Back in 1972, Ned Andrew became involved in the McGovern for President Campaign. Like Aaron Sorkin, Ned was interested in a girl who was stuffing envelopes in an attempt to oust Nixon. As part of his work, he and his friends headed to White Plains, NY, put on Nixon masks and lined up on the motorcade route to jeer and boo the embroiled president.

Inspired by this event, the Watergate scandal, a general disillusionment with the integrity of politicians, and his desire to catch the ear and eye of one cute girl, Ned Andrew penned I Always Wore The Colors of My Country.

He later sat down with producer and bass player, Mark Dann to record the song for the September 1984 issue of Fast Folk Magazine. It was kind of a combo deal — a magazine and a record album — that came out somewhat irregularly between 1982 and 1997. Fast Folk eventually recorded some 2000 songs from 600 artists including Lyle Lovett, Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin, Tracy Chapman, and John Gorka. The Smithsonian acquired the collection and houses it in their Folkways Recordings Archives.

I found the recording listed with the Smithsonian about 5 or 6 years ago when I was googling Ned Andrew for some reason or another and contacted their curator to find out whether it was available. He dug through the archives and uploaded the track to their webstore for me. (Lucky for you, they’ve since put all of the archived tracks into their online store.) I purchased it and sent it to Ned Andrew as a surprise.

Ned Andrew Solomon and Jon Crenson

Of course, at that point he was destined to be my sweetie. I mean, how many folks have work they wrote in high school archived in the Smithsonian? That’s right. Ned Andrew does. He’s an amazing guy in lots of ways, but this was the clincher.

Now, please know that Ned Andrew is an amazing patriot. He works for the state running incredible trainings for folks with disabilities and their families under a federal program. He votes. He cares. And he sings his heart out when he plays this song.

It amazes me that he was exercising his rights to free speech when I was just learning to speak.

Anywho, Ned’s given me permission to share his song with you. Enjoy!

And Happy Independence Day!

[powerpress]

I Always Wore the Colors of My Country — Ned Andrew Solomon

I wanted to be thankful, to be hopeful, sentimental,
To be grateful and deep down satisfied
I felt like I was lucky, born with freedom, educated,
A native in a country filled with pride
And I always wore the colors of my country
I always wore the colors of my country

Now the red white and blue
Just doesn’t do
Doesn’t say what it said in creation
The red doesn’t glare and the white doesn’t care
And the blue’s just a wave
On the ocean

I heeded all the warnings, looked both ways, used my head
And I weighed both sides of every question
I exercised my vote and I exercised my mind
And I exercised my wallet to exhaustion
And I always wore the colors of my country
I always wore the colors of my country

Now the red white and blue
Just doesn’t do
Doesn’t say what it said in creation
The red doesn’t glare and the white doesn’t care
And the blue’s just a wave
On the ocean

Just a wave.

© 1981 by Ned Andrew Solomon