Quote of the Day (Neil Young, on His Songwriting Process)

“My songwriting process has never changed. I never try to write. I know when it’s there. I hear a bell ringing in my head and I just leave . . . but I don’t try. Sometimes three months can go by...”—Canadian-American rock ‘n’ roll singer-songwriter Neil Young quoted in Cameron Crowe, “Neil Young: The Last American Hero,” Rolling Stone, Feb. 8, 1979

Neil Young was born 75 years ago today in Toronto, Canada. Unlike one of his better-known lyrics, he has neither burnt out nor faded away.

That does not mean that, in his creative restlessness, he hasn’t unsettled either bandmates or audiences. After all, this is the musician who, after the enormous success of his Harvest LP in 1972, would later feel compelled to write: “ ‘Heart of Gold’ put me in the middle of the road. Traveling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch. A rougher ride, but I saw more interesting people there.”

(For an interesting take on the resulting “Ditch Trilogy” of albums, see this fine February 2018 post on the blog for Pandora from Eric Shea.)

You can often guess at how well a singer-songwriter’s popularity will endure by the number of other artists who have covered his songs. In this regard, Young stands among the best, with Johnny Cash, Patti Smith, Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, Roxy Music, The Pretenders, Boz Scaggs, The Everly Brothers, Gillian Welch, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Nicolette Larson,  Radiohead, and Bob Dylan all performing his work.

Through it all, he remains uncompromising and indomitable. Long may he run!

(Photo of Neil Young taken in concert Nov. 9, 1976, in Austin, Texas, by Mark Estabrook.)

Song Lyric of the Day (Neil Young, on ‘Mother Nature on the Run’)

“There was a fanfare blowin' to the sun
That was floating on the breeze
Look at Mother Nature on the run
In the 1970s.”—Neil Young, “After the Gold Rush,” from his LP of the same name (1970)

This week marks the 50^th anniversary of the release of Neil Young’s third solo album—one that many observers see as the best of his career. The most enigmatic of its 11 songs might be the title tune.

This was supposed to be part of a soundtrack Young hoped to compose for an aborted project by actor Dean Stockwell about a tidal wave sweeping over Southern California. Linda Ronstadt (who later covered it, with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris, on their “Trio” CD) recalled, “I would listen to Neil singing that all the time on the road. I would think, ‘This is the future.’”

Certainly, that line about “Mother Nature on the run” feels less like trippy vision than reality in 2020.

Song Lyric of the Day (Buffalo Springfield, on What Endures Despite Haste)

“Though we rush ahead

To save our time

We are only what we feel.”—“On the Way Home,” written by Neil Young, performed originally by Buffalo Springfield on their Last Time Around LP (1968)