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The call of the open road (and what it means to be a free spirit)

By Old Grumpy Guy on January 12, 2009 at 7:30 AM in Open Thread

I haven’t uploaded any of my other “Painting with Music” videos on NQ from my Youtube channel, because I didn’t want to inundate NQ with music that had no commentary.

However, I thought that this particular video – the fifth in the series – might appeal to the more adventurous and freewheeling spirits I have discovered here on Youtube, and offer a change of pace (and a different kind of music) from my series on the Top Ten Composers.


Unlike the composer videos, this one features rock drums and a guitar solo from Martin Smith, former guitarist with the Electric Light Orchestra, mixed in with the symphonic work performed by the Polish State Philharmonic Orchesatra of Katowice, Poland.

It is intended for all those who respond to the call of the open road, with scenes of motoring and bikers on their way to Sturgis. The music is an excerpt from “The Triumph of Democracy” from The Millennium Suite.

Maybe it could stimulate a discussion about what it means to be a freewheeling spirit! One thing it doesn’t mean is to be the kind of impressionable kool-aid drinking bots we saw so much of in the recent elections, who remind me of soft cushions that bear the imprint of the last person to have sat on them.

  • Mercedes

    I like the music, but I must say I have never associated beautiful music with motorcycles. Motorcycles would be okay if people would just put a muffler on them. Whatever free spirits are, they do not annoy everyone around them for a mile radius with obnoxious noises. And you can’t really be free on a mechanical contraption that requires gasoline to propel it. Horses are better…much better for free spirits.

    Some people might think Obama’s mother was a free-spirit, but Obama himself appears to be the totally bought and paid for puppet of some coterie of power mongers. We shall see.

    • OldGrumpyGuy

      I’d still be interested to see a precise breakdown of where he got the billion dollars he spent on his campaign

  • bert

    A free spirit enjoys life to the fullest and lives as they wish to live. They do not conform to society’s or any group’s or any individual’s wishes or norms. A free spirit is true to their own beliefs and philosophies. A free spirit makes the most of their abilities and potential.

    Many people think that a free spirit is a non-conformist. But being a non-conformist is not necessarily being a free-spirit. Having a child-like wonder about the world and everything in it is a part of being a free spirit. Never growing old, being young-at-heart, is also a part of being a free spirit as well.

    I know a true free-wheeling spirit. He is my chiropractor. Oh the stories I could tell. When I had a serious back injury he saved my life. And in the process of practically living in his treatment rooms for six months I saw – and learned – how to remain young at heart and how to loosen up a bit and just enjoy life and take it as it comes.

    I would love to participate in this discussion further, but I am leaving for a work assignment in Chicago. I will be driving and will not be back until midnight or later tomorrow night. I love to drive. It generally relaxes me. I feel free. Not tied down to any place or person.

    For me, the essence of being a free spirit is being able to drive and see the beauty that is the US of A. It often takes me longer to get to some city for an assignment than the actual assignment takes. But I don’t have to sit in an office cubicle all day, but am out on the open road listening to music or talk radio taking in God’s beautiful creations.

    I have seen some of the most beautiful vistas, farm land, deserts, rivers and oceans, cities, small towns. Very early one morning I saw the aurora borealis. Another morning I saw hoar-frost in the most delicate and lacy patterns on tree branches. And there is northing like seeing a beautiful sunrise, or have the moon follow you home. One night I actually saw a red moon. And harvest moons are gorgeous.

    And somebody actually pays me a salary + mileage to listen to radio much of the day and see all of God’s beauty and do a little work, that I also love, on the side. Life doesn’t get much better than this.

  • OldGrumpyGuy

    What a wonderful response Bert. I don’t think anyone could have defined a free spirit any better. I hope you have a good trip to and from Chicago.

  • elliewyatt

    You must be some kinda hippy.

  • bert

    Thanks for the kind words OGG.

    Chicago as always was great. A little colder and a bit more snow which necessitated a second night’s stay – oh darn. NOT!!!!

    Also, I am in total agrrement with you and your response to Mercedes that we should have a full accounting of Obama’s campaign funds and who gave $$$$$ and how much from each contributor.