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Ridiculed, even attacked, because of hair. 1966 revisited.
This is me with my band “Stone Fox” in the 1960’s
This week’s prompt, “Hair” is extremely well timed. On my 60th birthday, my wife and son successfully orchestrated a surprise party for me. As part of the surprise, they dug up a lot of stuff from my many years in DooWop, R&B, and Rock bands.
One of the things they dug up was a small handful of surviving lyrics I’d written back in the 60’s; among them, these lyrics I’m including as part of my July 15th response, to the Sunday Scribblings’ prompt. They also dug up a few old photos (see one above).
These were written when I was still in high school. They are rock lyrics, and not terribly polished, but they are earnest. These words came from the bottom of my heart, at the time.
What’s important to realize is, in the Midwest United States, there were very few long-haired bands. We were called freaks and hippies — taunted, accosted, sometimes even beaten for our hair. Our hair was a very powerful and dangerous statement for us to make at the time. It threatened conservative America.
There were a great many places our band would play were we did not dare walk the streets, unless as a group, including with our roadies — a couple of pretty tough dudes. I also played football, so I was reasonably able in a fight, but we still adhered to “safety in numbers”.
We were expressing our right to be free, and we were expressing our opposition to the war in Viet Nam, and the general intolerance and prejudice that was prevalent in those times. Our hair was not only us speaking out as free individuals, it was also a political and social statement.
Those were very “strange days”! Our hair made us targets for considerable verbal and physical abuse, but we were committed to our statement of freedom.
Anyway, following here is a photo of me from the 60’s, which I attempted to restore digitally. The hair is tame by later day standards, but in the mid 1960’s, in Middle America, I was threateningly radical.
Below are the lyrics to “Flowin’ Free” which I penned at age 18. They are not here because they are great verse, they’re rather shallow and naive. Rather, they are here for their nostalgic interest, and their relevance to the Sunday Scribblings’ prompt for today.
(lyrics by: Rob Kistner)
My hair — I grow and grow it
Though the fearful tell me stow it
But instead, I’m proud to show it
I’m young and free, and you should know it
Frightened anger, I rise above it
Aren’t you getting tired of it
Despite your taunts, I’ll never shove it
Becsuse my hair, I really love it
______________________
(chorus:)
My hair means freedom
To you it’s strange
My hair’s my anthem
It sings out change
______________________
You’re screamin’ at me cut it
Instead I’m gonna strut it
Your hateful mouth, why don’t you shut it
Cause my hair — I’ll never cut it
______________________
(chorus:)
My hair means freedom
To you it’s strange
My hair’s my anthem
It sings out change
______________________
My long hair is flowin’ free
I’m being all that I can be
But when you look, you don’t see me
You see some kind of enemy
It’s time you understand
We all must lend a hand
Join with our peaceful long-hair band
And we’ll build a better land
______________________
(chorus:)
It’s time for freedom
That’s not so strange
Let’s raise our voices
And sing out change
______________________
So everybody grow your hair
I want to see it everywhere
Time to be brave if you dare
Show your fellow man you care
______________________
(chorus:)
It’s time for freedom
That’s not so strange
Let’s raise our voices
And sing out change
(refrain:)
It’s time for freedom
That’s not so strange
Let’s join our voices
And there’ll be change
______________________
rob kistner © 1966
this is amazing
how times have changed
would love to ‘hear’ the song
Rob, that photo is so cool!
I like the chorus!
Kathryn –
Thanks! It is unbelievable how quick the hands tick by — I can remember well the day that photo, which I have posted, was taken… and where.
We never made “Flowin’ Free” into a record. The only tapes of that song, that might have ever existed, would have been rehearsal tapes — and they are long gone… like my hair is these days… 😉
Gautami –
Yes, that was once me… 😉
6’2″, 195 lbs., 32″ waist, 34″ inseam, 40″ chest… and a head full of thick auburn hair — that was a long time ago!
The chorus is OK — a bit idealistic… but I was 19 and fully believed I was going to help change the world — for the better!
Wow … memories – a nostalgic post…..
yeah, that hair is now tame…
nice “song”
Hooray for you for standing up for your beliefs, in life and in song!
Liza –
Thank you, pleased you enjoyed this!
One era’s outrageous is a later era’s ordinary… 😉
Tara –
Thank you my friend!
Storm the walls — tear down the impediments… power to the people! That was four decades ago — and it felt so urgent then, and I, so vital! Oh how we mellow with age — like fine wine… 😉
Happy Birthday Rob! Love the words, peace man!
That’s not such bad lyrics. what a nice memory. Thanks for sharing!
Rob, I’ll join your “peaceful, hairy band”! Good for you to stand up for your locks and spread the good word.
I agree with that about hair, it is good to show freedom and style with long hair for both men and women
Redness –
Thank you, for the belated birthday wish, and your kind words!
Peace to you too… 😉
Lissa –
You are kind, and you’re welcome!
However, my writing scope was a bit limited 41 years ago… 😉
Matthew –
Great dude… welcome!
That was long ago — and when you’re only 19, you have the bravery of youth to propel you… 😉
Happy belated birthday. Awesome post! Those must have been some very heady times.
Arboleda –
Hair is our physical expression of our style and freedom!
Herb –
Thanks man — for the wishes and the compliment!
“HEADY times” 😉 …yes, most definitely — in so very many ways!
And they were more dangerous than we realized. To borrow from some street slang; we were too young, dumb, and full of… peace & love — to comprehend the risks we took, just looking like we did …but I loved every minute!!
Happy Birthday! I’ve heard stories of how hair in the 60’s was making a statement but I didn’t realize how political it really was! Thanks for sharing!
Rob, I think I knew you back then?? You look awfully familiar. YOur eyes show your creativity and your gentle soul. Did your band actually tour, maybe you played NY? I love looking back on those long gone years, How did we get here so quickly Rob? Happy belated 60th! You still look as Groovy as you did in the sensational 60’s
ooh, also… Love the new design of your blog! 🙂
Rob,
You did and do make a difference.
When you were wearin’ your hair long
I was in Nam fightin’ Viet Cong.
I thought I was right and you were wrong.
But time and age gave me a different song.
I realized that you were right all along.
Now in our dotage we sit and write.
East coast I, and you out west.
Reflecting with words acute and trite,
to bring some insight to all the rest.
And the hair? What’s left is white. 😉
Ideals….It’s what makes the world go ’round.
rel
Being a child of the sixties, I was happy when my sons went for long hair for a time in high school. I’ve had the song from HAIR in my head all day and the one that David Crosby sang…almost cut it! I’m thinking about Sampson and the Red Sox. I think they won the World Series that year because they all had long hair.
Jennifer –
You are welcome! 😉
It wasn’t just the hair, in the case of my band, that made us political — it was the lyrics of many of the songs. We purposely mixed a lot of political statement into our sets.
Lucy –
Thank you for your very kind words! 😉
Yes, we toured all over. I had different iterations of my band. I played in New York state from time to time with a couple of them — NYC, Syracuse, and Buffalo, to name a few cities.
Yeah… how the hell have the years “got behind us” so quickly. I’m still 30 in my mind!
Glad you like the new blog design… I’m about to modify it again… never satisfied.
Rel –
I hear everything you felt and experienced in the words of the wonderful verse you’ve offered as your comment… very real and very cool! I love it man! I love you for going, and I’m glad you came back… 😉
I was actually in Army ROTC for two years while in college. I would have gone to Nam as a ‘2nd Looey’, had the lottery not spared me — just prior to my having to sign for full time active duty. My life expectancy would have been questionable had I gone ‘in country’ with that rank.
Of my close group of 11 male high school friends: 9 went to Nam, 4 were killed, and my best friend George never came home mentally — he’s is still a shell of a person. It is hard for me, even today, to spend extended time with him without wanting to scream.
Not because I don’t love him, but because it makes me so fucking angry what happened to him, and how inadequately our government took care of him — after he’d given his all in the sad affair.
I had Viet Nam vets in later iterations of my band. It was not a right or wrong thing for me — it was frustration over what was happening to my friends, ‘in country’ and here at home. I was a righteously angry young man — and I spoke my heart and mind.
Colleen –
Loved your comment here… thank you! 😉
“Almost cut my hair,
Happened just the other day
It’s gettin’ kind of long
I could’ve said it was in my way
But I didn’t and I wonder why
I feel like letting my freak flag fly
And I feel like I owe it … to someone”
That’s the way I felt, like I needed to be a daily ‘statement of freedom’… like I owed it to my high school and college buddies who were getting manipulated, maimed, mentally mauled, and murdered in Nam… all the people being pushed and kicked around back then by the system — and by their small-minded fellow humans.
I may be bald, but in my soul, my mane is still — flowin’ free…
What a blast from the past; it really brought back some memories. Very cool picture. This one was such fun. Thanks!
Rob,
Thank you for sharing! What a cool glimpse into a teenage mind in a different time and location… Awesome that you’ve still got some of those things (like the photo and lyrics) to reflect on.
Keep on rockin’ (or at least writin’ 😉
~Saoirse
Annie –
Thank you for your enthusiasm!
…and you are most welcome… 😉
Saoirse –
You are welcome, and thank you for the kind words!
I’ll never stop writing, and I still rock — on the deck overlooking the little trout stream here in our valley… 😉
I love this post and I see your passion at 19 still shines brightly at 60. Thanks for sharing your early writings. You looked very clean cut for my day. lol
I love old photos – great shot of you. I couldn’t help but think that the lyrics would work well in today’s time as a rap song…maybe because of all the rhyming. Great post!
I can’t decide if you are Yanni or one of Three Dog Night. Wow, how do you get so many people to read your blog? I generally top out at five.
I was in California in 66 and hippies were considered a “clique”…smokers, churchies, “jackies” and hippies. I was 11, and beginning to question my parents standards. After the third night of my Dad picking on my older sister for her long haired boyfriend, my mother layed pictures of Dad in a DA and grandpa in a Zoot suit on the dinner table. Stopped all that nonsense.
Tammy –
Thank you… you are very generous!
I enjoyed digging this stuff up, and you’re most welcome. 😉
It is fascinating how people’s acceptance of things evolves with time — people actually used to call me scruffy, and a dirty hippie back then. …go figure?
Michelle –
Thank you!
I had a difficult time getting that photo digitally restored. It is 35mm and I have lost the negatives over the four decades. The remaining photo was water warped, and so badly faded that you could barely make out the right side of my face (when facing photo).
I used my old 3.5 megapixel Nikon CoolPix digital camera, and simply shot the photo. Then took it in to Photoshop for a whole bunch of manipulation. It was tough, but fun. Came out OK.
I’m not convinced those 41-year-old lyrics would hold up today — but you are kind for suggesting they might. Looking back after four decades of writing, I see all the edits required to make it decent verse. Everything is clearer in retrospect… 😉
MBW –
You flatter me sir!
If I could choose, I’d be thrilled to be part of TDN… 😉
I don’t know why people are so kind to visit — but I am very pleased. I do always try to thank everyone who leaves a comment here on my blog, and do my best to visit and support the folks who post at PT and SS.
Kat –
Thank you for visiting and sharing your story!
Don’t we all have our skeletons in the closet. If you don’t want people digging for yours, you best not be rattling their bones… 😉
Hope Ecanus is well. Now that the SLWC’s competitive hunger has been satisfied — I hope we really do get down to the positive energy of creating a cooperative ‘serial’ story.
Maybe it is because my blog addresses such deep topics as nose hair, falling on your ass, and Hooters hot wings that cause readers to give it a pass. No social significance can be found there. LOL
MBW –
I don’t know about that — I think there might be some social significance in nose hair, Hooters, and asses… it’s all a matter of perspective… 😉
Stay cool Mr. Whale!
Hi Rob
Thanks for this post! I’ve always been very conscious that the things I take for granted were once fought for by others.
My husband was 18 when I met him and for a long time had long, glossy brown hair that he wore in a ponytail that finished half-way down his back. How I envied his thick, straight mane, so different to my thin, unruly wavy blond locks!
I guess we went on to fight for different things, although in some ways the important issues are all still the same.
Pip –
You are most welcome!
Thank you for visiting here and sharing your thoughts.
We all stand on the shoulders of those who came before us — just as others will stand on yours.
The inherent freedom and dignity of every human, I believe, is inalienably. That can be a very difficult principle to embrace at times, given the vast differences of perspective we can encounter in this world — but challenging as it might prove to support and uphold, it is true… and it is essential we protect that truth, or we forfeit our humanity.
I had expected somethign indeed more extravagant on the hair side (maybe even flowers in them) but seing where you’re coming from, the hairdo was probably enough to be provocative.ùi can’t fathom people getting violent because of hair, but in a way they still do, in certain countries.
The song, in retrospect, is sweet and shows a man of opinions. I think you were already very much there, in those words, already.
Happy belated birthday. I love the photo and the verses–there is something about hair representing freedom that made it even more painful to see it collecting in the shower drain!
I often wonder why long hair on men is seen as so threatening. Thanks for sharing your photo and lyrics.
What an inspired post — I especially love the “peaceful, hairy band!” Great photo too…
Nathalie –
Thank you for visiting again, and sharing your thoughts. 😉
As we stand in the climate of today’s world, it seems absurd that anyone could get upset, much less violent, over hair. That was a key reason I created this post — to show how ridiculous people’s ‘fear’ of hair, and what it represented, was just four decades ago.
To grasp the message of this post, you have to think in context.
If you have ever seen the movie Easy Rider, you get a glimpse of how rural America reacted to “long hairs” — in the movie they were killed.
My photo, showing my hair, was taken over three years before Easy Rider was released as a movie. When my band mates and I were touring, as a group, though ‘common-man’ middle America — we were constantly hassled, and sometimes, violently. It’s important to know that my keyboard and bass players hair was even longer than mine.
While there may have been improvement with regard to tolerance in rural America, there is still way too much prejudice for what one would hope for in a ‘healthy’ society. And now we have the very repressive ‘fundamentalist’ right-wing on the rise — as improbable as that is in what, one would hope, would be by now, and ‘enlightened’ populace.
Your kind reaction to the lyrics of this 42-year-old song as ‘sweet’, is also a study in contrast. In today’s world, the words are simple and harmless — but when we sang them from rural American stages in the mid 60’s, they were frequently greeted by very angry boo’s and threats from the macho, good-old-boys in the audience. We’d often get aggressively accosted when we came off stage.
It was not unusual that we’d get set upon by a group of these drunken rednecks, as we were packing up our equipment vans after the ‘gig’. A vigorous fist fight was unavoidable a times.
Perhaps this is difficult to comprehend, but it’s all a matter of context and perspective. And be aware — significant and growing segments of our world are, day by day, leaning back toward a ‘dark ages’ mentality… in spite of what appears, on the surface, to be an advancing global civilization.
So here’s my positive, uplifting message — let’s not let intolerant, closed-minded, repressive thinking gain anymore foothold. Let’s shine the light of tolerance, open-mindedness, and education on the planet — so we will someday have an enlightened world, and also a healthy planet for the future generations.
Sage –
Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed this post.
Remember my friend, ‘hair’ is a state of mind… and bald is beautiful! 😉
Juliet –
Thank you for visiting, and for your kind words! 😉
While certainly more moderate today than when I was growing up, many people are still threatened by statements of individualism, of ‘freedom’ — hair, tattoos, piercings, cloths, and the like.
I think, because they don’t fully understand what is ‘means’, how it might affect their personal status quo… they then fear it, and sometimes strike out at this fear.
I personally don’t want to be tattooed or pierced — but I understand that these things are personal expressions, just as I made my personal expressions in my younger days with hair, my clothing, my lifestyle, and my music.
We don’t want a world full of ‘sheep’, not really. We need free thinkers if we are to advance as a society — individuals who ask “why not”. That said, we also need people who are responsibly focused at elevating our world — not manipulating and repressing it. This is always a precarious balance.
Betty C –
You are most kind… thank you very much! 😉