HIVE OPEN MIC Week 132 (Theme: Woman / Life / Freedom) - "Freedom" from the "Django Unchained" Film!

Hello everybody on Hive and especially the Hive Open Mic Community! My name is Jasper and I'm writing (and singing) to you from Cape Town South Africa!

This is Week 132 of the Hive Open Mic Challenge, and the theme for the week is "Woman / Life / Freedom"!

What a great theme: It made me think immediately of a song we have in South Africa called "Wathint' abafazi, Wathint' imbokoto" which means "If you strike a woman, you strike a rock". This comes from a very famous woman's protest march that happened in 1956, where a crowd of women protested against the Apartheid racial segregation laws in South Africa. Unfortunately there seem to be so many versions of that song that I couldn't work out how to do it... and I think it gains its strength by being a call and answer song with a crowd of thousands of women!

So it wasn't long before I had another great memory. A song called "Freedom" was used in the Soundtrack of the modern Western Quentin Tarantino movie "Django Unchained". In the movie, Jamie Foxx plays a rescued slave turned bounty hunter, who then uses his new gun-slinging skills to rescue his beloved wife from slavery (and grant her freedom) as well. So I think this really fits the theme of a man dedicating his "life" to rescue his beloved "woman" and grant her "freedom" from slavery.

Here is a video with the full song only...

I'd like to demonstrate how well the song fits the moment where it was used in the movie, but TRIGGER WARNING: the clip from the movie shows the hero's memory of his wife being whipped while he begs the plantation managers to be whipped instead in her place. Obviously this is not a movie for sensitive viewers, but be happy in that the hero gets his revenge on all of these evil men along the way to rescuing his wife at the end of the movie (although we do lose his good friend and mentor in the effort)!:

Lyrics for "Freedom"

*Felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders
But should I break or retreat and then return
Facing the fear that the truth, I discover
No telling how, all these will work out
But I've come to far to go back now
I am looking for freedom
Looking for freedom
And to find it cost me everything I have
Well I am looking for freedom
Looking for freedom
And to find it, may take everything I have
I know all too well it don't come easy
The chains of the world they seem to moving tight
I try to walk around if I'm stumbling so come here
Tryin to get up but the doubt is so strong
There's gotta be a winning in my bones
I'm looking for freedom,
Looking for freedom
And to find it, cost me everything I have
Well I'm looking for freedom,
I'm looking for freedom
And to find it, may take everything I have
Oh not giving up there's always been hard, so hard
But if I do the thanks lase the way I won't get far
Mhm, life hasn't been very kind to me lately (well)
But I suppose it's a push from moving on (oh yeah)
In time the sun's gonna shine on me nicely (on me yeah)
Sudden tells me 'cause things are coming
And I ain't gonna not believe
I'm looking for freedom,
Looking for freedom
And to find it, cost me everything I have
Well I'm looking for freedom,
I'm looking for freedom
And to find it, may take everything I have
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Anthony Hamilton / Kelvin Wooten / Elayna Boynton
Freedom lyrics © Emi Blackwood Music Inc., Tappy Whyte's Music, Musty Attic Music, Horny Guy Music, Cauliflower Ear Music, Songs Of Universal Inc.