Neil Young - Rockin' In The Free World

First performance: 28/10/1985


Coverinfo

Bruce performed the song 2 times :
 
 
Performed during the vote of change tour together with R.E.M., John Fogerty, Neil and Pegi Young.
 
 
1995-10-28 Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA 
The Bridge School Benefit. Solo acoustic performance.  Down by the river and Rockin' in the free world was performed together with Neil Young. Rockin' in the free world with Neil Young, Beck, Chrissie Hynde, Hootie & The Blowfish, Steven Tyler, Emmylou Harris, Daniel Lanois, and Crazy Horse)
  

Songinfo

"Rockin' in the Free World" is a song by Neil Young, released on his 1989 album Freedom. Two versions of the song were released, similarly to the song "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)" of Young's Rust Never Sleeps album, one of which is performed with a predominantly acoustic arrangement, and the other with a predominantly electric arrangement. The song is now considered one of Neil Young's best songs. Young wrote the song while on tour with his band The Restless in February 1989. He learned that a planned concert tour to the Soviet Union was not going to happen and his guitarist Frank "Poncho" Sampedro said "we'll have to keep on rockin' in the free world". The lyrics criticize the George H. W. Bush administration, then in its first month, and the social problems of contemporary American life, while directly referencing Bush's famous "thousand points of light" remark from his 1989 inaugural address and his 1988 presidential campaign promise for America to become a "kinder, gentler nation." The song also refers to Ayatollah Khomeini's proclamation that the United States was the "Great Satan" and Jesse Jackson's 1988 campaign slogan, "Keep hope alive". The song was first performed live on February 21, 1989, in Seattle with The Restless, without the band having rehearsed it. 
 
 
 

Other cover versions

Bruce on the artist

Bruce and Neil Young played 8 times together
 
 
 
2013-02-08 Los Angeles Convention Center, LA
2004-10-05 Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN
1995-10-28 Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA
1994-10-20 Roseland Ballroom, New York City
1989-06-14 Jones Beach Theater, Wantagh, NY
1988-01-20 Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York City
1986-10-13 Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA
1985-03-22 Sydney Entertainment Centre, Sydney, Australia

Neil Youg was also there at the MusiCares Person of the year 2013 when Bruce was honored. Bruce was tributed by Young and among others.
  

Lyrics

There's colors on the street
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
Anyway 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
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world
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
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world