I’m pretty burned up about the political situation these days. And I’d gladly use any forum to express my views EXCEPT maybe its not such a swell move when I’m playing in public. You know, you just can’t tell from looking at a person which way they swing. You might think you do, but you never really know until you say something untoward and they send a glare your way.
Not only does this make you both uncomfortable, but its just rude. Folks come out to relax and enjoy themselves, not get their hackles raised up by political exhortation. Plus if one wants to get invited back, one best not start a cracker and cheese riot.
But sometimes I take a risk – heck, scratch this cool, mature woman and find a rad folky inside. The other day someone asked for Cat Stevens, so I delivered one of the first songs I ever learned “Where Do The Children Play” from “Tea for the Tillerman”. And while I’m singing it – “Switch on summer through a slot machine…Your lorry loads pumpin petrol gas…and they keep on building higher til there’s no more room up there”, I’m thinking, “man this song is 40 years old and as relevant today as it was then!” So that’s what I said after I finished playing it. I think the Earth is a-political.