Young Lennon

I have to confess something: Houses is my favorite album by APL (so far).  It's almost as hard as saying that you love one grandchild more than another (though I don't have any of those yet...cough, cough.)  But, even though there are individual songs and other aspects on the other albums that I really love, there is something about this album in toto that is just very special to me.



Christmas in Bradford, PA

 And although 'Winterhouse' is probably my favorite song on Houses, running a close second is 'Young Lennon'.  Adam doesn't write many songs dealing with social issues or the pursuit of social justice, but in the midst of the expectations and political turmoil of 2008, 'Young Lennon' came to light.  As a child of the '60s, this song 'took me back' to a time when young people were in revolt against an unjust war, racism at home, and other social corruptions.  It was a heady and idealistic time, and that's what 'Young Lennon' feels like to me.

One more thing: one of the real gifts to Adam musically has been the drumming talents of Sam Huff, Adam's friend and musical collaborator.  Sam's percussion graces many of Adam's songs, and they bring a rhythmic sophistication that adds so much to the music.  If you haven't paid attention to the drumming, listen to this song and focus on it, because it is VERY good.

Lyric:

I need the faith of a principled young man with something to say
I need the love from a mother's hands to take away the pain
I need the patience off the prison walls that held Mandela in
I need the fire, the kind they say young Lennon burned in him.

I need it here right now, I need to feel it right now.

I need the guns, and the bombs of this state to throw them away
I need the cause of the simple heart to take the noise away.
I need the words that as a man a house divided cannot stand.
I need the sound, to the doubts to say we can't oh yes we can.

I need it here right now, I need to hear it right now.
I can't let the fear win out, I need to hear it right now.

I won't be split here as I'm telling it
No, don't distract me, I cannot pull out
'Cause I've got to be it, right now.