If I Didn't Live in a Free Country

V1 If you lived among the super rich would you want to be like them.

Why do they want to be cut off from the people around them

Are they really so different? do they need to be hiding behind walls and fences

V2 In the trees you are almost alone

But it might be pouring with rain

get down in the wet leaves

they creep up right close to you

take a look around is there anyone watching

are they looking through the car window

CHORUS

If I didn’t live in a free country would I still be alive today?

Would I have stood up against tyranny? In all its forms

would I have spoken up for the oppressed?

V3 it’s the excitement of the secret places

cos you’re doing it together being naughty together

little waterwheels in the lake

Of course it’s just the scent of a fox you know so well

Hello Hiya Hello Hiya

CHORUS If I didn’t live in a free country ….

Composition Notes

These verses are inspired by the feeling of walking through and imagining exciting encounters in a South London park in a sort of suburban fantasy. The Chorus is a musing on the nature of courage, because we don't know what it feels like to live in totalitarian regime so we don't know how we would act or react.

The music is in 7/8 time based on a riff I played on the fretless bass to creata a dreamy atmosphere. Key of verses is G Maj with the Chorus in E minor. I played solos on nylon-strung electro-acoustic guitar and at the end the scat voice on the synth. Recorded 2019