The idea of Neil young’s rocking in the free world was conceived when he and a band mate saw newspaper photos of Khomeini’s funeral where people where burning the American flag. Frank remarked, whatever we do we should not get close to M..E. Neil asks him what should we do. Frank says “keep rocking in the free world”.
The song deals with socioeconomic problems. It makes a reference to George Bush’s 1000 points of lights. ( Right wing propaganda point: Finding the solution to social problems by encouraging community organizations help to alleviate them like a thousand stars scattered across the country.) This recording is with Pearl Jam in 1993.
