WE MUST TAKE A STAND
You Better Stop Your Hidin’
More relevant today after almost half a century
I want to dedicate this to George Floyd.
The year was 1981, and I was dating Esther Shetsky. Going to concerts was our thing. We only dated for about six months, but we went to four rock concerts.
Our first date was in March when we went to see Styx’s Paradise Theater at the Chicago stadium. We also saw Journey and Tom Petty.
Our last concert together was when we drove from Chicago to Milwaukee to watch the REO Speedwagon perform on Labor Day at the ballpark where the Milwaukee Brewers play.
In those days, REO Speedwagon refused to play in Chicago because when they were coming up in Champaign-Urbana, Chicago did not support them. There was another band named Tradewinds that had bigger amplifiers, according to REO, that was more popular. Tradewinds became Styx, but the two Chicago area bands did not get along well.
Driving to Milwaukee to watch REO Speedwagon was well worth it. If you’re familiar with the rock scene of the 70s, then you’d know that REO Speedwagon was one of the premier live rock bands of the seventies. Their concerts were electrifying, and the one we went to was no different. Three hours of high energy rock and roll music that was capped by their signature finale.
On the Labor Day weekend, when Esther and I drove from Chicago to Milwaukee and watched REO Speedwagon at the Brewers Stadium was no exception. They played this song for almost 10 minutes after they returned for the finale.
You don’t hear guitar solos like that anymore, but I digress.
Kevin Cronin wrote the song in 1971 during the Vietnam era to express how disgusted he was with his country. Almost 50 years later, the song is more relevant today than ever.
“Golden Country”
Golden country your face is so red With all of your money, your poor can be fed You strut around, and you flirt with disaster Never really carin’ just what comes after Well your blacks are dyin’, but your back is still turned And your freaks are cryin’, but your back is still turned You better stop your hidin’ or your country will burn The time has come for you my friend To all this ugliness we must put an end Before we leave, we must make a stand
Mortgage people, you crawl to your homes Your security lies in your bed of white foam You act concerned but then why turn away When a lady was raped on your doorstep today Well your blacks are cryin’, but your back is still turned And your freaks are cryin’, but your back is still turned You better stop your hidin’ or your country will burn The time has come for you my friend To all this ugliness we must put an end Before we leave, we must make a stand, oh yeah…
As always, thank you for reading and responding.
More about me:
Rasheed Hooda is a published author and a regular contributor to ILLUMINATION, a writers’ community on Medium where writers support each other.
He is a self-proclaimed weirdo who lives a Freedom Lifestyle and writes about related topics — Travel (a top writer), Personal Growth, Freedom, and entrepreneurship. (Get the Newsletter)
“You can let others tell you what it means to be successful, or you can decide it for yourself.”
