How does the man who wrote “Rockin’ in the Free World” feel about the putative leader of the free world? There hasn’t been much doubt about that, as Neil Young has made headlines several times for his resistance to having his songs played at Donald Trump rallies, as they mysteriously often are. Last week, he even threatened to sue the president over the matter.
But in case there was any doubt, he’s written a hurricane-level fusillade taking Trump on. Or rewritten one, as his new “Lookin’ for a Leader 2020” is a revised version of a song he originally wrote in 2006 for his “Living With War” album, now updated with references to “building walls,” Black Lives Matter, and “hidin’ in his bunker.”
The Trump-ified version of the George W. Bush-era track originally appeared in the middle of a full “Fireside Sessions” acoustic show that Young posted on his Neil Young Archives website, but he’s now broken it out for individual viewing and listening. You can either
Young emphasizes in the lyrics that it’s not enough for Trump to be defeated — he has to be defeated in a landslide, to make the results unambiguous. “We got our election, but corruption has a chance / We got to have a big win to regain confidence,” he sings.
The rewrite happened recently enough to incorporate lyrics about Trump going underground at the White House during recent protests — a matter that came up again this week in congressional hearings with attorney general William Barr, who seemed to confirm that the president’s bunker visit was not just a routine inspection, as Trump at one point claimed. “Scared of his own shadow, building walls around our house / He’s hidin’ in his bunker, something else to lie about,” Young sings.
Last week, Young wrote, “I am changing my mind about suing President Trump. Reconsidering. I’m looking at it again. There is a long history to consider and I originally considered it, deciding not to pursue. But then President Trump ordered thugs in uniform onto our streets. His idea. He ordered it himself. This all DJT…. Trump has no respect for our military. They are now to be used on the streets of America against law-abiding citizens for a political charade orchestrated by a challenged president… These are thugs with no IDs shooting Americans on the streets. They are not our police. Our police should arrest these untrained thugs for breaking our laws.”
The full lyrics for “Lookin’ For A Leader 2020”:
Leaders walk among us
and I hope they hear our call.
Maybe it’s a woman
or a black man after all.
Lookin’ for a leader
to bring our country home,
reunite the red white and blue
before it turns to stone.
Lookin’ for somebody
With the strength to take it on;
keep us safe together
and make this country strong.
Walkin’ among our people
There’s someone to lead us on;
lead a rainbow of colors
in a broken world gone wrong.
Yeah, we had Barack Obama
and we really need him now.
The man who stood behind him
has to take his place somehow.
America has a leader
building walls around our house.
He don’t know black lives matter
and we got to vote him out.
We got our election,
but corruption has a chance
We got to have a big win
to regain confidence.
America is beautiful
but she has an ugly side.
We’re lookin’ for a leader
in this country far and wide.
Just like his big new fence,
this president’s goin’ down.
America’s movin’ forward.
You can feel it in every town.
Scared of his own shadow,
building walls around our house,
he’s hidin’ in his bunker;
something else to lie about.
We don’t need a leader
building walls around our house
who don’t know black lives matter
and it’s time to vote him out!
We’re lookin’ for a leader
with The Great Spirit on his side;
lookin’ for a leader
in this country far and wide.
Lookin’ for a leader
with The Great Spirit on his side.