———————<~>——————-
Ridiculed, even attacked, because of hair. 1966 revisited.
This is me with my band “Stone Fox” in the 1960’s
This week’s prompt, “Hair” is extremely well timed. On my 60th birthday, my wife and son successfully orchestrated a surprise party for me. As part of the surprise, they dug up a lot of stuff from my many years in DooWop, R&B, and Rock bands.
One of the things they dug up was a small handful of surviving lyrics I’d written back in the 60’s; among them, these lyrics I’m including as part of my July 15th response, to the Sunday Scribblings’ prompt. They also dug up a few old photos (see one above).
These were written when I was still in high school. They are rock lyrics, and not terribly polished, but they are earnest. These words came from the bottom of my heart, at the time.
What’s important to realize is, in the Midwest United States, there were very few long-haired bands. We were called freaks and hippies — taunted, accosted, sometimes even beaten for our hair. Our hair was a very powerful and dangerous statement for us to make at the time. It threatened conservative America.
There were a great many places our band would play were we did not dare walk the streets, unless as a group, including with our roadies — a couple of pretty tough dudes. I also played football, so I was reasonably able in a fight, but we still adhered to “safety in numbers”.
We were expressing our right to be free, and we were expressing our opposition to the war in Viet Nam, and the general intolerance and prejudice that was prevalent in those times. Our hair was not only us speaking out as free individuals, it was also a political and social statement.
Those were very “strange days”! Our hair made us targets for considerable verbal and physical abuse, but we were committed to our statement of freedom.
Anyway, following here is a photo of me from the 60’s, which I attempted to restore digitally. The hair is tame by later day standards, but in the mid 1960’s, in Middle America, I was threateningly radical.
Below are the lyrics to “Flowin’ Free” which I penned at age 18. They are not here because they are great verse, they’re rather shallow and naive. Rather, they are here for their nostalgic interest, and their relevance to the Sunday Scribblings’ prompt for today.
(lyrics by: Rob Kistner)
My hair — I grow and grow it
Though the fearful tell me stow it
But instead, I’m proud to show it
I’m young and free, and you should know it
Frightened anger, I rise above it
Aren’t you getting tired of it
Despite your taunts, I’ll never shove it
Becsuse my hair, I really love it
______________________
(chorus:)
My hair means freedom
To you it’s strange
My hair’s my anthem
It sings out change
______________________
You’re screamin’ at me cut it
Instead I’m gonna strut it
Your hateful mouth, why don’t you shut it
Cause my hair — I’ll never cut it
______________________
(chorus:)
My hair means freedom
To you it’s strange
My hair’s my anthem
It sings out change
______________________
My long hair is flowin’ free
I’m being all that I can be
But when you look, you don’t see me
You see some kind of enemy
It’s time you understand
We all must lend a hand
Join with our peaceful long-hair band
And we’ll build a better land
______________________
(chorus:)
It’s time for freedom
That’s not so strange
Let’s raise our voices
And sing out change
______________________
So everybody grow your hair
I want to see it everywhere
Time to be brave if you dare
Show your fellow man you care
______________________
(chorus:)
It’s time for freedom
That’s not so strange
Let’s raise our voices
And sing out change
(refrain:)
It’s time for freedom
That’s not so strange
Let’s join our voices
And there’ll be change
______________________
rob kistner © 1966
I really enjoyed reading this post. It brought back quite a few memories for me. I was pretty young when the ‘Hair, the Musical’ came out and I remember the fights I had with my parents who would not let me go see it.
Hi from the other Portland,
Happy Birthday!!!
It is great that your hair played such a significance in your history. Thank you for sharing and excellent song!
Happy birthday, Rob. Your photo and song brings to mind my eldest brother. A bit younger than you, he hit his long hair stride in 1972, when he was 15. He was also learning to play the guitar. I seem to recall in my mind lyrics of a similar nature spilling out of him. (Much to the disdain of my father, an Air Force colonel.)
When I was writing my own response to today’s prompt, I temporarily forgot that my segment of society (blacks) isn’t the only one that has made statements via hair. Thanks for reminding me.
Sandie –
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it! 😉
‘Hair’ was incredibly controversial in its day. Today, it seems tame — but such is the ebb and flow of time.
Tori –
You are welcome!
Hair was a big deal in the tumultuous years of my youth — the result of the Beatles and the San Francisco scene. You almost had to take a stand on one side or the other.
Patois –
Thanks for stopping by! 😉
I am a decade older than your brother, but I had even longer hair by 1972 — and was till deeply into making music, and social comment.
In 1972, I was dating the youngest daughter of a retired Navy Vice Admiral.  I was Army… but ROTC only in college, never went ‘in country’ on active.
I enjoyed reading the lyrics to your song. Great post!
It’s strange to read the memories of a real person who lived in the world I can only see on videos and read about in books. The memories of my relatives who all lived in the Soviet Union in the 60s, are drastically different.
Dani –
For many years, my long hair was a strong statement regarding my political and my social beliefs.
From 1972 to 1974 my bass player was black with an impressively massive afro. Darce was his name, and he kicked ass on bass. I always though his hair was so damned cool…
At that point my auburn locks were long and curly — reaching down to my shoulder blades. My keyboard player had blond straight hair to his waist.
We were a bad ass lookin’ band, and we didn’t play and sing half bad either. 😉
Tracy –
Thank you, I am glad you enjoyed… 😉
Anna –
Thank you for visiting my blog!
It’s strange and wonderful getting a comment on my blog from someone whose relatives lived in the Soviet Union in the 1960’s… 😉 …the internet is really quite a miracle of communication!
And wouldn’t it be fantastic if all the peoples of the world could someday enjoy a free exchange of ideas — without the barriers and constraints of warring ideologies and repressive governing bodies.
Rob I still love long hair and what it signifies. Then, rebellion against establishment, now the artist within! The young lyrics were so appropriate for the times and how many of us felt. I can see where you’d have so much sympathy for the soldiers of today fighting such a fruitless war. Happy belated birthday! I’d like to think we’re a lot cooler than the naive parents of yesterday! What a big kafuffle back then over something as superficial as hair! How stupid could they be? I almost played the theme song from hair on my blog. So much could be said about hair and the significance of it! Great post!
Peace Sherrie
Sherrie –
Thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts… your kind words!
Yes, it’s amazing to me how much Iraq is beginning to resemble Viet Nam. Seems we never learn…
Would have loved to have heard the Hair soundtrack when I visited your blog… 😉
Rob – farout photo and song.
I agree with Sherrie it would be cool to hear that song when I visit your blog.
Thanks for coming to visit my hair memories.
Wishing you Peace, Love & Many Groovy Birthdays To Come,
Frances
Rob,
Once again, you wow me. I think I’m becoming a groupie! 🙂
You shouldn’t “wave off” this song because of your age or your naiveté. That is what makes it so perfect. The young and idealistic were the root of all the 60’s were. You guys were a catalyst for change, and succeeded. I think it actually takes a young heart and mind to make the changes that need to happen. Partly because we (most of us) mellow with age and are much more likely to let things slide by. My family used to say I was born for the wrong decade. I should have been a 60’s child. I was passionate and driven for change. Now? Not if I have to go stand outside in the heat. 🙂
I think if we look hard enough, we can see similarities with each decade of young people, and how they choose to “stick it to the man”. Mohawks, bald heads, afro’s, flat tops, dreads, bright bold colors, spikes… You name it. Hair is easy to make a statement with. It speaks for you before the words come out of your mouth.
Sorry to ramble on your comment section… 🙂
Great Post, and happy late 60th!
Frances –
Thank you!
I have no copies of the song recorded, but I wish I did.
I lost a lot of my old lyric books and reel to reel recordings in a very ugly divorce many years ago. That was a lot of creative energy — lost to bitterness… sad. 🙁
Thank you for the belated birthday wishes… I hope I have many more as well. Gentle peace & enriching love to you… 😉
Megan –
Thank you, wow… your enthusiasm humbles me!
It’s been many years since I’ve had any groupies… but fond sweet memories still linger… 😉
I wasn’t negating the sincerity of “Flowin’ Free”, or its impact in its time — it is just obviously written by a very young Rob. I guess I’ve seen enough in my life that I’ve lost a bit of my idealistic edge… though not all.
I know I can write ‘better’ today, but maybe not as ‘genuine’, or as full of hope — no, not hope, belief… full of ‘belief’ that things can be better. Maybe I’m embarrassed to admit I’ve lost some of my passion, and that song reminds me of that fact.
We did have the passion and vitality to stand strong and proud for what we believed. The 60’s were intoxicating years, in so many ways — including spiritually, and I am not referring to religion, but rather… pure spirituality — truly connected to my fellow human beings, and to the earth.
I see the statements of individuality in my children and their friends. I never did, nor will I ever judge or discourage it. In fact, I used to encourage them to use their personal statements to try to make a difference in the world.
There are some of the young who have become despaired and pessimistic — they’ve lost faith they can make a difference… that saddens me. 🙁
However, I am so very moved and encouraged to see the young getting caught up in the movement to save this planet — talk about somethings that’s powerful and necessary… so damned important!
Well, thanks again for stopping by Megan. Please visit again! 😉
This is a great piece of writing – it’s so true that hair made a statement – and I guess it still does – for example the EMOs and their floppy, jet-black fringes hiding one eye. The more things change, the more things stay the same. I wonder when powdered wigs will come back in?!
That took me back and yet this chorus could be today:
It’s time for freedom
That’s not so strange
Let’s join our voices
And there’ll be change
Thanks.
Chief Biscuit –
Thank you!
So true about the wheel of life, the ‘Great Mandala’, turning through generation after generation — we can only hope it’s rising in its rotations to a higher plane for humankind.
Last time I cast an eye toward London, it seemed powdered wigs never left… 😉
Jone –
Glad you were transported… 😉
Sadly, the chorus is still relevant. Hopefully someday we humans will uplift our lot above these words!
growing up in the midwest I know exactly what you are talking about.
and what a delightful gift from your wife and children!
i love this! it’s so interesting. i knew a little about how long haired “hippies” were ridiculed, but this really puts it in perspective. it was violent. your hair really was your anthem. i love the line: join with our peaceful, hairy band.
this post is really cool. thanks for sharing!
Ascender –
Thank you for visiting and leaving your comment!
I have many fond memories of my middle America days… but the prejudice and closed minds are not among them.
My family and friends not only made my 60th B’day a complete surprise, they made it one of the most wonderful moments in my recent life… 😉
Tricia –
Thank you, I’m pleased you enjoyed it.
In the mid 60’s there was little tolerance in middle America for us long-hairs. You would encounter a little less backlash in the big cities of the coasts — San Francisco, LA, NYC, but even there, in the worng places, if you were alone, you’d still get accosted.
Looking at my hair in my picture; in today’s world, my hair would hardly raise an eyebrow — but we paid a frustrating price to open people’s minds to the degree of tolerance there is today. The world has a ways to go still with regard to tolerance — we’re far from an enlightened planet!
Again, I’m glad you liked this post — I was pleased to share it… 😉
That song is hilarious. Thank you Rob.
Alex –
You’re welcome!
When compared to today’s lyrics, “Flowin’ Free” was certainly ‘protest-lite’… 😉 …but when confronting the small-mindedness that was so overwhelmingly prevalent in Middle America in 1966 — it was provocative stuff… enough to stir anger and invite conflict! Things were very very different then.
Happy belated birthday, Rob.
Fascinating insight into those times. I read with great interest.
They were fascinating and polarizing times Rajani.
I remember how freaked out the older generation was over long hair back then. In the small town I lived in , we were still in the 50’s during the 60’s, and when the first hippies arrived in City Park, they were run out of town by the City Fathers. How times have changed. Smiles.
Times have changed Sherry, but prejudices of one type or another, still sadly exist.
Great post Rob, the lyric catches the mood of the time. I remember arriving from Ireland in the summer of 1970 and looking for work in hotels along the New Jersy boardwalk and being asked was I a communist (because of my hair)….JIM
In retrospect, it seems hard to believe doesn’t it James, but it was true — and was often a cause of heated confrontation.
Nostalgia seems to be in the air today. I wrote about an experience I had in the early 70s for Earthweal today. It is incredible to remember how irate people got over the length of a boy’s hair back in the 60s. Over here in Australia boys were expelled from school if their hair was over their collar! I enjoyed your poem. It’s good to remember how passionate we were about the freedom to express ourselves back then.
For some of us, as your accurately recalling Suzanne, it was the fire in our gut back then.
I’m fascinated that long hair was seen as such a threat to the fabric of society! And I rather like your teenage song 🙂
Oh man Ingrid, long hair in the midwest of America was a flashpoint of serious conflict in the mid 1960’s. Thank you, I’m pleased you liked my little song. It was controversial and considered contentious when I originally wrote it.
Longer hair for young men seems to be very much in vogue among my children’s friends. My eldest’s hair is long too.
What goes around eventually comes around, but in my days in the 60s long hair was controversy with best confrontational too often, but I didn’t care I was proud of my hair.
As a relic of the 60”s, I love long hair on men–as it was then, simply the way it grew and not dreaded-up or twisted into man-buns (to each his own tho.) That sort of return to the natural way people look seems totally gone now and I miss it. I know how much of a statement, a red flag it was, how it was as much a political stance as a matter of personal taste. Your lyrics reflect the times well.
… Those lyrics reflect my 17 year old angst, but for us it was a pride rebellion and dissatisfaction.
Beautiful YOU .. every single aspect. The history you share is fascinating, REAL. My sons kept their hair long in the Midwest 70s, I loved it. Their dad shipped off to DaNang in 1967, we were caught in a conundrum for sure, deep down hating the war. He returned Stateside a year later, never truly the same man who had shipped out. Also, love your young man, as only he could dream them, lyrics. Thanks for this post.
You are most welcome Helen, the 60s were a polarizing time. I was in college, a second lieutenant in the ROTC unit, and right before I was going to have to enlist to go over after my training, the lottery came up and my number was in the mid 200s, so I never had to go in country. I lost friends in the Vietnam war, some killed some emotionally destroyed. It was a brutal thing, and that was clearly one of my reasons for keeping my hair long. I also thought we looked cool as a band with all of our long hair my friend, LOL. Mine was naturally curly, big curls, not tight curls. I used to work sometimes to make it straighter, but I liked my big curly mane. 🙂
“I’m being all that I can be
But when you look, you don’t see me
You see some kind of enemy”
These lines continue to be true for very many of us!
So much misunderstanding in the world Kim, made worse by the abuse, often complete disregard, for truth — and the cruel dehumanization of those different from us.
I remember those times very well – not much different in Australia. I was very much involved in anti-Vietnam War protests. Andd oh yes, long hair on young men was indeed a symbol of freedom, rebellion, change … as well as being beautiful to see!
Your lyrics may be a bit raw, but no mistaking the heartfelt mood of them, and they get the message across, as well as being quite catchy.
Thank you Rosemary. I lost my true heart in true 1960’s peace and love hippiedom. It doesn’t exist anymore in this dark dangerous world — but I remember Camelot. I lived there, it was not perfect, but that is the thing — it truly wanted and was trying to be, to tight the world, bring peace understanding and love among all people. But too naive, and was crushed by the baser nature of humankind. We are definitely not an evolved species. We are frightened, self-centered, impatient, and controling. Oh well — so be it. 🙁
A powerful statement a form of rebellion in difficult times. I think hair is still symbolic of change. Society judges on looks and looks are deceiving.
Ps – my grandmother never cut her hair, when she left this world, her hair was past her knees. A symbol of wisdom and belief that hair is sacred.
The long-haired generation of peace & love that grew and evolved in the 60’s was glorious, and became too short-lived, disillusioned by the darker, more dominant elements of Humankind. Left to out true nature, we are too drawn to selfishness, control, and violence. I sadly watched it happen, as the gentle beauty of the 60’s turned into the darker self-centered essence of the 70’s. The trappings of 60’s peace and love sincerity, became a hollow guise in the 70’s. But thank god I remember well when peace, love, brotherhood and sisterhood really meant something.
I grew up in a small agricultural California town where only a few boys in high school wore their hair long in 1971. Several years later, the same type of guys who harassed the long-haired freaks were sporting the long hair themselves. I doubt that their attitudes changed.
The true long haired peace and love hippies of the 60’s, were infiltrated by a rougher, less genuine element in the 70’s — and the purpose became distorted. But it was a movement of idealism, and humans are pretty poor at sustaining idealism. The selfish, insecure aspects of human nature crowd in and overrun. But I loved believing for nearly a decade, that we humans could be better — be more… but, well? 😐
I think the lyrics are pretty mature and most importantly, it comes from the heart, and what you believed in.
Hair was a very thorny issue over here in the 70’s because it was associated with the drug culture. Guys with long hair were served last in all government offices. We were stopped and checked by cops regularly because we have long hair. How things have changed..
Yes, it flipped here during the seventies. In the 60’s were were truly seeking peace, understanding, and a better working society. Unfortunately, drugs exerted their distorting influence, and the original cause was usurped by a more criminal element, and the altruistic peace and love movement of the 60’s, be came a self centered, greedy under-culture, with a violent thread. It started to become more openly visible at the Altamount festival. Warmth and beauty of the early snd mid 60’s died, and the term hippie took an ugly turn, no longer representing the inclusive sincerity and gentleness which were the roots of its origin. I was broken hearted watching it turn.
Boy, was the world young then. When hair was an article of revolution … then came the earring, then the tats, then the facial implants, the sex change operation and animal costumes into a youth of opioidal terrors. My wife and I lost a generation of young ones, brothers & nephews & cousins’ kids, to youth. Without initiation ceremonies, without men who are adults, we are all fatherless .
When the adults of the world are seeking their childhood, and acting as children — who is running the machinery of life…? It just becomes child’s play, and sadly misguided, mean, and dangerous. But somehow, the machines keep turning, until someday we reach singularity, and the world turns inside out… and child becomes the father of man, just as Al Kooper predicted.