We Shall Be Free

Source: Garth Brooks

This is my favorite Garth Brooks song. Period. It's one of my favorite songs. Period. I'm watching the We Are One concert on HBO.com at the moment. I was a bit disappointed when Garth came out singing American Pie. When I heard on NPR this morning that Garth was singing, I knew he HAD to sing We Shall Be Free. The man hasn't performed in what, 10 years??

He did. A short version of it. But he did. And I teared up. In my mind, there's simply no more perfect song to capture the hope in this country. What so many fear to hope for in the world.

This ain't comin from no prophet,
Just an ordinary man,
When I close my eyes I see,
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,
Then we shall be free

We shall be free,
We shall be free,
So stand straight,
Walk proud,
'Cause we shall be free

When we're free to love anyone we choose,
When this worlds big enough for all different views,
When we're all free to worship from our own kind of pew,
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

It's not the kind of song you expect to hear from a country singer from Oklahoma. I hope one day I won't say that.

I still haven't caught the Obama fever. I believe he's a smart, savvy man with very reasonable expectations about what he can and cannot do. I don't want to be cynical. I want to belive in the hope he's brought to the country. I want to be wrong. Doesn't happen often enough, and this would be a great one.