Just A Form Of Music
Chumbawamba · Other Songs - Chumbawamba
It is a real pleasure to be here with you this afternoon.
I always count it a priviledge whenever I have the
opportunity to stand before a group of students in
an assembly such as this. You know,
most of you are at the point in life when you're making
the decisions that are going to determine your philosophy
and your attitude toward life.
It was in the early teenage years that unfortunately
I made some wrong decisions.
I made the decision to turn my back on everything that
my church and my parents had tried to teach me.
My idea was, I'm going to live life like I want to
live it and I don't care what anybody else thinks or
anybody else says. But it wasn't until I was nineteen
that one evening in a small church I came to the conclusion
that if I was really going to get what I wanted out
of life I'd have to change that kind of an attitude.
Today I am not here to prove any one or any thing right
or wrong, but I want to talk to you about some ideas
and attitudes that have been communicated through the
means of music. And I hope that together we can stop
and think about some serious issues that face you as
the youth of America. It's possible I could walk out
on this stage today and deliver a speech mocking the
flag or ridiculing some of the leaders of our government
and I suppose there are some of you who might not say
a word. Perhaps I could stand here and curse God or
use profanity without upsetting some of you,
or maybe I could take my draft card out of my pocket,
stand here and defiantly tear it up in pieces,
and I suppose there'd be some of you who wouldn't say
a thing. But there's one thing of which I am reasonably
certain--if I were to walk out here today and just
dare to say one word against The Beatles,
Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Steppenwolf,
Iron Butterfly, Led Zeppelin,
The Raiders, or The doors,
some of you would want to come up here and tear me
limb from limb. The question I'd like to ask is this--I
wonder would that really be right,
or perhaps would it illustrate that this thing called
Rock and Roll is more than just a form of music?
I always count it a priviledge whenever I have the
opportunity to stand before a group of students in
an assembly such as this. You know,
most of you are at the point in life when you're making
the decisions that are going to determine your philosophy
and your attitude toward life.
It was in the early teenage years that unfortunately
I made some wrong decisions.
I made the decision to turn my back on everything that
my church and my parents had tried to teach me.
My idea was, I'm going to live life like I want to
live it and I don't care what anybody else thinks or
anybody else says. But it wasn't until I was nineteen
that one evening in a small church I came to the conclusion
that if I was really going to get what I wanted out
of life I'd have to change that kind of an attitude.
Today I am not here to prove any one or any thing right
or wrong, but I want to talk to you about some ideas
and attitudes that have been communicated through the
means of music. And I hope that together we can stop
and think about some serious issues that face you as
the youth of America. It's possible I could walk out
on this stage today and deliver a speech mocking the
flag or ridiculing some of the leaders of our government
and I suppose there are some of you who might not say
a word. Perhaps I could stand here and curse God or
use profanity without upsetting some of you,
or maybe I could take my draft card out of my pocket,
stand here and defiantly tear it up in pieces,
and I suppose there'd be some of you who wouldn't say
a thing. But there's one thing of which I am reasonably
certain--if I were to walk out here today and just
dare to say one word against The Beatles,
Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Steppenwolf,
Iron Butterfly, Led Zeppelin,
The Raiders, or The doors,
some of you would want to come up here and tear me
limb from limb. The question I'd like to ask is this--I
wonder would that really be right,
or perhaps would it illustrate that this thing called
Rock and Roll is more than just a form of music?