dandelion woman album launch experience
day 4

Welcome back! Today, we’re featuring JSB’s “can’t we all get along” song, find out what inspired Joe to write it, and learn some of the reject lyrics. Today’s feature song is track #4:

american freeborn kids

Yeah, I like dogs and I like cats…and I’m not necessarily into sushi or Beyonce’s tooshie. But there’s more to this song than the details of my life and how they differ from other folks.

I wrote this during the presidential race of 2016, just a touch before Trump got elected. The nation was in turmoil, and people were just so darned mad at each other. Hated each other. I looked at all this and thought to myself, “Self, there ain’t a side that’s 100% right and there ain’t one that’s 100% wrong, either. Maybe we should all be a little more humble about our own perceptions and beliefs. And maybe we should be more open to other people’s perceptions and beliefs. And maybe, just maybe, if we were all capable of not hating each other over our differences, we’d find strength in our diversity instead of discord.”

Heck, that’s what this nation was built on - people coming together from all over the world, different backgrounds, philosophies, religions, etc, and banding together against tyranny. Banding together against the kinds of folks who said “My way or the highway.” We made our own way, and we did it together. As a melting pot of different beliefs, systems, perceptions and peoples.

Diversity is not weakness. It is a STRENGTH. And that’s what this song is about. But I have to admit, I didn’t always think this way…

I grew up with very strong opinions. And I wasn’t afriad to express them, argue them, and get angry about them. I still remember an argument I had with a friend in college about some Christian dogma. Funny thing is, I can’t even remember what we were arguing about. I simply remember how stubborn I was, how angry I got, and how strained the relationship became.

Another issue that fired me up to all hell was hunting versus animal rights. I had all kinds of arguments, statistics, blah blah blah (I’ve often said how glad I am that social media was not as prevalent back then…I’d have made a real ass out of myself). And I would have no trouble alienating someone who believed differently than me. Now, don’t get me wrong - I still hunt on occasion, I still eat meat, etc. But as I’ve grown older, I’ve softened quite a bit. My perceptions and sensibilities have changed. I no longer get a thrill out of killing anything, and I can understand the logic and emotions of those folks against hunting.

I’m not trying to advocate being wishy-washy. I do believe there are firm rights and wrongs. All I am saying is that rarely are things purely black and white. There’s lots of gray in this world, and we could stand to learn a lot from people who think differently. Even if we can’t be totally convinced by their beliefs, I do believe we can learn to remain on the same team. The lyrics in ‘American Freeborn Kids’ is geared towards those of us here in the US, but that team might be our family, community, state, or humanity as a whole, depending on the topic.

Speaking of AFBK lyrics…

Ya know the ends of the chorus’ where I contrast you and me with lines like “You like sun, and I like rain” or “I’m Clint Eastwood, and you’re John Wayne”? Well I did a bunch of brainstorming on those. Here are some of my favorite reject lines:

• If I got guts, and you got brains

• If you wanna go, and I wanna stay

• If you have fun, and I’m kinda lame

• If you like pleasure, and I like pain

• If I like grass, and you like cocaine

• If you’re a success, and I’m down the drain

• If you took a car, and I took the train

• If you’re California, and I’m from Maine

• If I’m malt liquor, and you’re champaign

• If your a genius, and I’m insane

• If I’m charcoal, and you’re propane

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