Rockin' In The Free World - March 5th 2025

March 5th 2025

Yuriy reflects on the ironic contrasts between his own life and the themes of Neil Young's music, sharing personal anecdotes of imprisonment and military service while expressing gratitude for the support of listeners and Neil Young's planned concert in war-torn Ukraine.

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TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)  

 

  

It is 5th of March, 

The other day I got a hair cut- an army style one of course done with clippers so that for the next month until the next trim, I wouldn't even have to think about a comb. And while while they were cutting my hair, I found myself humming. Almost Cut My Hair through Masterpiece by Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, probably the greatest band in rock 'n' roll history. The irony is what the song tells the story of someone who was on the verge of cutting their long hair, the symbol of rebellion and free spirit for the sake of mundane, bourgeois life. But at the last moment, held back. I, on the other hand, have nothing bourgeois about me, yet I keep cutting my hair short.  

Out of all four musicians in Crosby, steel Smash, and Young, I always liked the last one, Neil Young. The most, the most restless, the most rebellious of them all. I've loved his music since I was a teenager. You know that feeling when a song seems to be telling the story of your own life. That's how it was for me, even when I grew up. When I was arrested by the police in Egypt and sent to prison, Neil Young's Mid East Vacation was playing in my head. By the way, back in 2012, I was arrested on charges of spying for the United States.  I took pride in that for years, but now looking at the United States, I think, no, but was not worth going to jail for, even for was few hours, which the police needed to find out that I was really a journalist covering the Tahrir Revolution. 

At the beginning of a full scale invasion and my military service, I kept recording Youngs Living With War, and when I missed home and my family terribly, his Going Home. 

And just recently I remember it that the very first thing I bought on my first ever trip to the United States years ago was Neil Young's book, Waging Heavy Piece. I bought it in an airport bookstore right after passing passport control.  

And the day after my latest haircut, I read in the news that Mr. Young is coming to perform here in Ukraine. This is a real miracle. I don't quite understand how it's going to happen because gathering people in a stadium or a large concert hall is extremely dangerous- we are under constant bombardment. I don't know if I'll be able to attend the concert because I'm in the Army and it's far from certain that I'd get leave- or that there would be even available seats. But... But! The most important thing is that he's at least planning to come. That at the very least, through his plans, he's supporting Ukraine. 

The only ones, I'm more grateful to when him, are you- my listeners, most of you who go out to rallies for Ukraine, who support our resistance, who make it possible for us sooner or later to finally rocking in a free world.