Freedom in Pop Culture

 

We have been discussing Free Will and Freedom in the last few weeks.   We will continue that discussion this week but, instead of serious philosophy, we will use some pop art for our discussion.  

The song above "Raindrops keep falling on my head" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.   The song won an Oscar for Best Original Song, and Bacharach won Best Original Score.   

Part of the lyrics says:

Raindrops keep falling on my head

But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turning red

Crying's not for me

'Cause I'm never gonna stop the rain by complaining

Because I'm free

Nothing's worrying me

It won't be long till happiness steps up to greet me

Some questions:

• Do you agree with the theme of the song that one can overcome one's troubles and worries by realising one is actually free to see things differently?
• Were Butch Cassidy and the gang free when they were fleeing from police?

This is another version of the song: Raindrops keep falling on my head

The following song also talk about freedom.

Lyrics

Well, my friends are gone and my hair is grey

I ache in the places where I used to play

And I'm crazy for love but I'm not coming on

I'm just paying my rent every day in the Tower of Song

 

I said to Hank Williams, how lonely does it get?

Hank Williams hasn't answered yet

But I hear him coughing all night long

Oh, a hundred floors above me in the Tower of Song

 

I was born like this, I had no choice

I was born with the gift of a golden voice

And twenty-seven angels from the Great Beyond

They tied me to this table right here in the Tower of Song

 

So you can stick your little pins in that voodoo doll

I'm very sorry, baby, doesn't look like me at all

I'm standing by the window where the light is strong

Ah, they don't let a woman kill you, not in the Tower of Song

 

Now, you can say that I've grown bitter but of this you may be sure

The rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor

And there's a mighty judgment coming, but I may be wrong

You see, you hear these funny voices in the Tower of Song

 

I see you standing on the other side

I don't know how the river got so wide

I loved you baby, way back when

And all the bridges are burning that we might have crossed

But I feel so close to everything that we lost

We'll never, we'll never have to lose it again

 

Now I bid you farewell, I don't know when I'll be back

They're moving us tomorrow to that tower down the track

But you'll be hearing from me baby, long after I'm gone

I'll be speaking to you sweetly from a window in the Tower of Song

An analysis of the lyrics of the song is posted on this website: 

https://twentysevenangels-blog.tumblr.com/

Some questions:

• Assuming Leonard Cohen was talking himself in the song, do you think he thought he was free?
• Did Leonard Cohen think he had free will?
• Why did he felt he was trapped in the tower of song?