This Land is My Land!

At the bottom of the page, I will collect links to local stories about Home Owners Associations making people unhappy.

Friends of mine are being harassed by their Home Owners Association and are very upset about it. In response, I did something I haven't done in a while. I made a mixCD for them.

I think Home Owners Associations are overstepping when they do anything more than maintain common areas, host neighborhood events, and help organize to care for a neighbor in need. This is America, and for all of our talk about freedom we should stay out of our neighbors' business when they are neither breaking the law nor harming man or beast. If a neighbor wants to paint his house pink, create a cactus and rock garden, and fly the flags of their ancestral roots from the rooftop, they should be allowed to do that. If you don't like it, build a privacy fence or plant some conifers to block the view.

Here's the playlist I created. I had help coming up with appropriate songs from folks on Twitter. If you feel like your neighbors are picking on you, I hope these songs help raise your spirits.

1. The CD starts with the Bill Noonan Band's "Get Off of My Land"

2. I asked the singer Uncle Kracker, who appeared to be in the mood to tweet, if he had any suggestions. He came up with Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It"   

3. The next suggestion came from Jenn of Lovin' Lyrics Music Promotions.  "This Land is Your Land." I chose the Woody Guthrie version of the song, of course.

4. If your neighbors are giving you a hard time, change the ringtone for the HOA president to Jaron and the Long Road to Love's "Pray for You." You've got to pray for your enemies, too.

 

5. Lucas Hare, a British actor, suggested Ronnie and the Delinquent's, "Bad Neighborhood". I can't find a video or audio clip, but it goes "Well there ain't no good, in a Bad Neighborhood". I had never heard this song before an thought it was a great suggestion.

6. Next up is Lonestar's "From my Front Porch Looking In". Ignore the crazy neighbors and take stock of what's really important.

7. To add a little humor I added the story of every HOA's nightmare, Confederate Railroad's "White Trash with Money". This is not the original Confederate Railroad version that I put on the CD. This is a new version. The singer in this video, Cody McCarver, is a newer member of Confederate Railroad but this version of the song is something he's recorded as a solo artist. (click for more Wikipedia insight.)

8. A great song about fighting for one's freedom is The Red Hot Chili Peppers "Fight Like a Brave". Fight like a brave. Don't be a slave. No one can tell you, you've got to be afraid!

9. Baron Lane, writer of the excellent blog, Twang Nation, suggested Merle Haggard's "The Fighting Side of Me". Petty neighborhood regulations are a threat to the American way of life, dangit!

10. Along the same theme, but to a different tune, is Metallica's "Don't Tread on Me". You don't have to be a Tea Party member to fly that flag. I try to avoid putting fan-made tribute videos up on this blog, but this one is an admirable attempt and there doesn't appear to a better choice out there.

11. American Vesper is a song on my highschool friend Charles Danek's new CD, Coin.  It's a much more relaxing song about standing one's ground.

12. And last but not least, The Soggy Bottom Boys "I am a Man of Constant Sorrow." If your dispute with your HOA seems endless perhaps this song is what you really need. "For six long years I've been in trouble/No pleasures here on earth I found/For in this world I'm bound to ramble/I have no friends to help me now." This song was recommended  by Charlie Ervin, a Civil Engineer and Bluegrass musician.

 

And here are links to stories about HOAs making people unhappy. Shame!
http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/02/23/1007537/as-hens-laid-a-problem-lay-in.html