he came out as a Reagan supporter, but it only bothered me to a point because I had my own life to live, ya know? And then he moved on to a different point of view, and then he moved on again to where he is now. Me, I've always been remarkably consistent in my beliefs, attitudes and political leanings, but many others are not this way. I've got lots of friends who have "flip-flopped" about politics the way it seems Neil did. One of my best pals voted for Bush in 2000 and by last fall was an ardent Dean supporter. Now he's for JFK.

Neil is indeed "allergic to groupthink" and has a great and meaningful artistic career based on being so. Let's remember that he works out his issues, philosophies and ideas---and he makes his mistakes--- in the public eye whereas most of us don't. Such is the price of fame, a double-edged sword indeed.

Me, I'm now going to listen to "On the Beach," my favorite Neil album, and I'm going to recall that he once sang, "Even Richard Nixon has got soul..."

[Screaming Lord Byron]

11. He voted Reagan first time around, and once for Perot

He has since repented his heresy.
Incidentally, he's still a Canadian citizen, I wonder how he votes up here? I can't see him being a Tory or a Grit.

[LWolf]

12. Zomby wrote a good answer to your question

more than a year ago. Ask him! I would say that you can't label Neil Young; it's not going to stick. He's going to say and do what he thinks, and it won't always belong to one group or another.

If you have any doubts about where he currently stands, see Greendale. I don't know about the film version, but I saw it live last summer. A great show.

[Dr Fate]

6. The kid that never gets to be cool.

What great lyrics...

[HEyHEY]

7. yeah that is my personal favourite in that song

[saracat]

8. I think Neil Young campaigned for Kerry

in Phoenix the day before the primary.

[southpaw]

14. "Free World" is a great song...

But I always felt that Eddie Vedder brought a degree of feeling to the lyrics that NY couldn't muster. When Vedder sings the passage about the crack-addict single mother who leaves her baby under a garbage can while she searches for her next hit, he makes you feel the despair of such a scene.