Hippie at Heart

[Pine]

After almost 35 years of living my mantra of "get back to the land and set my soul free"
i think perhaps this song sums up not only my life but MANY of you others here as well. The long hair and headbands are gone, the tiedyes come out still on occasion, and at 58 i can't handle psychoactive substances much anymore....but the hippie within lives on...and will always live on until i die. Environmental respect, kindness to others, and compassion towards all living things are still the most important things in a true hippie's heart. Just wanna live a simple life and dream that maybe one day the "bomber death planes" really will turn into butterflies....

"Hippie at Heart"

[Greeny]

Great lyrics and harmonies! Those keyboards sound like a banjo - it would be great to hear this with some real banjo plucking away and a few pedal steel slides. This is another very tidy little song, and I totally agree with the sentiment (and the story behind it that you explained on the other thread). Sounds like you've seen both signs of the coin during your life, but it makes you able to give a rounded view of the summer of love and the horrors that were happening elsewhere.

It's funny - the message and hope of peace is just as relevant today as it was all those years ago. Personally, I just hope my brother comes back from Afghanistan in one piece, as it's been a bloody and brutal week over there for the British troops.

[Vanncad]

Cool tune Pinedog! I love the lyrics.

If this is the way you live, then I think that's great.
Like Greeny says, this tune would sound neat with some guitars and banjos on it.

[Geir]

Great song and story behind it. Being a tad too young to be a "real" hippie I still can relate to the ideals and attitude of the time.

Gonna come back to this one again!

[Tony W]

I'm on the opposite side of the coin for the most part. I like my new truck. I like traveling to mountainous regions to snowboard. I proudly served in the military, though want nothing to do with the middle east. I like my job, and really like my salary.

I also love a good piece of music, and this was a really great song. This song represents something I'm not, but I appreciate it regardless. I have to agree with Greeny, and banjo would be a fantastic addition.

[Ferryman_1957]

I missed being a hippie by about 5 or 6 years (my older brother was a real hippie though and made Cheech and Chong look somewhat "straight") but I do appreciate some of the sentiments here. Anyway, you did a great job here, this is full of wacky fun and sums up the era. Who did the original? I don't know it. Well into the Woodstock vibe!

Cheers,

Nigel

[Pine]

whoa...i never dreamed this tune would get so many hits from all you big guns! Let me say first of all that even though there was "the era of the hippie", true hippie ideals never grow old and never go out of date, just like good music. Compassion is as cool today as it was then and as it was 10,000 years ago when a cave dude helped the injured animal or friend with a broken leg. It's all about who you are. The drug thing all came later and was actually the beginning of the end of the "hippie era". That's all some folks equate hippies with. Ain't so.
    As for the song (Nigel)...i wrote it. There was mention in an early thread that a song "about the woodstock era" would be acceptable....and after hearing the "Woodstock" song from Hopper, i posted it way down here in the 1200 board where i thought it could hide.  It should not go in the jukebox. It's not what this project is about.
   It's also important to say that i wrote this song in the mid 70's and it was one of the first things i tried to record years ago. I had just gotten the keyboard and used a bluegrass preset for rhythm that included that cheesy banjo tone...but i thought it was cool since i didn't own one yet. I finally bought one two years ago and love it and will take all your advices and redo it with all real instruments ( i love that upright bass though!)
   Tony, you have an open mind. These days, i also enjoy my new used truck and have just retired from 15 years as a mental health counselor working with behavioral adolescents in a locked psych ward. It was probably the most rewarding 15 years of my life. I will say though that my current lifestyle...homesteading, is a dream come true. The middle east situation is a mess...i think we all agree on that, and i'll let it go at that.
    If anybody thinks i should pull this song absloutely no sweat, will do. Again, please don't add it to the jukebox...maybe i will try to make time to do a song from the list...but i struggle bad with covers...and the bar is WAAAAY high already!!!
Thank you all for stopping by.

[64Guitars]

Pinedog: I like your song and, although it's not directly about Woodstock, I think it fits the theme. And, yes, original songs about Woodstock and that era are welcome in this Woodstock tribute. I hope we get more of them. "Hippie at Heart" is already in the Woodstock Index and the jukebox. If you really want me to remove it from either or both, let me know and I'll do it. But I think it fits the theme and I'm quite happy to leave it in there if you like. Perhaps you feel like it's out of place because it's the only original. But the festival has only just begun. There's almost 5 weeks to go yet and I think we'll see a few more originals before the festival ends. Maybe then you won't feel that yours is out of place. But, it's your song, so the decision is yours.

[Tony W]

I think pulling this song would be a travesty. We may as well have a book burning next. I personally feel this is a terrific song. I said I was on the "opposite side of the coin" because I thought it might show that through any belief system, Good music is Good Music, and this is a prime example. I certainly didn't want to convey a judgmental message. I personally believe that you live life according to how you see fit. If everyone had the same opinions, likes and dislikes as I do... it would be a boring world.

A wise old man once told me "if you don't like who I am or what I do, then consider yourself lucky because you can kiss my ass, and I can't"

[Pine]

I didn't take your message as judgemental Tony. It's a big world with as many opinions as there are people. I was just thinking that since i recorded it long ago and with another recorder (i see now i posted it in the wrong place) and that musically it is not reflective of where i am today...and it's an original...and it's not even really about Woodstock but merely what the experience of living through that era did to me...that perhaps it was inappropriate to be included in the official jukebox. I shared my thoughts with 64 and will trust his judgement and peacefully and happily abide by whatever he wants to do. This whole festival is the best trip i've taken in a long while!