The Feel of Freedom (Ford Pavilion Record)

This weird little record that was included in the Ford press packet. It has one side, two tracks, and I initially thought something was wrong with it because it was transparent and blue. (I'm a millennial, I'm doing my best here.) The second track is very basic drums and cedar flute with a speech from the "Mother Earth, Father Sky" film. The first track is "The Feel Of Freedom," written and performed by Bob Moline.

Moline would later go on to become a well-known and beloved composer of songs for the Disney theme parks. (World's fairs and Disney theme parks are close cousins in many ways, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s.) He did sharper work elsewhere, so I blame the Ford corporate overlords for making this one so toothless. The lyrics of the song are hypnotically vacuous:

Getting along together / Hearing each other's laughter / We love the feel of freedom / We'll sing forevermore

But despite the milk-toast assignment, Moline is clearly talented and there's more going on musically than I initially realized. Almost every song recorded specifically for Expo '74 has a flute in it somewhere, but this song has two. There's a duet during the bridge that I think is a harmonica and a synthesizer? I catch myself humming bits of this song all the time without realizing it. It's the audio equivalent of root beer: it's so bubbly and sweet, and yet if you listen to it long enough, you begin to like it.

Joy is the thing we're sharing... love is the thing we give... hearts join in a greener land... this is the way we live...