I have been liberated
Purified and consecrated
I have been liberated
I am finally free.
I have been liberated
Let the praise be sung and celebrated
I have been liberated
I am finally free.
Obsessed and repressed
Distressed and depressed
Compressed and stressed
For twenty-five years.
Lust and desire
Passion and fire
In the muck and mire
Right up to my ears.
Love and affection
A sense of connection
Couldn’t get no protection
From the things that I fear.
But no delicate dance
Nor mere luck or chance
Nor simple circumstance
Have brought me here …
I have been liberated
Let the praise be sung and celebrated
I have been liberated
I am finally free.
I have been liberated
No longer mystified or captivated
I have been liberated
And my eyes, they finally see.
I’ve just returned from a pilgrimage
With illusions stripped away and a new self-image
With renewed sense of purpose and of what I can do
With all obstructions removed from my view.
Free from the forces under which I was ruled
Free from false fantasies that had me fooled
Free from the demons of the days of my youth
Free from beliefs not based in any kind of truth.
I have been liberated
No longer mystified or captivated
I have been liberated
And my eyes, they finally see.
I have been liberated
Released, redeemed, and validated
I have been liberated
I am finally free.
I take the name
That caused me such shame
And send it up in flame
On the beach tonight
I take all the blame
The fear and the pain
Send it off by plane
On a hellbound flight.
I’ll be free to love
Any way I think of
When I look down from above
Once I’ve reached the heights
And I’ll finally see
How I was meant to be
I am finally free
And now I can be the light …
I have been liberated
Released, redeemed, and validated
I have been liberated
I am finally free.
I have been liberated
The power and glory are reinstated
I have been liberated
And nothing will ever again enslave me.
©2024 The Hesh Inc.
This is a song about breaking free from old demons that held me prisoner. It was written on windy evening in 2005, on Dockweiler State Beach in Los Angeles, directly under the flight path of planes taking off from LAX. It was the night after I returned home from a harrowing encounter with an old, old friend of mine whose rocky relationship with me constituted one of those demons. This is the exultation that I felt after the burden had been lifted from my shoulders. I post this today because I have been similarly liberated from a major source of creative blockage and obstacle to my personal growth that had been burdening me for decades. Nothing personal is intended toward any individuals—only the vestigial remains of baggage that should have been jettisoned ages ago. Musically, I had several songs in mind when I wrote it: U2's "Even Better Than the Real Thing," Nirvana's "About a Girl," and Judas Priest's "Another Thing Comin'." I had originally thought it the penultimate song in a cycle about my time in LA; it may yet be.