Well I’m proud to be a hippie from Olema
Where we’re friendly to the squares and all the straights
We still take in strangers if they’re ragged
We can’t think of anyone to hate
We don’t watch commercials in Olema
We don’t buy the plastic crap they sell
We still wear our hair long like folks used to
And we bathe often, therefore we don’t smell
Well I’m proud to be a hippie from Olema
Where we’re friendly to the squares and all the straights
We still take in strangers if they’re ragged
We can’t think of anyone to hate
We don’t throw our beer cans on the highway
We don’t slight a man because he’s black
We don’t spill our oil out in the ocean
’Cause we love birds and fish too much for that
And I’m proud to be a hippie from Olema
Where we’re friendly to the squares and all the straights
We still take in strangers if they’re haggard
In Olema, California, Planet Earth.
Where we’re friendly to the squares and all the straights
We still take in strangers if they’re ragged
We can’t think of anyone to hate
We don’t watch commercials in Olema
We don’t buy the plastic crap they sell
We still wear our hair long like folks used to
And we bathe often, therefore we don’t smell
Well I’m proud to be a hippie from Olema
Where we’re friendly to the squares and all the straights
We still take in strangers if they’re ragged
We can’t think of anyone to hate
We don’t throw our beer cans on the highway
We don’t slight a man because he’s black
We don’t spill our oil out in the ocean
’Cause we love birds and fish too much for that
And I’m proud to be a hippie from Olema
Where we’re friendly to the squares and all the straights
We still take in strangers if they’re haggard
In Olema, California, Planet Earth.
Contributed by Bartleby - 2011/9/16 - 14:43
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Nell’album “Good and Dusty”
Scritta da Jesse Colin Young, leader di questa band folk rock del Greenwich Village, come risposta satirica alla superconservatrice e iperpatriottica “Okie from Muskogee” (scritta nel 1960 ma incisa solo nel 1969) del songwriter country Merle Haggard che all’epoca, forse per riaccreditarsi al pubblico dopo un non breve periodo trascorso in galera (fu indultato solo nel 1972 da Ronald Reagan, allora governatore della California), s’indignava per le proteste dei giovani cappelloni contro la guerra in Vietnam.
Gli Youngbloods gli risposero “per le rime”, citandolo direttamente nell’ultima strofa: “haggard” infatti è un aggettivo che significa “sfatto”, “sbattuto”… “A Olema noi fricchettoni accogliamo senza problemi gli stranieri anche se sono Haggard” …
Olema è una cittadina della California, mentre il titolo della canzone di Haggard fa riferimento al motto della cittadina di Muskogee in Oklahoma, “We're Proud to be Okies from Muskogee”.