Iris DeMent - Wasteland Of The Free Lyrics

I'm so happy The Leftovers used her "Let the Mystery Be" song as the opening theme for season 2, because not only did it fit perfectly into the show, it also made me discover great music in the process.

Holy crap this is so spot on for today's living to me.

Recorded 20 years before Drumpf brought Fascism to USA.

If you don't like whats happening------They'll ship your job to some third world country on the other side of the sea,,,, I dedicate this song to one Mr. Phil Knight,,

Earth is demonstrably level contained and motionless AND space doesn't even exist. Have a nice day 😎

Way too relevant now...

No common memory, no community. Mark Charles 2020

Wow! What a song! Thanks for uploading.

I'VE GOT TICKETS TO SEE HER THIS FEB. WOO-HOO!

""that don't fit the picture of living in freedom in this country to me,,,What their doing down in D C looks like a pile of crap to me,,,," liv'in in the mess they call democracy.

What a great song this is.

Got to meet her this weekend after a show and she was one of the sweetest people ever!! Her performance was a unforgettable one. Thanks Iris Love Ya

Awesome Music & lyrics! Hats off to IRIS my Spiritual Sister - "One day we will Rise above Living in the Wasteland" . . ML ~~~

If I where ruining for office this would be my song to fly in the face of Trump

Country music these days is too busy stroking the shaft and swallowing the gravy of baby boomers, corporations, and reactionaries to be like Iris DeMent.

"Those Gucci $500 sneekers, they don't look like Jesus Christ strap sandals to me,,,

In case you didn't know you can be a patriot and love your country but despise your government. It was all a dream...

The USA are to the world, what a freeroaming Mamba is to a Kindergarden.

Just look at China or the smaller Asian states, no more wars after the ones that had been inflicted upon them by uncle Sam in the more than half a century ago and they thrive and prosper.Uncle Sam spends more for the Military than all the other countries of the world combined and the list of destruction and mayhem this Country has brought to the world is filled with millions of tiny sculls...It is a pity for the common men, but: Clio never counted tears.

Finally... someone in the vein of Dylan and Springsteen and not garbage

Referred to this song by Paul Craig Roberts.

Here is a page with the lyrics to this and others of her songs. https://genius.com/artists/Iris-dement

Excellent. Superb. A social conscience attached to a beautiful voice.

If you don't like the minimum wage they will just import someone from the third world who will

"They don't look like any Koshered cat to me",, People we're fools listening to embolisms like these,,,

Beautiful.

DOWN WITH THE INSANE, RACIST, HOMOPHOBIC, MISOGYNIST, MONEY-GRUBBING, ENTITLED MOTHERFUCKERS DRAGGING THIS COUNTRY AND THE WHOLE WORLD DOWN TO THEIR LEVEL. A POX ON YOU AND YOURS. i SPREAD SALT ON THE PLACE YOU WERE BURNED TO DEATH BY THOSE YOU DEMEAN AND SEEK TO ENSLAVE.

not under TRUMP

A Florida republican senator was so enraged over this song that he started a witch hunt against the radio station that played it, proving the songs point to a great extent. The radio station´s primary source of funding was erased from the state budget. Iris contributed in a benefit concert for re-raising the money for the station to get back on the air. It took years. So much for freedom of speech. Hate mail and death treats followed. No one knows what the real cost was for Iris. ( From Johnny Borgan's blog )

We got preachers dealing in politics and diamond mines
and their speech is growing increasingly unkind
They say they are Christ's disciples
but they don't look like Jesus to me
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got politicians running races on corporate cash
Now don't tell me they don't turn around and kiss them peoples' ass
You may call me old-fashioned
but that don't fit my picture of a true democracy
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got CEO's making two hundred times the workers' pay
but they'll fight like hell against raising the minimum wage
and If you don't like it, mister, they'll ship your job
to some third-world country 'cross the sea
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

Living in the wasteland of the free
where the poor have now become the enemy
Let's blame our troubles on the weak ones
Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy
Living in the wasteland of the free

We got little kids with guns fighting inner city wars
So what do we do, we put these little kids behind prison doors
and we call ourselves the advanced civilization
that sounds like crap to me
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got high-school kids running 'round in Calvin Klein and Guess
who cannot pass a sixth-grade reading test
but if you ask them, they can tell you
the name of every crotch on MTV
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We kill for oil, then we throw a party when we win
Some guy refuses to fight, and we call that the sin
but he's standing up for what he believes in
and that seems pretty damned American to me
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

Living in the wasteland of the free
where the poor have now become the enemy
Let's blame our troubles on the weak ones
Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy
Living in the wasteland of the free

While we sit gloating in our greatness
justice is sinking to the bottom of the sea
Living in the wasteland of the free
Living in the wasteland of the free
Living in the wasteland of the free

view 9,342 times, source by paranoid1

Powerful lyrics. Great singer. 🇨🇦

So I have to thank Prairie Home Companion for playing "Our Town" one day on the radio. I literally sat up and said "who the heck IS that lady with the strange voice?" After all these years of listening to Baez and Dylan and Simon and Garfunkel, etc. I never heard anything quite like this mournful yearning beautiful song sung with such feeling. And so I bought the record, And even though she's not "popular",
This material and that voice will endure for a long time. The music industry is simply not doing its job.
I don't disparage Taylor Swift, but it was sheer luck I found out about this music after 60 years of listening to what "I thought" was a pretty large cross section of music- even country and bluegrass.
Anyway, thanks very much for Ms. Dement, a real gem, an original and great talent.

And on the road to being the wasteland of the unfree. Morally corrupt and morally bankrupt steeped in resentment and lies.

..... sounds like she's pretty pissed....

A good song , but truth is the middle of America is fucked ..Fat fools who can't make anything anymore .

Preach it Iris.

I thought this was written recently. Funny how it's still absolutely true. Beautiful song.

Yip Iris - Thoughts and prayers don't put any food in the Poors bellies

2018 even more true

Singing the Truth and Honest is the best in life, Keep it going all you artists, And remember ... you have the right to speak up

She beats Bob Dylan with this song. The words and beat illustrates what is so true. This song is an very important message to all people in our world. Thank you, so very much, Iris!

And written many years ago and still so accurate for these times...

Her ovaries have balls.

Would love to see Iris and Bob Dylan do a duet!

Wasteland of the Free
Iris DeMent
Living in the wasteland of the free...
We got preachers dealing in politics and diamond mines
And their speech is growing increasingly unkind
They say they are Christ's disciples
But they don't look like Jesus to me
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free
We got politicians running races on corporate cash
Now don't tell me they don't turn around and kiss them peoples' ass
You may call me old-fashioned
But that don't fit my picture of a true democracy
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free
We got CEO's making two hundred times the workers' pay
But they'll fight like hell against raising the minimum wage
And If you don't like it, mister, they'll ship your job
To some third-world country 'cross the sea
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free
Living in the wasteland of the free
Where the poor have now become the enemy
Let's blame our troubles on the weak ones
Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy
Living in the wasteland of the free
We got little kids with guns fighting inner city wars
So what do we do, we put these little kids behind prison doors
And we call ourselves the advanced civilization
That sounds like crap to me
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free
We got high-school kids running 'round in Calvin Klein and Guess
Who cannot pass a sixth-grade reading test
But if you ask them, they can tell you
The name of every crotch on mTV
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free
We kill for oil, then we throw a party when we win
Some guy refuses to fight, and we call that the sin
But he's standing up for what he believes in
And that seems pretty damned American to me
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free
Living in the wasteland of the free
Where the poor have now become the enemy
Let's blame our troubles on the weak ones
Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy
Living in the wasteland of the free
While we sit gloating in our greatness
Justice is sinking to the bottom of the sea
Living in the wasteland of the free
Living in the wasteland of the free
Living in the wasteland of the free
Wasteland of the Free lyrics © O/B/O Apra Amcos

This song, TELLS IT LIKE IT IS!!! Love you Iris. This song was released in 1996.

Wonderful songwriter with a timeless delivery.

I am loving this. Iris I didn't know you had it in you. I find it so heartening that some people from Iowa still know what's right and wrong

20 plus years later and sad to say now there's Trump. Thanks Iris for this great song.

happy 4th of July Ms DeMent <3

Rings as true today as the day it was recorded.

Courage to speak the truth. Thank you Iris for this dose of bitter but needed medicine.

You now have Trump to turn this evil right around

The most powerful and wrenching female voice on the planet. No squawking for notes that shouldn't exist. Just plain harmony in a single breath.

Anything changed in 2018?

This was back in the 90's! It seems quaint now. CEO's make almost 1000% as much as the average worker.

This song gets more relevant every day.............
unfortunately.

don't like country but this song i like ...

2018 needs this song

this kind of country goes to the side, meanwhile Florida Georgia line's members sing about the south and go backstage and jack each other off with their gold chain. and we call them "country"

That was woinderful and true.

well, this year could leave out..." of the free " ////////

cool. reminiscent of 90's alt/prog rock, think °REM

It's time to call an end to all the bullshit we the ordinary guy on the street have been fed for hundreds of years and sort "them" out.

fantastic song!!

This is brilliant from beginning to end.

Still and more than ever, these lyrics hit the spot.

An Iris Dement fan for many years. She's one of a kind.

great song

Ya should site, please. Love

Telling it like it is Iris.

Iris Dement is Woody Guthrie for a new generation, and it is beautiful - real music.

That's what I call going to church.

I think this song has more meaning today than it did in 1996. To quote our illustrious leader..."Sad".

they say they're Christ disciples trying to save you and me,,,if you believe that ill throw the shackles in for free,
let me get this straight im to buy this load of crap and give up my sanity

Freedom of speech! I can imagine a lot of people weren't very happy about this. I respect her very much for it.

To hell with that cookie cutter country this is real country

This should be the National Anthem of the UK today.

More of Americas problem for Americans songs. You guys have universal healthcare we dont.

Absolutely terrific.

This is good music. Flat-out. Country isn't a bad genre, it's just the incessant red white and blue beer drinking country they peddle on the radio that is.

Greetings from a Scotsman. Brilliant ballsy lady that I've just stumbled across. Could all apply to the UK. As the Everley's said - I bless the day I found you.

I know it's got nothing to do with my nationality or ethnicity but dear lord, as an Indonesian I feel truly blessed to have found her music in my life xx

There should be more protest-singers like in te "70. The poor get poorer and the rich get richer. That's the same in Europe. Pocket fillers are everywhere. Getting richer at the cost of the poor.

Ha ha ha!!! Great music. Living in the land of the free - sounds like crap to me. lol!

Iris is a brilliant songwriter and right one!

2nd only to jackson brown for a dancer

One of the best protest songs of all time. Go Iris!

I agree.

She got badly slammed 20 yr ago for doing this but it was true then and it's truer now. Let's wake up!

I wondered about that because she didn't seem to do any more like it.

Truth is ageless!

And sadly it is even more true now.

When I hear this song I think of how the Dixie Chicks got slammed for their songs.

It has all ways been true they just do not advertise The Dirty Fuckin Hippies were Right you tube it . You will be pleased. peace.cisco

Gives me goosebumps every time. This is the song that should be sung at Trump's inauguration, because both the left and the so-called deplorables recognize its truth, and Trump needs to hold true to the promise he made them to fix things. We'll see about that...

Lowest unemployment in decades and rising wages; if that's a wasteland, I'll take it!

Two decades later this is still relevant. That sucks.

I have this c.d. The way I should by Iris DeMent. This song and letter to mom amongst other songs on this amazing album show to me that Iris DeMent is the gutsiest singer songwriter of them all. And as the American political system becomes more and more corrupt particularly by the Billionaires club her contribution to the truth cannot be ignored by the grassroots people. Please read Dark money by Jane Meyer it is in the WORLDS interest that you do so . Ignorance will never lead to bliss.

she is so telling the Truth

And this song rings truer now than when she first composed it. God help us all.

The lines about Calvin Klein and MTV got a bit dated but yeah it's scary how much most of it is actually worse.

I love this song!

I'm a patriotic American, and I get a thrill when I hear this song. She's so brave and so right. Thank you so much, Iris.

On Iris On!:)

Iris is right on every time!

This could have been written yesterday...or, you know about the election...