One of my favorite songs is FREEDOM, which was originally inspired by “Moon Doggie,” (Alex Girado, our Marketing Director). I was in an early morning meeting going over new song ideas with the “Magic Man” (Josh Varnadore, our Creative Director). The Magic Man is really our “Music Man” because he is a professional musician and music producer. Magic Man and I often discuss deep worldly and spiritual issues and ideas and on that particular morning we were kicking around the notion that America’s freedom of speech is under attack by the big tech sensors and violent protestors.
I was in the middle of a rant about how Americans are afraid to speak up for fear of being persecuted or physically attacked, especially in several major cities, when in walks Moon Doggie who had overheard the last few minutes of our conversation. Without batting an eye, The Dogs (as I call him sometimes), looked at me and said, “You need to write a song about freedom.” The Magic Man and I looked at Moon Doggie and then at each other and we both said at the same time, “Let’s do it!”
So we left the Beach Hut (our office in Juno Beach), piled into my Rover and motored on over to Hippie Hut Studios, our recording studio in North Palm Beach (about 5 minutes from the Beach Hut). On the way there, we were already tossing around ideas for the song. The Magic Man was imagining the arrangement and I was coming up with the opening guitar riff, lyrics, and vocals. Once at the studio, we both plopped down in the control room and went right to work on the opening guitar riff. For this song, and many of my other songs, I love the deep and sometimes dirty sound emitted by our Fender Ultra Jazz bass guitar. And then the magic happened.
Within 10 minutes of trying a variety of riffs, the Magic Man suddenly hit on a deep rhythmic sound fully laced with old school chucking that was perfect for my vision. Hearing the perfect sequence of notes for the riff, I jumped up and said, “That’s it! Record that riff now and we can move forward! With the opening riff down, the Magic Man went to work on the full arrangement. And when it comes to arranging music, this dude is a genius at pulling notes and melodies out of thin air to create attitude-laced ear candy with moxie, meaning, muscle, and might. As for the G.O.P., I was off to my creative desk in the tracking room to write the lyrics and practice the vocals. I knew the song would be titled FREEDOM, so I set out to convey what freedom means to me in a creative style.
I wanted the song to have power and potency as well as peace and purpose. I was so fired up the words flowed out of me and before I knew it, I was joyfully staring at a skeleton of a song called Freedom. For the rest of the day, the G.O.P. and the Magic Man continued to build on the song and by the end of the day, I was delivered a rough arrangement of the song, all built around the riff we created that morning. With the arrangement in hand, I set out to weave the right words into this well-crafted musical masterpiece. I didn’t get far into writing the lyrics before it was end of day, so I headed home to eat dinner with my family. That night I went to bed and could clearly hear the opening guitar riff rolling around in my mind as I hit the pillow. I was soon fast asleep while visions of Freedom danced in my head.
Fast forward to 3:00 a.m. when suddenly I was awakened, “not to pee but to see” in my head all the lyrics for the song. The truth is, I never really know when “The Big Kahuna” (what I call the big man “upstairs” who really writes and creates my songs) is going to flow lyrics and ideas through me. But when I feel the creative juices flowing, I go with the flow and let it all hang out! On this night, I heard in my head, “Freedom, gotta want it, Freedom, gotta have it, Freedom, gotta love it,” as the chorus, so I grabbed my iPhone and typed those lyrics into my notes app. Next came Freedom is my way of life, Freedom is my day and night, Freedom is my left and right, so I thumbed those words into my phone. And Freedom was born!
The next day I went into the tracking room and started laying down the vocals. Within a few days the vocals were complete, and we mocked up the song. Once we had a working song, I called my wife Beth, (whom I call Mrs. Hippie) and Moon Doggie into the control room with me and the Magic Man, and we all listened to what we just created. Then we opened the floor for feedback. With this song, we were all blown away because it was such a powerful, well-produced song. It was a unique hard-rockin’ spirit-lifting balls-to-the-wall sound explosion that packed a very potent punch.
After five back-to-back listens, we all agreed the song needed female backup vocals. For the remainder of the day, my wife and two of our daughters (Isabella and Andreana) took their turns recording their beautiful voices in the tracking room. With all the new vocals laid down, the Magic Man laced up the song with their angelic voices and Freedom was now primed to be a major hit! Another week of tweaking and Freedom became a masterpiece that was ready to bounce out to our mixing engineer who would then polish and perfect this musical powerhouse. And as they say in the entertainment industry, “The rest is history.”
I hope you enjoy my song Freedom as much as I do. The lyrics are below, which can help you sing along with this hard driving and highly motivating anthem. It was a blast to write and record. Its message is simple; “Freedom, gotta love it!”
Peace and love,
The G.O.P.
FREEDOM
By The G.O.P.
Freedom (whispered)
Freedom (whispered)
Freedom (whispered)
Freedom is my way of life
Freedom is my day and night
Freedom is my left and right
Freedom is a bird in flight
Freedom is my inner light
Freedom is my dynamite
Freedom is my bark and bite
Freedom is the way I write
Freedom is my pilot light
Freedom is so outa sight
Freedom is so black and white
Freedom is so worth a fight
Freedom
Gotta want it
Freedom
Gotta have it
Freedom
Gotta love it
(REPEAT 4 X TOTAL)
Freedom is my way of life
Freedom is my day and night
Freedom is my left and right
Freedom is a bird in flight
Freedom is my inner light
Freedom is my dynamite
Freedom is my bark and bite
Freedom is the way I write
Freedom is my pilot light
Freedom is so outa sight
Freedom is so black and white
Freedom is so worth a fight
Freedom
Gotta want it
Freedom
Gotta have it
Freedom
Gotta love it
(REPEAT 4 X TOTAL)
SPOKEN VERSE
The world is full of people who want to control you. To remain free, you must not let anyone pull your strings. Freedom begins in your own mind. Do not let others control your thinking. When you are in control of your own thoughts, the seat belt sign will turn off so you can move freely about the cabin and enjoy life.
GROUP SINGING
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
Gotta want it
Freedom
Gotta have it
Freedom
Gotta love it
(REPEAT 6 X TOTAL)
