Not a fan of folk, but if you're against the war you must listen to Willy Mason's ""Oxygen"

I am not a fan of the folk music. When John Belushi destroyed the guitar in Animal House I felt he was talking to me. I don't think Bob Dylan is a good singer. When I saw Richie Havens live I thought he was so so. And so on.

So, when I recommend that you listen to this folk tune by Willy Mason, I don't do so casually.

You can listen to the song here.

Here are the lyrics:

Artist: Willy MasonSong: Oxygen
Lyrics:

I wanna be better than oxygen
So you can breathe when you're drowning and weak in the knees
I wanna speak louder than Ritalin
For all the children who think that they've got a disease

I wanna be cooler than t.v.
For all the kids that are wondering what they are going to be
We can be stronger than bombs
If you're singing along and you know that you really believe
We can be richer than industry
As long as we know that there's things that we don't really need
We can speak louder than ignorance
Cause we speak in silence every time our eyes meet.

On and on, and on, and on it goes
The world it just keeps spinning
Until i'm dizzy, time to breathe
So close my eyes and start again anew.

I wanna see through all the lies of society
To the reality, happiness is at stakeI wanna hold up my head with dignity
Proud of a life where to give means more than to take
I wan't to live beyond the modern mentality
Where paper is all that you're really taught to create
Do you remember the forgotten America?
Justice, equality, freedom to every race?
ust need to get past all the lies and hypocrisy
Make up and hair to the truth behind every face
That look around to all the people you see,
How many of them are happy and free?
I know it sounds like a dreamBut it's the only thing that can get me to sleep at night
I know it's hard to believe
But it's easy to see that something here isn't rightI know the future looks dark
But it's there that the kids of today must carry the light.

On and on, and on, and on it goes
The world it just keeps spinning
Until i'm dizzy, time to breathe
So close my eyes and start again anew.

If i'm afraid to catch a dream
I weave your baskets and i'll float them down the river stream
Each one i weave with words i speak to carry love to your relief.
I wanna be better than oxygen
So you can breathe when you're drowning and weak in the knees

Philip Shropshire