The title of last week’s post referred to the Arab Spring which has brought freedom (or at least its possibility) to millions of people throughout the Arab world. Last week I also received a large stack of memos that my uncle the spy wrote during the siege of the Dominican Embassy in Bogota in 1980, thanks to the Freedom Of Information Act. Perhaps the newly-liberated Arab countries can enact a similar law to bring some transparency to their new governments. I’ve been thinking about freedom lately and  I decided to devote this week’s post to the idea.

The Amboy Dukes “I Feel Free” (Cream)
For the most part this song doesn’t stray very far from the original, but that guitar solo is pure Ted.

Lea Roberts “All Right Now” (Free)
I always assumed that the band Free intended their name to mean “free” as in freedom, not “free” as in beer. If I ever run into Paul Rodgers I’ll have to ask him about that.

Lea Roberts really brings the funk on this one.

Queen Mariachillout “I Want To Break Free” (Queen)
Yeah, it’s another Queen song. When I was in high school they were one of my favorite bands, which led to no small amount of grief from my classmates. Funny how after Freddy Mercury died all these popular musicians came out of the closet as Queen fans. Anyway, I just can’t stop laughing at this accordion-fueled Mexican polka take on Queen.

Porter Block “Breaking Free” (From High School Musical)
This comes from the very excellent Guilt By Association compilation album, which featured “alternative” artists covering their favorite guilty-pleasure songs. Somehow this version seems to carry much more emotional weight than the original.

Doveman “I’m Free (Heaven Helps The Man)” (Kenny Loggins)
Doveman (at least in this case) is Thomas Bartlett. For some reason he decided to cover the entire soundtrack album from the movie Footloose. Most of the covers on the album are rather slow and meditative, bringing a whole new meaning to the lyrics.