He's a rebel and a runner.
He's a signal turning green.
He's a restless young romantic,
Wants to run the big machine.

He's got a problem with his poisons,
But you know he'll find a cure.
He's cleaning up his systems
To keep his nature pure.

Learning to match the beat of the old world man.
Learning to catch the heat of the third world man.

He's got to make his own mistakes
And learn to mend the mess he makes.
He's old enough to know what's right
But young enough not to choose it.
He's noble enough to win the world
But weak enough to lose it.

He's a new world man....

He's a radio receiver
Tuned to factories and farms.
He's a writer and arranger
And a young boy bearing arms.

He's got a problem with his power,
With weapons on patrol.
He's got to walk a fine line
And keep his self-control.

Trying to save the day for the old world man.
Trying to pave the way for the third world man.

He's not concerned with yesterday.
He knows constant change is here today.
He's noble enough to know what's right
But weak enough not to choose it.
He's wise enough to win the world
But fool enough to lose it.

He's a new world man....

Learning to match the beat of the old world man.
Learning to catch the heat of the third world man.

He's a new world man....
He's a new world man....

An answer to the age old question: "What if the group Rush had been an acoustic blues band?"

Seriously, this song suggested itself as I wound around the western United States on vacation. I was driving along a highway, listening to music. For some reason, I was thinking that the blues artists I've heard all sound like they are trying to make music that is old, that reaches back into the roots of the music and plays on styles and archtypes that have been defined for ages. Lyrically, the same sort of borrowing-from-the-past seems to occur, with nobody really moving much past the "My girl left me" or "I can't get a job" or "I drank too much" subjects of yore. Why don't blues performers write songs about contemporary life? Seems to me there's still plenty to be blue about in the dawn of a new century.

Just then, Rush came on the car stereo playing New World Man. I listened to the words, about a young man's difficulties in the modern world, and I thought to myself, "That's exactly what those blues guys should be singing." I began to do some figuring in my head, and I felt that the lyrics of the Rush song could be broken out and fit into a classic blues chord pattern.

Once I finished my vacation, found a job, and moved into a new house, I got right down to it! In an effort to contrast with the high tech sound of Rush, I decided to limit myself to acoustic guitars for lead and rhythm. I didn't have an acoustic bass, so I kept the electric bass effects to a minimum to simulate one. The sequencer you hear bubbling through the original song is replaced with a honky tonk piano. Then I sang the song until my voice got gruff. The blues, indeed!

Some people will probably find this a disastrous reinterpretation of a classic rock song, but I say, what the Hell! I've always felt that if you don't have anything new to bring to a cover song, why do it at all? Besides, as a "restless young romantic" myself not long ago, I can really identify with the lyrics, and isn't that what the blues are all about?

Rick Hines: voice, acoustic guitar, 5-string bass, MIDI keyboard (piano), drum machine.

Produced, arranged, engineered, edited, mixed and mastered by Rick Hines.

Recorded June 27-July 12, 2009 at Rick's Studio, San Diego, California.