Tunesday : Freedom! '90

Freedom! '90

(Hooper/Law/Michael/Beresford/Wheeler) Performed by George Michael

I won't let you down
I will not give you up
Gotta have some faith in the sound
It's the one good thing that I've got
I won't let you down
So please don't give me up
‘Cause I would really, really love to stick around, oh yeah

Heaven knows I was just a young boy
Didn't know what I wanted to be
I was every little hungry schoolgirl's pride and joy
And I guess it was enough for me
To win the race? A prettier face!
Brand new clothes and a big fat place
On your rock and roll TV
But today the way I play the game is not the same
No way
Think I'm gonna get myself happy

I think there's something you should know
I think it's time I told you so
There's something deep inside of me
There's someone else I've got to be
Take back your picture in a frame
Take back your singing in the rain
I just hope you understand
Sometimes the clothes do not make the man

All we have to do now
Is take these lies and make them true somehow
All we have to see
Is that I don't belong to you
And you don't belong to me yea yea
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
You've gotta give for what you take
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
You've gotta give for what you take

Heaven knows we sure had some fun boy
What a kick just a buddy and me
We had every big shot good-time band on the run boy
We were living in a fantasy
We won the race
Got out of the place
I went back home got a brand new face
For the boys on MTV
But today the way I play the game has got to change
Oh yeah
Now I'm gonna get myself happy

I think there's something you should know
I think it's time I stopped the show
There's something deep inside of me
There's someone I forgot to be
Take back your picture in a frame
Don't think that I'll be back again
I just hope you understand
Sometimes the clothes do not make the man

All we have to do now
Is take these lies and make them true somehow
All we have to see
Is that I don't belong to you
And you don't belong to me, yea yea
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
You've gotta give for what you take
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
You've gotta give for what you take

Well it looks like the road to heaven
But it feels like the road to hell
When I knew which side my bread was buttered
I took the knife as well
Posing for another picture
Everybody's got to sell
But when you shake your ass
They notice fast
And some mistakes were built to last

That's what you get
That's what you get
That's what you get
I say that's what you get
That's what you get for changing your mind
That's what you get for changing your mind

That's what you get
That's what you get
And after all this time
I just hope you understand
Sometimes the clothes
Do not make the man

All we have to do now is take these lies
And make them true somehow
All we have to see is that I don't belong to you
And you don't belong to me yea yea
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
You've got to give for what you take
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
You've got to give for what you take
Yea you've got to give for what you, give for what you give

May not be what you want from me
Just the way it's got to be
Lose the face now
I've got to live I've got to live

I had forgotten that Dave graduated university in 1990 - making this song the perfect anthem for that happy occasion - and as it all dovetails with the things that are on my mind today, this feels like an appropriate time to add Freedom! '90 to my personal discography. As a song about staying true to yourself in the face of outside expectations, it says everything I'm currently thinking of.

It's a cliché to say that girls grow up to marry their fathers, and when Dave and I got married a year after he graduated, he was an unemployed actor; the furthest thing possible in my mind from the high-powered executive that my Dad had become. When Dad retired, he was the president of a multinational pork processor, and Dave is currently...the vice-president of a different multinational pork processor. Dagblammit! How does something like that even happen?

When Dave discovered acting in high school, it was a blessing and a redemption. Never having done well throughout school (because of undiagnosed dyslexia), the first time Dave hit the stage he was a success and a star; he had found his calling. Throughout his high school years, Dave appeared in plays (both in school and in the community) and got some film credits, too. Knowing that he could use his acting skills to pursue further education at a university level, Dave really tried in his coursework for the first time in his life, and although he had always felt dumb in school, although he had been called dumb and lazy by teachers in school, he had the grades by the end of high school to attend his choice of schools; ending up at the University of Guelph, with an eye to transferring to an actual acting school.

After two years at Guelph, Dave auditioned to both the University of Alberta in Edmonton and the National Theater School in Montreal, and was offered a spot in each. Dave tells me that these were considered the two top schools for acting in Canada - with the edge given to one or the other year to year - and mostly because he couldn't speak French, he decided on Edmonton. The training was intense at the U of A - he took everything from Stage Combat to Dance - and as that's when I met him, I saw Dave shine on stage in many excellent productions. After three years of this intense education, Dave received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting...and never performed again.

When he first graduated, Dave went on one audition and came home deflated. He felt he had lost his spark. The past three years had compartamentalised, "boxed up", everything inside him, and he could no longer access what had made him naturally shine; he no longer loved the stage; he no longer even wanted to act. Happily, I was working at the bar at the time, making more money than even we could waste, and I told him to take all the time he needed to figure out what he actually wanted to do with his life. When his friend Steven (who was working as the General Manager of a small theatre) offered Dave a job as the theatre's Front of House Manager, he took it (even though Dave knew that Steven was probably just going to use him as his mouthpiece in front of the Board). It was this job that gave Dave the confidence to pursue other management positions; his acting skills coming into constant play whether he's in front of a customer, his boss, or the Board.  Nearly thirty years later, Dave is a confident, competent, successful man - his elementary school teachers would have never foreseen this, and if he hadn't discovered acting, Dave himself would have probably never seen a way to go to university and find his road to this form of success. (Dave is a smart, hard-working man and would have succeeded at anything he tried.)

Fast forward to 2017 and our older daughter, Kennedy, is about to graduate with a degree in Theatre Studies from the University of Guelph. She is a gifted actor, like her Dad, and has our full support to follow her dreams wherever they may lead her. Just before Christmas, a curious thing happened: a representative of a small local theatre came to one of her classes, and based on a recommendation from one of Kennedy's professors, she was approached and offered an internship as that theatre's Dramaturge. Kennedy does have an interest in and some experience with Dramaturgy, and this representative explained to Kennedy that this position could be considered a foot in the door to being groomed into a position of greater responsibility in the theatre's management structure. Theatre management as her first job out of university, just like her Dad. If it's a cliché to say that girls grow up to marry their fathers, what does it say when they grow up to become their fathers?

For her entire last year of school, people have been asking Kennedy, "What are you going to do when you graduate? Do you have a job lined up?" That's a lot of pressure to put on someone with an acting degree, and Kennedy resents even being asked. She is interested in the Dramaturge position (I think primarily so she has an answer to the questions), but she is also going into Toronto on an audition this afternoon. Awesome. 

I think when Dave graduated and then didn't pursue acting, that was confusing, probably disappointing, to his parents (and especially his own father in the picture up there, who is a lifelong movie fanatic; the man did dream). As Dave is now successful and obviously pleased with what he has achieved, I know that he has shown his parents that there can be a crooked path to happiness and they are obviously proud of him (as are my own parents; as am I). All we can offer Kennedy is the opportunity to find her own path; all we can offer is support and Freedom!

Freedom!
Freedom! (my freedom)
You've gotta give for what you take
Give for what you, give for what you take yeah
Yeah, you've got to give for what you, give for what you, give

May not be what you want from me
Just the way it's got to be
Lose the face now
I've got to live, I've got to live, I've got to live