I met Dirrt when my friend Mike and I were handing out sandwiches at a homeless encampment in West Los Angeles. “That’s dirt with two Rs,” he said, his grin revealing several missing teeth.
Dirrt was carrying a six-string guitar, of which three strings were missing. “Don’t need six strings to make great music” Dirrt said. With that, he launched into some unidentifiable rock medley. Dirrt could obviously play, even with half of his strings missing.
I asked Dirrt about his story.
“I was born and raised in LA,” he said. “But when I was five, my daddy sold me for drug money to some guy from Harlan, Kentucky. So, that’s where I lived until a few years ago when I left Harlan and took a Greyhound Bus back here to LA.”
I asked if he ever sees his dad. “Hell yes,” he said. “Dad’s living in another encampment right up the road.”
I was still trying to wrap my head around the idea of selling your kid to someone for drug money, when Dirrt says: “You like Neil Young?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “I like Neil Young a lot.”
“I know lots of Neil Young,” he said. “My grandfather produced his first album, Harvest. So, I’ve been a fan ever since.” I have no way of corroborating Dirrt’s claim of a familial connection to Neil Young, but I liked Dirrt, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
Grabbing a seat, Dirrt lets rip with a slightly, erratic, but no less passionate version of “Rockin’ in the Free World.” It’s a song that Neil Young first performed in 1989, but could have been written as an anthem for Dirrt, his dad and the denizens of this, and the growing number of homeless encampments sprouting up throughout Los Angeles and beyond. In case you aren’t familiar with the song, here are the original lyrics. And below, a short video of Dirrt, live and in concert, home, on the streets of LA
"ROCKIN' IN THE FREE WORLD"
Music and lyrics by Neil Young
There's colors on the street
Red, white and blue
People shufflin' their feet
People sleepin' in their shoes
But there's a warnin' sign
on the road ahead
There's a lot of people sayin'
we'd be better off dead
Don't feel like Satan,
but I am to them
So I try to forget it,
any way I can.
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.
I see a woman in the night
With a baby in her hand
Under an old street light
Near a garbage can
Now she puts the kid away,
and she's gone to get a hit
She hates her life,
and what she's done to it
There's one more kid
that will never go to school
Never get to fall in love,
never get to be cool.
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.
We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder, gentler,
Machine gun hand
We got department stores
and toilet paper
Got styrofoam boxes
for the ozone layer
Got a man of the people,
says keep hope alive
Got fuel to burn,
got roads to drive.
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.
Dirrt was carrying a six-string guitar, of which three strings were missing. “Don’t need six strings to make great music” Dirrt said. With that, he launched into some unidentifiable rock medley. Dirrt could obviously play, even with half of his strings missing.
I asked Dirrt about his story.
“I was born and raised in LA,” he said. “But when I was five, my daddy sold me for drug money to some guy from Harlan, Kentucky. So, that’s where I lived until a few years ago when I left Harlan and took a Greyhound Bus back here to LA.”
I asked if he ever sees his dad. “Hell yes,” he said. “Dad’s living in another encampment right up the road.”
I was still trying to wrap my head around the idea of selling your kid to someone for drug money, when Dirrt says: “You like Neil Young?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “I like Neil Young a lot.”
“I know lots of Neil Young,” he said. “My grandfather produced his first album, Harvest. So, I’ve been a fan ever since.” I have no way of corroborating Dirrt’s claim of a familial connection to Neil Young, but I liked Dirrt, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
Grabbing a seat, Dirrt lets rip with a slightly, erratic, but no less passionate version of “Rockin’ in the Free World.” It’s a song that Neil Young first performed in 1989, but could have been written as an anthem for Dirrt, his dad and the denizens of this, and the growing number of homeless encampments sprouting up throughout Los Angeles and beyond. In case you aren’t familiar with the song, here are the original lyrics. And below, a short video of Dirrt, live and in concert, home, on the streets of LA
"ROCKIN' IN THE FREE WORLD"
Music and lyrics by Neil Young
There's colors on the street
Red, white and blue
People shufflin' their feet
People sleepin' in their shoes
But there's a warnin' sign
on the road ahead
There's a lot of people sayin'
we'd be better off dead
Don't feel like Satan,
but I am to them
So I try to forget it,
any way I can.
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.
I see a woman in the night
With a baby in her hand
Under an old street light
Near a garbage can
Now she puts the kid away,
and she's gone to get a hit
She hates her life,
and what she's done to it
There's one more kid
that will never go to school
Never get to fall in love,
never get to be cool.
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.
We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder, gentler,
Machine gun hand
We got department stores
and toilet paper
Got styrofoam boxes
for the ozone layer
Got a man of the people,
says keep hope alive
Got fuel to burn,
got roads to drive.
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.
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