Two years ago, when I took off for my first summer of van travels, I began to understand the power of freedom in a different way. Spending extended time in a van allowed life and time to flow in a more free-flowing, less encumbered way. Ease and simplicity became not just concepts, but actual values of mine which I cherish and strive to make space for in my life.
On that very first day on the road, I began writing a song called “Some Kind of Freedom.” It took me most of that summer to finish as it continued to evolve and squirm it’s way toward it’s final form. The song incorporates vignettes of certain archetypes of people who foster the courage necessary to turn their lives upside down in pursuit of their dreams. I believe that the desire for freedom is a fairly universal human longing, although the form that freedom takes can be as different as each individual.
Now in my third summer traveling in my van, I continue to find that the spaciousness provided by this little creative incubator on wheels truly serves to support my songwriting. The five most recent songs that I’ve written have all come into being while traveling in this van. Sometimes the concepts appear while driving as it did with “One Road In, One Road Out.” Other times, like with this one, they come through living life in a different way and through interactions with you precious fellow humans. I actually wrote about the birth of this song when it was still just a concept in my post called by the same name “Some Kind of Freedom.” Other songs begin just by noodling on the guitar and singing along randomly until something starts to take form which touches my soul in some way. Invariably, these songs morph and take ultimate shape and polish through dozens of sessions while sitting alongside a river, a lake or taking in some otherwise magical view.
I recorded myself performing “Some Kind of Freedom” while camping in the Hoh Rainforest in the Olympic National Park on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, and present it to you here with lyric below.
Some Kind of Freedom
© Ted Seymour 2021
Sandy quit her desk
In the middle of the day,
She had to make a run for it
Before that office sucked her soul away,
Now, she’s serving up umbrella drinks
With a tan near Waikiki.
She’s saving up to buy a boat she’ll sail away to sea.
She needed some kind of freedom
And her hair to catch the breeze,
Some kind of freedom
Flying sails and curls upon the sea,
Some kind of freedom
So she dared to heed to call,
Some kind of freedom,
Don’t we all?
Johnny left his marriage
For the promise of a kiss,
From a sweet young thing that turned his eye
And help remind him there was more to this,
Well, his new love didn’t work out
but Johnny swears he doesn’t mind,
He says her laugh reminded him of dreams
That he’d long since left behind.
He needed some kind of freedom
Something wasn’t feeling right,
Some kind of freedom
Real love and care to fill his night,
Some kind of freedom
So he dared to risk the fall,
Some kind of freedom
Don’t we all?
Everybody needs to find their own way in this world,
Look into the possible and see what wants to be.
People blowin’ smoke rings try and tell you what to do,
Never mind the shit they say, seek your mirror for your truth.
Anna left her parents,
Now all her clothes are secondhand,
She’s with a girl in Tucson
Where they’re playing in all girl band,
Now, they’re living in a school bus
Makin’ love and cookin’ rice,
She says the joys of living wild and free
Are so well worth the price.
She needed some kind of freedom
For her voice to touch the skies,
Some kind of freedom
For her heart and hope to harmonize,
Some kind of freedom
No more Sundays at the mall,
Some kind of freedom
Don’t we all?
Everybody needs to find their own way in this world,
Look into the possible and see what wants to be.
People blowin’ smoke rings try and tell you what to do,
Never mind the shit they say, seek your mirror for your truth.
Rita broke her mirror
Needed to see a different way,
She took a one way flight to India
Where she’s watching falsehoods fall away,
Now she’s twirling in a saffron robe
And doing yoga every day,
She says there’s not much left to hold on to
When it’s all been stripped away.
She needed some kind of freedom
To reorient her mind,
Some kind of freedom
Just to go and see what she might find,
Some kind of freedom
So she dared to leave it all,
Some kind of freedom,
Don’t we all?
We all need some kind of freedom
For our past to fall away,
Some kind of freedom
Do we dare to dream another day?
Some kind of freedom
There’s no pride in living small,
Some kind of freedom,
Some kind of freedom,
Some kind of freedom,
Some kind of freedom,
Some kind of freedom,
Don’t we all?