Have You Heard This Song?

Unexpected Voices. I am always listening for the message and meaning in songs, and for many years a song called "We Shall be Free" has been among my favorites. One thing I like about it is the fact that it comes from an unlikely source.

Have you heard it? Do you know who wrote it? Do you know what inspired it?

Here are the lyrics. Any guesses?

We Shall Be Free

This ain’t coming from no prophet
Just an ordinary man
When I close my eyes I see, the the way this world shall be
When we all walk hand in hand

When the last child cries for a crust of bread
When the last man dies for just words that he said
When there’s shelter over the poorest head
We shall be free

When the last thing we notice is the color of skin
And the first thing we look for is the beauty within
When the skies and the oceans are clean again
Than we shall be free

We shall be free, we shall be free
Stand straight, Walk proud
Cause we shall be free

When we’re free to love anyone we choose
When this world’s biggest enough for all different views
When we all can worship from our own kind of pews
Then we shall be free

We shall be free, We shall be free
Have a little faith, Hold Out
Cause we shall be free

And when money talks for the very last time
And nobody walks a step behind
When there’s only one race and that’s mankind
Then we shall be free.

We shall be free , We shall be free
Stand Straight, Have a little faith
We shall be free

We shall be free, We shall be free
Stand straight, Walk Proud
We shall be free.

Comments

[Debra Houghtaling]

Mark, are you trying to out country music fans? My music cred is going nowhere fast because Calvin knows I like Neil Diamond, too. . .

I actually lived in Los Angeles as a Jesuit Volunteer working on Skid Row during the Rodney King trial and rioting, so this song has always had a special significance to me. My roommates & I were stunned to find it on a Garth Brooks CD -- he misses getting a full pardon for some of his other songs/lyrics because the "one race is mankind" line in this song still grates on my nerves.