KEVIN McCORRY, HOST: I’m Kevin McCorry and this is ‘Jukebox Journey’
[MUSIC/POETRY MONTAGE: “God Bless America” by Kate Smith, “America” by Allen Ginsberg, “Nothing from Nothing” by Billy Preston, “Nothing Compares 2 U” by Sinead O’Connor.]
KMWe’re unstuck in time, jumping through decades and genres, meditating on a theme.
This week: Independence Day.
[MUSIC: “Like a Rolling Stone” by Bob Dylan]
KM: Do you remember the first time you felt it? That feeling that you really were on your own — just your successes/your failures, no safety net?
From 1965, Bob Dylan.
I was 21, just out of college and on a mission to live a life different from what I’d known growing up in rowhouse Philly.
[MUSIC: “Independence Day” by Bruce Springsteen]
KM: The idea of career stability was not on my radar. I didn’t want limitations. I yearned for a life of creativity and adventure.
KM: From “The River,” 1980, the kid from Freehold who made it big: Bruce Springsteen.
[MUSIC SWELL]
KM: My college girlfriend and I hatched the idea: We’d drive across the country and move to California. We had no connections. No plans. Little money. Just desire and youthful arrogance. The boldness of the plan was the point.
[MUSIC/POETRY: Jack Kerouac reading a selection from “On the Road” on the Steve Allen Show]
KM: Jack Kerouac reading with Steve Allen on piano, 1959.
Why California? Why not. It seemed as far as the road could go.
[MUSIC: “California Dreaming” by Bobby Womack]
KM: What more could you do to prove to yourself you could make it on your own?
In 1969, Bobby Womack, who played guitar in backing bands for Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, had this cover on his solo debut.
And in all that raw beautiful land, the thousands of miles of open road and open possibilities, the thrill of the unknown was majestic. You didn’t know what was next, but whatever it was, it was yours.
[MUSIC: “Wordless Chorus” by My Morning Jacket]
KM: From the 2005 album ‘Z,’ My Morning Jacket.
Then you show up in San Francisco and the hard punch of reality hits. You need an apartment, you need income. You hustle everyday to find a foothold.
[MUSIC: “Weary” by Solange]
KM: From 2016’s A Seat at the Table, Solange
You understood it to be true, but now you know it: the world owes you nothing. You’re just another kid with a dream. Oh you think you’re special? Toughen up because you’re going to have to fight for everything you want.
[MUSIC: “I Won’t Back Down” by Johnny Cash]
KM: Johnny Cash from American Recordings Volume III in 2000, doing the Petty classic.
So you work to build the mental muscle. You struggle. You learn to face down your doubts, push through the trudge…and try to do it with optimism.
[MUSIC: “Sledgehammer” by Peter Gabriel]
KM: Number 9 on the chart this week in 1986, Peter Gabriel.
You feel a little momentum. Like fire that’s just been lit. You do what you need to do to pay your bills, to sustain yourself. It’s only a start. But it’s a lot. A transformation is happening.
[MUSIC SWELL]
KM: The road from there was long and winding. It fact, it ultimately led back home. But only as you got older did you realize that, yes, as beautiful and empowering as independence is, it’s only the first evolution.
The level up is becoming someone upon whom others can depend. It’s a different kind of adventure, but with those limitations, you are free.
[MUSIC: “Bridge Over Troubled Water” by Aretha Franklin]
KM: From her 1971 “Live at Fillmore West” in San Francisco album, the queen, the G.O.A.T., Aretha…covering Simon and Garfunkel.
I’m Kevin McCorry. And this has been a ‘Jukebox Journey’ on WHYY.
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