Neil Young (1989)
Rockin’ in the Free World by Neil Young critiques the political climate of the late 1980s, particularly targeting the policies of the George H.W. Bush administration. The song reflects on social issues like homelessness and drug abuse, while also expressing a sense of resilience and the need to continue striving for freedom and democracy.
Who said you had to be an American to criticize the United States? If that’s the case, no one told Canada’s Neil Young, who used his 1989 hit Rockin’ in the Free World to take on George H.W. Bush and his “thousand points of light” speech. Young was no stranger to speaking his mind in song. Rockin’ in the Free World directly comments about the problems that affect drug users and the poor, doing so with a simple-yet-heavy riff which practically begs for the air guitar treatment.
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
Neil Young has never minced words when it comes to world issues. Around the time Rockin’ in the Free World was written and released, international relations and struggles at home and abroad were running rampant. The Berlin Wall had yet to fall, but tensions leading up to it were running high. George H.W. Bush was president, and being notoriously left-leaning, Young had a few thoughts to share on the nation’s current president and referenced some of his speeches in the song.
The song also addresses the animosity leveled at Iranian author Salman Rushdie after publishing his controversial novel, “The Satanic Verses.” Ayatollah Khomeini, in addition to labeling the United States “The Great Satan,” publicly declared that Rushdie should be killed on sight for his blasphemies, and Young sought to stand up on behalf of free speech through his song. Poverty in the U.S., the epidemic of drug abuse, and environmental hazards are also included in the track’s various commentaries.
