241. Song No. 3,602: “Free,” Jonah Matranga
Alone Rewinding, 2017

(Once I finally found a version of this on Spotify, I found every version on Spotify, so take yr pick, honestly.)

Oh yeah, I’m finally free
No one’s around to make fun of me
To tell me I’m silly or goofy or gay
Or whatever they think will make me run away
Why’d it take me so long
To suddenly see
That I’ve always been free…

Jonah, who once taught me the lost art of opening a new and stubbornly sealed CD, is probably and genuinely the kindest guy in any entertainment medium so it’s only fitting that he just keeps putting out the kind of music other people need to hear and take to heart. He is neither preachy nor sanctimonious, instead authentically and wholly embracing the compassion his messages of love and acceptance deserve: This is a man who wants to not only leave the world in better shape than he found it but also do his damnedest to improve it while he’s still here, a purpose evident in every thoughtfully chosen word.

While there are apparently numerous recordings of this song available once you start searching through Jonah’s fittingly many side projects, the one that I first met was the result of long ago realizing that he’s among the few entertainers I make an effort to follow on social media on the rare occasions I make the effort to bother with social media at all, which is how I found out he was Kickstarting a one-two book and music project centered on being a father and a musician, which is why I have a veritable treasure trove of songs that looks like this:

It was the non-album versions of songs I know by heart that grabbed me from that collection of three-dozen B-sides, alternate takes and live recordings, though, and I didn’t really take notice of “Free” ’til recently. And while I wish I’d paid better attention to it sooner, I probably met it exactly when I needed to because a dash of Jonah’s grounded, arms-wide-open love for the world is a pitch-perfect example of why I think meeting the universe with wanting to be awed is the best way to approach life.

It is a song that’s equal parts innocent and insightful, an impassioned, lived-in call to others to avail themselves of mental prisons’ trappings that keep us down and eat us up, all told from the perspective of someone who’s made that journey himself and came out the other side even better than he started.