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#114-Freedom (1991)
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Long bluesy ballad about a homeless veteran who died across from the White House around Christmas 1990-it's true story
folk funny political sixties novelty gentle prolific idiosyncratic lehrer jefferson airplane ochs paxton steve goodman
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Tom Paxton meets Jefferson Airplane. Extremely prolific singer songwriter with a wide range of styles from bizarre novelty tunes and surrealistic poetic songs t
With more than 300 songs and counting and for more than 30 years, I have written in a variety of acoustic styles from novelty tunes to love songs to historical ballads to poetic surrealistic songs to retro-acoustic pop. From bizarre to traditional from funny to poignant, whatever style the song is in, the melodies are usually memorable and the lyrics unpredictable. This site will eventually contain rough often first take demos of my entire song catalogue. Many of the earliest songs when I first started writing will of course be shaky. So expect the songs to get better as time goes on. Feel free to come back and browse often as I will constantly be adding songs, one by one in chronological order, starting in 1974. If you are looking for some unusual songs to cover from a little known but unique artist, you have come to the right place. Just e-mail me. If you find a song here that intrigues you, but you don't like a line or two, or you think it needs a bridge, drop me an e-mail and maybe you can earn writer's credit if it gets that song to be recorded or performed.... otherwise just enjoy. You can become a Rob Lincoln fan at no cost to you. I promise that if you keep coming back there will be some real surprises along the way. While mostly acoustic, some original material will veer into folk rock and even 60's pop, but the garage rock and loudest material will also be found in full band arrangement at soundclick.com/abrasiveflowers Eventually some of these 300+ tunes may be rerecorded and make it on to CD, including a novelty CD that would be suitable for Dr. Demento or an historical ballad CD or a political song CD--but until then, this is the only site you can hear most of these songs. (A few of my songs CAN be found on songramp.com/RobLincoln and myspace.com/lessickandlincoln)
Song Info
Charts
Peak #109
Peak in subgenre #17
Author
Rob Lincoln
Rights
1989
Uploaded
December 23, 2007
Track Files
MP3
MP3 4.7 MB 128 kbps 5:08
Story behind the song
This one is a true story based on an article I read about a homeless veteran named Jessie Carpenter who died of exposure just across from the White House in 1990 somewhere around Christmas time. Only played this song one time in public. Mp3 listeners gave this a 3.6 out of 5.0...Some comments included: "a fine angry, gritty song stripped bare...I could imagine a little seething electric guitar intermittent or perhaps a dirty harmonica" "Not sure how I feel about this one...Spent a year in Nam myself and lost my best friend during the war in Plieku province. One thing the war taught me was... try your best to keep your children and their children out of it....Both of my children have been spared that in life so far...Who knows what the future will bring...All I know is I didn't have a choice...it was go or go to jail. I got very lucky and was assigned to a very safe base camp in Chu Lai...Well relatively speaking safe...we were attacked with mortars and rockets weekly but most of the time they landed near the airbase several miles away. Iwas in a Swift Boat base in the Navy. I don't think I favor songs that bring back memories of war."
Lyrics
My name is Jesse Carpenter and I fought for freedom And I went to Korea back in the day I killed the enemy to bring us freedom And it brought me freedom along the way When I fought for freedom I got me a medal They called me a hero by the way Still got my bronze star in my pocket Won't let nobody take it away Now they tell me it's a long road to freedom But I tell you there's a lot more to freedom along the way That's what I say When I got back no one would hire me So I took to drinking day by day Got freedom from working and freedom from feeling Only pain and anger came my way My family left me and I got more freedom To live along the free streets every day Freedom from caring, freedom from loving More and more freedom is my pay Now they tell me it's a long road to freedom But I tell you there's a lot more to freedom along the way That's what I say Sleeping on this park bench across from the White House Been my home now every day I love my freedom but can't afford no doctor And I don't feel too good today It's getting cold now but I got my freedom In my coat pocket here to stay Got my bronze star and my bottle of booze I'll have my freedom to the last day Now they tell me it's a long road to freedom But I tell you there's a lot more to freedom along the way That's what I say I killed for freedom and now I'll die for freedom Shed no tears for me today Ask not what my country has done for me Or for you--just enjoy the brew I've got my freedom And you've got your freedom Ask not--just enjoy the brew
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