Words by A. B. Chittick, music & additional words by Nate Butler.
My dear friend Chittick wrote these lyrics down (and a great many others) sometime betwixt 1981-1982 (maybe he can correct me on that date), and I later set them to music in 1988 for inclusion on my “Strawberry Autumn” album. The lyrics are brimming with a youthful idealism that might sound naïve now, but that's why I like them still. We gotta keep hoping we can change our world – even if it's only in little teeny ways every day, eh?
Nate Note: This track really works because of Ron's superb pocket groove – his drumming takes an ordinary track and makes it more exciting. Also, he'll be the first one to tell ya he really didn't know the song when he played it; he heard me play and sing it once at the piano, then we talked about what I wanted to hear from the drums, we semi-rehearsed it a time or two, then we rolled tape and he got it on like the second or third take, time/mood changes and all. (I'm quite confident that five minutes later he couldn't have told you how the song went, it was that fresh.) Ron just went with the feel of what I was doing, and it totally worked, because he's a natural. Kudos, Ron E.
lyrics
REBEL WITH A CAUSE – words by Andrew B. Chittick, music & additional words by Nate Butler
People used to speak out if things looked wrong
'Cause it had something to do with them – those days are gone
I know all about Vietnam, and on
And it had something to do with me – those days are gone
Summer of '69 I turned four
But it had something to do with me – and here comes more
I will be nineteen in nineteen eighty-four
And it's got something to do with me – we've been this way before
With a song in my heart, and an eagerness to start
I'm an ordinary man, oh-oh
But I've gotta do what I can, you know
With a song on my lips, and the world at my fingertips
Got an ordinary life, oh-oh
But I cannot sit idly by, you know
'Cause it's got something to do with me, and I won't outlast it
Got an ordinary chance, oh-oh
I'm just a victim of circumstance, no-no
With a song in the world, and grace in the eyes of a child
Ordinary, you can see
But please try for posterity, you know,
When it's got something to do with me
To feather out on my owl
Say goodbyes and shake hands for hours
Brush off more dust ...
And it's got something to do with me, you know: [repeat]
Take a look at the truth, it shows
We're run by business suits, uh-oh
Rich men in cowboy boots, no no
Down on the destitute, so low
Pick on the prostitutes, whoah whoah
Nix on the nuts and fruits, they go
And commies are in cahoots, oh no
Try to suppress the truth, no no
Something to do with me, and something to do with you
Something to do with you
I don't mind ...
It's been a long time coming, and a long time getting underway
credits
from Strawberry Pumpkin Apocrypha (1988-89),
released August 2, 2014
NB: lead vocal, piano, acoustic guitar, bass
Mark Ribera: saxophone, backing vocal
Sean Mahoney: backing vocal
Ronnie E. Woods: drums kit
Produced & engineered by Nate Butler on Yamaha 4-track cassette, December 1988
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