Song of the Day — November 3
Richie Havens — “Freedom”
Richie Havens — “Freedom”
03.November.2020 Song of the Day Richie Havens “Freedom” 1969
Today we exercise our freedom because our freedom is on the line. That may seem hyperbolic.
It’s not.
Richie Havens had earned his chops in the 60s playing the Greenwich Village folk scene. By the time the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival rolled around in 1969, he’d recorded a few albums and had earned enough of a reputation and following to get a slot on the first day as the fifth act.
But due to poor planning on the part of the promoters, and as we all know by now, the festival became an epic cluster fuck from the get-go.
And the festival’s opener was Richie Havens.
Originally slated to go on fifth, he was tapped to go on first because traffic hold-ups prevented the other artists from arriving on time.
After playing for an astonishing three hours, he improvised the song “Freedom.” According to Havens:
“I think the word ‘freedom’ came out of my mouth because I saw it in front of me. I saw the freedom that we were looking for. And every person was sharing it, and so that word came out. I’ll sing it [‘Freedom’] for the rest of my life, if only to show the rest of the world what I think an American is.”
The song is based on the traditional spiritual “Motherless Child.”
“Freedom” was released as a single in 1972 but failed to chart, but it cast a long shadow on pop culture. The song appeared in Quentin Tarantino’s 2012 film Django Unchained.
The song was also was a significant influence on Portugal. The Man lead singer John Gourley wasn’t alive in 1969 but saw Havens’ performance in the Woodstock film's 25th-anniversary release. He was so inspired that they named their 2017 album Woodstock and opened it with the song “Number One,” which contains a sample of Havens singing “Freedom.”
We have a unique and special opportunity today to exercise our freedom today. We can do that by voting. People in other countries have died for this right that some Americans so callously ignore or toss aside or think irrelevant; please don’t be such a fool.
Please exercise your freedom today and vote.