2025 Competition Entry:
Take My Freedom Away by Marvin Conan
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Genre
Folk
Artist
Website
Co-writer(s)
no
Performer(s)
Vocalist – Matt Anthony
Producer – Matt Anthony
Producer – Matt Anthony
Description
During the height of the covid epidemic, a number of vocal people felt that government edicts to wear a mask and other restrictions were a major infringement of personal liberty. What to do about covid (if it really existed) should be left to the individual. The song, in tongue in cheek fashion, shows the absurdity of this position – every government makes all kind of rules limiting what people can do in order to protect other people.
Bio
Marvin Conan Musical Bio
A Brooklynite by birth, I’ve been involved with music my entire life. I began taking piano lessons when I was 5 years old and as a 9 year old, had a scholarship to study classical piano at the prestigious Chatham Square Music School. As a teenager, I listened to all kinds of music – jazz, folk, classical, top 40, American songbook etc. I taught myself folk guitar, took flute lessons and played in my high school and college orchestras. I occasionally wrote a song, and a few of my songs came to the attention of the legendary music publisher Al Gallico, who, after after listening to them, asked me to come work for him. At the time, music was a fun avocation, and I had no thoughts about being a professional songwriter. Throughout my life I would occasionally write songs, but it was only as I neared retirement from federal service that I began to write more regularly and take my writing more seriously. I had a few country songs released on Pharaoh International Records that got a fair amount of airplay in Europe. A song called “Too Soon”, written in remembrance of a loved one who died in the terrorist Lockerbie plane crash over Scotland was a finalist in the UK Songwriting Contest, and a few years later a song I co-wrote won the Olympic Theme category in the same contest. Several of my songs have been performed in satb choir arrangements. Many of my recent songs have to do with social issues and aging.
A Brooklynite by birth, I’ve been involved with music my entire life. I began taking piano lessons when I was 5 years old and as a 9 year old, had a scholarship to study classical piano at the prestigious Chatham Square Music School. As a teenager, I listened to all kinds of music – jazz, folk, classical, top 40, American songbook etc. I taught myself folk guitar, took flute lessons and played in my high school and college orchestras. I occasionally wrote a song, and a few of my songs came to the attention of the legendary music publisher Al Gallico, who, after after listening to them, asked me to come work for him. At the time, music was a fun avocation, and I had no thoughts about being a professional songwriter. Throughout my life I would occasionally write songs, but it was only as I neared retirement from federal service that I began to write more regularly and take my writing more seriously. I had a few country songs released on Pharaoh International Records that got a fair amount of airplay in Europe. A song called “Too Soon”, written in remembrance of a loved one who died in the terrorist Lockerbie plane crash over Scotland was a finalist in the UK Songwriting Contest, and a few years later a song I co-wrote won the Olympic Theme category in the same contest. Several of my songs have been performed in satb choir arrangements. Many of my recent songs have to do with social issues and aging.
Lyrics
TAKE MY FREEDOM AWAY
They say I gotta wear a mask to cover my face
To keep folks from dyin from the fake coronavirus plague
Don’t they know that in the US of A
You can’t tell a man what he must do or say
I’m never gonna let them take my freedom away
No matter what they come up with I’m gonna disobey
I ain’t gonna listen – don’t care what they say
If they tell me I gotta wear clothes
To cover my privates when I’m walkin down the road
I’ll put on my birthday suit and go out for a stroll
They’re tryin to take my freedom away
But I ain’t gonna listen – gonna disobey
Don’t they know this is the US of A
I’m never gonna let them take my freedom away
And if they say I can’t drive after a 6 pack or 3
They’ll be crossin the line into tyranny
I’m gonna drink and drive cause I wanna stay free
I won’t let them take my masculinity
Best believe it – that’s the way things should be
And I won’t stop just because the light is red
If I feel like it I’ll drive through full speed ahead
It’s in my American DNA
To fight for what’s right till my dyin day
I’ll never let the commies take my freedom away
They’re tryin to take my freedom away
But I ain’t gonna listen – gonna disobey
Don’t they know this is the US of A
I’m never gonna let them take my freedom away
© Marv Conan
They say I gotta wear a mask to cover my face
To keep folks from dyin from the fake coronavirus plague
Don’t they know that in the US of A
You can’t tell a man what he must do or say
I’m never gonna let them take my freedom away
No matter what they come up with I’m gonna disobey
I ain’t gonna listen – don’t care what they say
If they tell me I gotta wear clothes
To cover my privates when I’m walkin down the road
I’ll put on my birthday suit and go out for a stroll
They’re tryin to take my freedom away
But I ain’t gonna listen – gonna disobey
Don’t they know this is the US of A
I’m never gonna let them take my freedom away
And if they say I can’t drive after a 6 pack or 3
They’ll be crossin the line into tyranny
I’m gonna drink and drive cause I wanna stay free
I won’t let them take my masculinity
Best believe it – that’s the way things should be
And I won’t stop just because the light is red
If I feel like it I’ll drive through full speed ahead
It’s in my American DNA
To fight for what’s right till my dyin day
I’ll never let the commies take my freedom away
They’re tryin to take my freedom away
But I ain’t gonna listen – gonna disobey
Don’t they know this is the US of A
I’m never gonna let them take my freedom away
© Marv Conan
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