Followers of our blog will know that we love fantastic lyricism, especially when the lyrics carry political and social messages. Furthermore, with the likes of folk-punk Levellers being our own heroes, any music that follows a similar vein will land well within our music tastes, as such this song (and music video) by Gasoline Lollipops has quickly become one of our all-time favourite releases due to it’s energy, superb lyrics, and overall sentiment that really hits home. We felt compelled to repeat-listen to the song and transcribe the lyrics ourselves to really emphasis how brilliant this song is and we’re excited to hear more from the band.

We love the video and the sense of community that the group demonstrate by involving a multitude of people delivering the lyrics in time to the song. The feeling of the song is then amplified, especially during the choruses, and results in a song that is both musically catchy whilst also delivering an important message about social and political injustice. An utterly superb song and video that will be popular with punks all over the world and especially with fans of the Levellers, The Wonder Stuff, Ferocious Dog, Frank Turner, Will Varley, David Ramirez, Gaz Brookfield, Funke and the Two Tone Baby.

Gasoline Lollipops: Facebook | Instagram | Spotify | Website

“Freedom Don’t Come Easy” by Gasoline Lollipops
I was raised to have respect, for every colour and creed.
And I was taught that everyone should at least get what they need.
And if that meant that 1% had to cap their greed,
That was good enough for my daddy and that’s good enough for me.

So here’s to Woody Guthrie singing ‘this land was made for you and me’,
Here’s to old Woody Guthrie’s fascist-killing machine.
Here’s to outlaws with a righteous cause fighting for the right to breathe.
If you’re kneeling on my brother’s neck, brother you kneel on me.

Ooooh, freedom don’t come easy, and fear it always comes down hard.
Like a screaming silver bullet, or a bully on a school yard.
The freedom that we’re standing for will be for everyone,
Who’ll fight the fight for human rights and win without a gun.

I was taught that fascists and the Nazis were all gone,
But now I know that some things that I was taught were just plain wrong.
All they did was change their clothes, their country, and their song,
I’ll be damned if I’m gonna to stand hat in hand and sing along.

Fuck that noise, fuck the proud boys, fuck the KKK.
Fuck Donald Trump, fuck Fox News, and fuck the NRA.
And fuck all the Christians standing by condoning what they do.
‘Cos let’s be clear, if Christ were here, he’d say fuck them too.

So here’s to douchebags, confederate flags, charging on capitol hill.
Here’s to traffic stops and racist cops armed with the right to kill.
Here’s to all these things, the political games, toying with the peoples’ voice.
If we stand up proud and speak out loud someday we’ll have a choice.

Ooooh, freedom don’t come easy, and fear it always comes down hard.
Like a screaming silver bullet tearing through a school yard.
But the freedom that we’re standing for will be for everyone,
Who’ll fight the fight for human rights and win without a gun.

I was raised to fear desire, I was raised to fear the man,
I was raised to fear myself if anger ever raised my hand.
But I was taught to love my neighbour just as fiercely as I can,
And I hope to raise my children to rise up and take a stand.

So here’s to shitstorms, and broken norms, paranoia and greed.
Raining down upon the ground to fertilise our seeds.
Here’s to high hopes and counting votes, giving us room to breath.
If you’re kneeling on my brother’s neck, brother you kneel on me.

Ooooh, freedom don’t come easy, and fear it always comes down hard.
Like a thousand screaming bullets tearing through a school yard.
The freedom that we’re standing for will be for everyone,
Who will fight the fight for human rights and win without a gun.
So let’s fight the fight for human rights and win without a gun.

Note: we self-transcribed these lyrics which, we hope, are close in accuracy to the song’s true lyrics.