When I wrote the word Freedom down in 1995 as a measure, I meant, essentially, “being able to do what I want to do when I want to do it.” I would say that for roughly half of the intervening 19 years, I have had a high level of freedom professionally and personally. I had jobs and I was married, but I couldn’t make either last. I haven’t found that freedom is nothing left to lose; there are significant losses that come with being free. The price of freedom is paid with isolation and the absence of the comforting distractions that come from friends and family.
Routine is no substitute for people, and as one ages, the kind of freedom I was thinking about when I was young, makes connections even more difficult. But there is great satisfaction of being beyond the grasp of the institution, the boss, the obligation, the need to be somewhere at a set time. There is less to take from me, and in that sense, the lyrics are accurate. When I play scenarios of my life in which I was loyal to others – specific people or organizations – always leaves me saying, “That person isn’t me.”
Roger Valdez 