For the First Time (In a Long Time)

Album: Born Free (2010)
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Songfacts®:

  • Kid Rock reflects on this song that he is in a good place in his life. The Detroit native explained to Billboard magazine: "That's very personal. I feel like I've gotten all the bulls--t and drama out of my life. I'm not gonna let it back in. I feel more comfortable than I've ever felt in my own skin. I feel like I've gotten the bad people out, the hangers-on, and I still have my same circle of friends I grew up with, I still live next to the same town I grew up in. You wonder as you're having success, 'why am I not out in the Hollywood sunshine, why am I staying here, it's winter time, man, I don't need to be here.' But I have my son there I'm raising and now I see I made the right call.

    It all makes perfect sense now. Go where you're celebrated, not tolerated. I'm celebrated in Detroit. There's no money, no sunshine, no pretty girl on the face of the earth that could give that to me anywhere else. I go in my little restaurants and people say hello, they don't bother me. I feel good that they want me there. What matters to me is the little town where I live, Clarkston, Michigan, those people really know who I am. They know a lot more about me than even my closest fans. And that matters to me, because I live in that community, I have a son there, a family there. I can't control what the rest of the world thinks about some of the antics I go through and they make their assessments on. And I can't give them the whole truth every time, or counter a story when somebody writes something about me. But there they know exactly who I am. The pink elephant syndrome is over there.

    And it's not just about 'Kid Rock's from Detroit and he loves it there.' Wherever anybody's from, whether you live in Spain or in Tennessee like you, you should be proud of where you come from and be a good person in your community there. Man, there's nothing on earth that can make you feel better than that, to have people that care about you and you care about them, 'cause we all got to pick a spot."

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