Looking for Freedom

Written by David Hasselhoff, recorded on the album Looking for Freedom June 21, 1989. Hasselhoff started his career in 1976 as Dr. Snapper Foster on the television soap opera Young and the Restless. In 1982 he became Michael Knight in the NBC series Knight Rider, and in 1989 started as the chief lifeguard on NBC's Baywatch. According to his official biography, it was this year that he decided to become a singer: "Despite his enormous success in television, Hasselhoff's childhood dream of a recording career had, by the late 1980's, yet to be fulfilled. However, that all changed when he recorded "Looking for Freedom," just at the end of the Cold War. The song quickly became an anthem for the German people and it raced to the number one spot on the German charts where it remained for eight consecutive weeks in 1989. The album, Looking for Freedom, hit the top of the German charts as well, staying there for three months. It went gold and triple platinum in Europe while on its way to becoming Germany's number one selling album of the year. Hasselhoff was named "Most Popular and Best Selling Artist of the Year" in Germany. This honor was followed up by a twenty-city standing room only tour, with Hasselhoff playing to well over 250,000 adoring European fans. The most thrilling performance of his singing career, however, came when Hasselhoff was invited to perform, "Looking For Freedom," live on top of the Berlin Wall on New Year's Eve, 1989. "It was the first time Germany had been unified, and close to a million East and West German fans stood together in the freezing cold at midnight watching me perform. I was overcome with emotion," said Hasselhoff. He has toured on two more occasions, in 1992 and 1994, and has since released six more albums in Europe and one in the United States."

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One morning in June some twenty years ago
I was born a rich man's son
I had everything that money could buy
but freedom - I had none

I've been lookin' for freedom
I've been lookin' so long
I've been lookin' for freedom
still the search goes on
I've been lookin' for freedom
since I left my home town
I've been lookin' for freedom
still it can't be found

I headed down the track, my baggage on my back
I left the city far behind
walkin' down the road, with my heavy load
tryin' to find some peace of mind
father said you'll be sorry, son,
if you leave your home this way
and when you realize the freedom money buys
you'll come running home some day

I paid a lotta dues, had plenty to lose
travelling across the land
worked on a farm, got some muscle in my arm
but still I'm not a self-made man
I'll be on the run for many years to come
I'll be searching door to door
but, given some time, some day I'm gonna find
the freedom I've been searchin' for

Looking for Freedom

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