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Neil Young - Walk On

Neil Young - Walk On Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: On The Beach
Released: 1974

Walk On Lyrics

Walk On

Young wrote this in response to Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama," in which Young is told, "Southern man don't need him around anyhow." "Walk On" wasn't so much directed at the guys from Skynyrd (their feud was more good-natured than most people realize), but more towards the few southerners who felt some animosity towards Young for calling them on their inability to comply with the changing standards during the civil rights era.

This song functions as a wistful ode to how life never stops changing, so you might as well accept it and walk on (rather than dwell on small things like the hostile southerners). It's characteristic of the melancholy and pessimism that permeated Neil's work around that time, particularly On the Beach.

Neil Young - After The Goldrush

Neil Young - After The Goldrush Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: After The Goldrush
Released: 1970

After The Goldrush Lyrics

After The Goldrush

After The Goldrush is an acoustic album that led to many other confessional singer/songwriter works in the early '70s (James Taylor, Carole King, etc.). Young had injured his back lifting a slab of polished walnut and standing up to play his electric guitar was impossible. In addition, he had dropped Crazy Horse as his backing band so he prepared an album of acoustic songs.

In his extensive biography on Mr. Young, author Jimmy McDonough reveals that After the Goldrush was an album loosely conceptualized around a screenplay of the same named written by child star, and Neil Young neighbor, Dean Stockwell. Apparently the only two songs on the album that are based on the as-yet-unproduced screenplay are this song and "Crippled Creek Ferry," the closing song on the album. (thanks, Chris - Philadelphia, PA)

New York songwriter Patti Smith recorded a stark piano-and-vocal cover of this ecological paean for the closing track of her 2012 album Banga. Her version features a children's choir singing the chorus at the end. " 'Constantine's Dream,' the song before it, is such a dark song," Smith explained to Billboard magazine. "It ends so darkly, with Columbus having a dream of the environmental apocalypse of the 21st century. Even though I fear that myself, I didn't want to end the record that way. I wanted to write a song that was more like the dawn that gave some kind of hope. Then I happened to hear 'After the Gold Rush;' I was sitting in a cafe and thought at least the two verses of Neil's song said what I wanted to say because it has a sense of optimism, but it's also at a cost. So I thought I'd just sing that, because that's what I wanted to say... And having children sing that with all their innocence and purity, I felt that brings out the danger of what he wrote."

The song has been covered a variety of artists, including Thom Yorke of Radiohead, The Flaming Lips, Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds.

When Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt recorded it in 1999 for their collaboration Trio, they got some unique insight into the song from the man who wrote it. Said Parton: "When we were doing the Trio album, I asked Linda and Emmy what it meant, and they didn't know. So we called Neil Young, and he didn't know. We asked him, flat out, what it meant, and he said, 'Hell, I don't know. I just wrote it. It just depends on what I was taking at the time. I guess every verse has something different I'd taken.'"

In live performances, Neil replaces the flute solo with a harmonica performance. Additionally, he's amended the final line to "Look at Mother Nature on the run in the 21st century" (it was originally "in the 1970's").

Neil Young - Helpless

Neil Young - Helpless Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Decade
Released: 1977

Helpless Lyrics

There is a town in North Ontario
Dream comfort memory to spare
And in my mind I still need a place to go
All my changes were there

Blue, blue windows behind the stars
Yellow moon on the rise
Big birds flying across the sky
Throwing shadows on our eyes

Leave us

Helpless, helpless, helpless, helpless
Babe, can you hear me now?
The chains are locked and tied across the door
Baby, sing with me somehow

Blue, blue windows behind the stars
Yellow moon on the rise
Big birds flying across the sky
Throwing shadows on our eyes

Leave us

Helpless, helpless, helpless, helpless

Writer/s: TAYLOR, DAVID / DOWNES, ROB / MUNGO, ALEX / STAINTHORPE, JASPER JOHN NIELSON / WREN, STEPHEN / TIPLADY, MARK ROBERT
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Helpless

As told in Neil Young: Long May You Run: The Illustrated History , this song is about the town of Omemee in northern Ontario. In 1949, Neil's parents moved there with him when he was just four years old. Young describes it as "a nice little town. Sleepy little place... Life was real basic and simple in that town. Walk to school, walk back. Everybody knew who you were. Everybody knew everybody."

More so than any other song, "Helpless" touches on Young's earliest childhood memories. Young came down with polio by age six, prompting his parents to spend a year in Florida hoping the warmer weather would speed his cure. Ten years after this came the Young's divorce, from which Neil stayed with his mother while his father kept his brother Bob and later remarried. So, typical for Neil Young, the memories represented here are bittersweet.
Speaking of his family, most people forget that Neil's father, Scott Young, was a celebrity in his own right! Scott Young was a career journalist and writer, who started out in the Winnipeg Free Press and writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also wrote books - over three dozen, in fact - mostly boy's adventure/sports stories. And to round that out, his was a familiar face on Canadian TV. So it came as a surprise to him that his son's fame would eclipse his own to such an extent; he was happy with it anyway.

Young sang this live at "The Last Waltz" - The Band's farewell concert. As well as The Band themselves he was accompanied on vocals by Joni Mitchell. It is amusing to see Robbie Robertson and Rick Danko from The Band come in too early for the first chorus and then burst out laughing. You can see this clearly on the film as they accompany Neil Young. (thanks, Dan - Auckland, New Zealand)

In 2011, Neil Young performed the song with popular indie band Arcade Fire at the Bridge School Benefit Concert.

An alternate version appears on Neil's Archives Volume 1, featuring a much more prominent harmonica.

Various artists have released covers of the song, notably among them Nick Cave and Patti Smith.

This has remained one of Young's standby live songs throughout his career.

Neil Young - Thrasher

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Neil Young - Thrasher Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Rust Never Sleeps
Released: 1979

Thrasher Lyrics

Thrasher

Throughout the song, references to geological formations and farming are repeated. The song could be interpreted to be about death or the decline of rock 'n' roll, but Neil says, "Thrasher was pretty much me writing about my experiences with Crosby, Stills & Nash in the mid '70s"

The great Canyon rescue episode probably refers to an episode of one of the mid '50s Westerns. Neil has said he enjoys sci-fi films and old Westerns.

This could reflect Neil's personal philosophy about life and music, and his emphasis on being true to his own heart and soul. In a 2003 Rolling Stone article, Neil said: "That's what I know how to do (make albums) and I do that OK. Sometimes I do it and people really like it. Sometimes I do it and they get pissed off at me (smiles). Whatever." (thanks, Amy - Chicago, IL, for all above with help from Thrasher's Wheat website)

The album was recorded mostly live at San Francisco's Cow Palace, accompanied by Neil's perennial backing band, Crazy Horse. "Rust Never Sleep" references Neil's ongoing attempts at musical self-renewal so as to avoid becoming irrelevant, restless experimentation a hallmark quality of his music that has become almost synonymous with his name over the years.

The" dinosaurs" referred to in the song refer CSNY - something long dead and forgotten. More explicitly, the line goes on to state: "So I got bored and left them there, they were just dead weight to me. It's better on the road without that load."

Neil Young - Rust Never Sleeps Album More Songs Lyrics

Neil Young - Long May You Run

Neil Young - Long May You Run Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Decade
Released: 1976

Long May You Run Lyrics

Long May You Run

Neil's beloved Pontiac hearse, "Mort" (a.k.a. "Mortimer Hearseburg"), was the inspiration for this song. Neil drove "Mort" from Toronto to Los Angeles, where he met Stephen Stills and formed Buffalo Springfield.

Neil was in Canada driving to Sudbury when 'Mort' broke down in Blind River, June 1965. (Which is contradictory to the lyrics; "well it was back in Blind River, in 1962, when I last saw you alive").

In 1976, Stephen Stills and Neil Young formed The Stills-Young Band and released an album called Long May You Run, which turned out to be somewhat ironic when the collaboration quickly stalled.

Stills and Young wrote separately for the album, which Stephen contributing four songs, and Young adding five, including the title track.

Stills is a longtime collaborator of Neil's, having worked with him first in Buffalo Springfield and then in Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. However, they had a falling out only nine days into the Long May You Run tour. Young decided to abandon the project, leaving Stills with a mere telegram to explain his departure. It read: "Dear Stephen, funny how some things that start spontaneously end that way. Eat a peach. Neil."

In addition to Young's compilation album Decade this also appears on his 1993 album Unplugged. (thanks, Paulus - Tasmania, Australia, for all above)

The last ever Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien on Friday January 22, 2010 finished in style when O'Brien's final musical guest, Neil Young, performed this song in what appeared to be a poke at NBC. O'Brien had been asked to move his slot to 12:05 a.m., and the TV host refused to move his show to such a late hour, and instead negotiated a $45 million exit deal.

Neil Young performed this song at the Closing Ceremonies of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games to a rousing ovation of Canadian audience members. (thanks, Chris - Red Deer, Alberta, Canada)

Neil Young - The Needle And The Damage Done

Neil Young - The Needle And The Damage Done Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Harvest
Released: 1972

The Needle And The Damage Done Lyrics

The Needle And The Damage Done

This song is about heroin use and what it will do to you in the end. Young wrote it about Danny Whitten, one of the original members of his band Crazy Horse. In 1971, Young went on tour and hired Crazy Horse and Nils Lofgren as backup. During rehearsals, Whitten was so high on heroin that he couldn't even hold up his guitar. Young fired him, gave Whitten 50 bucks (for rehab) and a plane ticket back to Los Angeles. Upon reaching LA, Whitten overdosed on alcohol and Valium, which killed him.

Whitten was one of the founding members of Crazy Horse and was very influential on much of Young's work preceding his heroin addiction. His influence is particularly noticeable on Young's second album, 1969's Everybody Knows This is Nowhere. Leading up to Whitten's dismissal from the band and overdose, Young even attempted daily one-on-one lessons to try and rehabilitate his old friend.

As quoted in Neil Young: Long May You Run: The Illustrated History , Neil Young says of the tragic death of Whitten: "I felt responsible. But really there was nothing I could do. I mean, he was responsible. But I thought I was for a long time. Danny just wasn't happy. It just all came down on him. He was engulfed by this drug. That was too bad. Because Danny had a lot to give. boy. He was really good."

Incredibly, this wouldn't be Young's only loss from heroin to be commemorated in song. Longtime friend and roadie Bruce Berry would also overdose on heroin just months after Whitten. Berry's song is "Tonight's The Night," on the album of the same name.

The song's first line mentions a "cellar door." Young and Crazy Horse, with Whitten, had played Washington DC's Cellar Door club in 1969.

Young's famous version was recorded live at the University Of California in January 1971, a year before it appeared on his Harvest album.

A solo, acoustic performance of this song by Young from Massey Hall in Toronto on January 19, 1971 features on his 2007 Live at Massey Hall 1971 album. He introduces it with a short explanation: "Ever since I left Canada, about five years ago or so and moved down south... found out a lot of things that I didn't know when I left. Some of 'em are good, and some of 'em are bad. Got to see a lot of great musicians before they happened, before they became famous - y'know, when they were just gigging. Five and six sets a night, things like that. And I got to see a lot of great musicians who nobody ever got to see, for one reason or another. But, strangely enough, the real good ones that you never got to see was... 'cause of, ahhm, heroin. An' that started happening over an' over. Then it happened to someone that everyone knew about. So I just wrote a little song."

This was one of the songs that Young performed at Live Aid in 1985.

Young made this succinct statement about the song in the liner notes to his album Decade: "I am not a preacher, but drugs killed a lot of great men."

Flea, famed bassist of The Red Hot Chili Peppers, played the song frequently on a 1993 tour following the singer John Frusciante's temporary departure due to heroin addiction.

The song has struck a long-lived chord with broad range of musicians. Over the years, it's also been covered by Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, Dave Matthews, and Jewel.

Neil Young - A Man Needs A Maid

Neil Young - A Man Needs A Maid Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Harvest
Released: 1972

A Man Needs A Maid Lyrics

A Man Needs A Maid Song Chart

Neil Young wrote this about actress Carrie Snodgress, who was his girlfriend at the time. They had a child together named Zeke, who was born with cerebral palsy. They broke up a few years later and things didn't go well for Snodgress. She spent a lot of time caring for Zeke and went was never able to get her acting career back on track. She died in 2004.

Jack Nitzsche, who played piano with The Rolling Stones and wrote soundtracks for many famous movies, produced this track. He dated Snodgress a few years after she broke up with Young and was sentenced to probation after he beat her with a handgun in 1979.

The London Symphony Orchestra plays on the album version of the song, as well as several others off of Harvest.

Some people were upset with the characterization of a woman as a "Maid," but the song meant no disrespect - Young wrote it in the spirit of the Robin Hood tale Maid Marion.

Critics have also interpreted the song as being more complex than it initially appears. Rather than being a straightforward expression of how badly a "man needs a maid," it's a heartbroken narrator trying to convince himself that he could be happy with something simple and emotionless - rather than the rocky ups-and-downs of a real relationship. The line "To live a love/you have to be part of it" hints at him realizing how this is an empty sentiment only concocted to try to ward off heartbreak.

Neil Young fell in love with Carrie Snodgress after seeing her in a movie on television, which inspired the lyric, "I fell in love with the actress, she was playing a part that I could understand." Learn more about Young and Snodgress in Song Images . (thanks, Nicole - Massapequa, NY)

British singer–songwriter Rumer covered this for the special edition of her Boys Don't Cry album. She explained to Q magazine why the song feels like a commentary on why, early in 2011, she broke up with A&R man Sam Winwood. (Rumer had lived with Winwood for several years). "As a travelling musician I couldn't take care of myself," she said. "Letters pile up, dishes pile up, you're not doing anything properly. So you're desperate to be taken care of. Emotionally, you're like a beggar going from door to door, but you can't give anything back. There's a line in the song, 'When will I see you again?' Well, I don't know. I can't commit. My ex-boyfriend said he felt like a field surgeon - putting me back together again."

Neil Young - Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)

Neil Young - Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black) Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Rust Never Sleeps
Released: 1978

Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black) Lyrics

Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black) Song Chart

This is an alternate version of Young's song "My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue)." The lyrics are slightly different, and this is electric, while "My My, Hey Hey," is acoustic.

Young recorded this with the band Crazy Horse. It was the first time Young recorded with them since Zuma in 1975.

In the biography of Neil Young, Shakey by Jimmy McDonough, Neil points out that this song came about when he was jamming with the band Devo. The line "Rust never sleeps" was uttered by Mark Mothersbaugh, and Neil, loving the impromptu line, acquired it and would play the song live with Crazy Horse. (thanks, Chris - Philadelphia, PA)

The lyrics refer to "The King" and Johnny Rotten as rockers whose legacies live on. The king is Elvis Presley and Johnny Rotten was the lead singer of The Sex Pistols.

This is the last song on the electric side of Rust Never Sleeps. The first side (first 5 songs on the CD) are acoustic.

This was included on Live Rust, a concert album and video featuring Young playing against a backdrop of comically enormous amps and microphones.

The song has become a standby of Young's live performances, being played at nearly every live show throughout his career, often as a closing song.

John Lennon expressed his disagreement with the "burn out or fade away" sentiment in a 1980 interview with Playboy: "I hate it. It's better to fade away like an old soldier than to burn out. If he was talking about burning out like Sid Vicious, forget it. I don't appreciate the worship of dead Sid Vicious or of dead James Dean or dead John Wayne. It's the same thing. Making Sid Vicious a hero, Jim Morrison - it's garbage to me. I worship the people who survive." Young responded to the quote, saying that he was describing the paradoxical nature of the rock-and-roll lifestyle, not advocating it.

Neil Young - Who's Gonna Stand Up

Neil Young - Who's Gonna Stand Up Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Storytone
Released: 2014

Who's Gonna Stand Up Lyrics

Who's Gonna Stand Up Song Chart

This six-minute environmental call-to-arms finds Young crying foul of corporate greed and pleading to end the world's dependence of fossil fuels. It was spurred by several viewings of the documentary Under The Influence, which is about corporations' influence on government.

The song was originally performed at Crazy Horse's UK shows during the summer of 2014 and as part of Young's solo acoustic set at Farm Aid in Raleigh, North Carolina on September 13th.

Young laid down four separate versions of the song. The first one released was a fierce live rendition with Crazy Horse recorded in July 2014 during a show in Liverpool, England.

The video features a version recorded by Young with a 92-piece orchestra. Disturbing images of pollution are shown on the screens above the classical musicians.

Neil Young - Heart of Gold

Neil Young - Heart of Gold Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Harvest
Released: 1972

Heart of Gold Lyrics

I want to live,
I want to give
I've been a miner
For a Heart of Gold
It's these expressions
I never give
That keep me searching
For a heart of gold
And I'm getting old
Keeps me searching
For a heart of gold
And I'm getting old

I've been to Hollywood
I've been to Redwood
I crossed the ocean
For a heart of gold
I've been in my mind,
It's such a fine line
That keeps me searching
For a heart of gold
And I'm getting old
Keeps me searching
For a heart of gold
And I'm getting old

Keep me searching
For a heart of gold
You keep me searching
And I'm growing old
Keep me searching
For a heart of gold
I've been a miner
For a heart of gold

Writer/s: KENNEDY/LEVER/PERCY/HOBBS/MEW
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Heart of Gold Song Chart

With a straightforward metaphor and complete lack of pathos, this not a typical Neil Young song. It finds him mining for a "heart of gold," which depending on your perspective, is either a touching and heartfelt sentiment, or a mawkish platitude. Rolling Stone took the churlish view, complaining that the album evoked "superstardom's weariest clichés." The listening public and Young's fans were far more accepting, however, and the song became his biggest hit.

Young wrote this in 1971 after he suffered a back injury that made it difficult for him to play the electric guitar, so on the Harvest tracks he played acoustic. Despite the injury, Young was in good spirits (possibly thanks to the pain-killers), which is reflected in this song. The next few years were more challenging for Young, as he suffered a series of setbacks: his son Zeke was born with cerebral palsy, his friend Danny Whitten died, and he split with his wife, Carrie Snodgress. His next three albums, which became known as "The Ditch Trilogy," expressed these dark times in stark contrast to "Heart of Gold."

This song was recorded at the first sessions for the Harvest album, which took place on Saturday, February 6, 1971 and were set up the night before.

Neil Young was in Nashville to record a performance for The Johnny Cash Show along with Tony Joe White , James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt. Elliot Mazer, a producer who owned nearby Quadrafonic Studios, set up a dinner party on February 5, inviting the show's guests and about 50 other people. Mazer was friends with Young's manager Elliot Roberts, who introduced the two at the gathering. Young and Mazer quickly hit it off when Neil learned that Elliot has produced a band called Area Code 615. Young asked if he could set up a session the next day, and Mazer complied.

Nashville has an abundance of studio musicians, but getting them to work on a Saturday could be a challenge. Mazur was able to get one member of Area Code 615: Drummer Kenny Buttrey. The other musicians he found were guitarist Teddy Irwin, bass player Tim Drummond, and pedal stell player Ben Keith. All were seasoned pros.

Keith recalls showing up late and sitting down to play right away. He says they recorded five songs before they stopped for introductions.

By far, this was the biggest hit for Young as a solo artist. A very influential musician, he was never too concerned about making hit records.

James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt sang backup; they don't come in until the end of the song. Like Young, Taylor and Ronstadt were in town to appear on The Johnny Cash Show (the song's producer Elliot Mazer had produced Ronstadt's 1970 Silk Purse album). Young convinced them to lend their voices to this track, and they came in on Sunday, February 8, the day after the rest of the song was completed.

When it was their turn to add harmonies, the task proved rather arduous. Ronstadt recalled to Mojo: "We were sat on the couch in the control room, but I had to get up on my knees to be on the same level as James because he's so tall. Then we sang all night, the highest notes I could sing. It was so hard, but nobody minded. It was dawn when we walked out of the studio."

In the liner notes to his Decade collection, Young said: "This song put me in the middle of the road. Traveling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch."

This statement reflected Young's aversion to fame, and was not meant to demean the song. In a later interview with NME, he clarified: "I think Harvest is probably the finest record I've made."

This was the song that tweaked Bob Dylan; Young had made no secret that he idolized Dylan, but when Dylan heard "Heart of Gold" he thought this was going too far. As quoted in Neil Young: Long May You Run: The Illustrated History , Dylan complained, "I used to hate it when it came on the radio. I always liked Neil Young, but it bothered me every time I listened to "Heart of Gold." I'd say, that's me. If it sounds like me, it should as well be me."

This song was recorded in just two takes. The musicians were not familiar with Young or the song, but knew how to play. This spontaneity created just the right feel for the track - something that would have never come about through additional tweaking. This style of recording, where top-tier studio musicians are asked to give total focus to a take with little instruction, is something Bob Dylan often did. It's also a throwback to the analog days when tape (which was expensive) was rolling, making additional takes costly and cumbersome.

"Heart Of Gold" is the name of the spaceship stolen by Zaphod Beeblebrox in Douglas Adams' book, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy . (thanks, Charles - London, England)

Young became the first Canadian to have a #1 album in the US when Harvest topped the Billboard 200 for two weeks in April 1972.

This song appears in the 1984 film Iceman, and on the soundtrack of the 2010 movie Eat Pray Love.

Lady Gaga references this in her song "You and I." The line goes, "On my birthday you sung me 'Heart of Gold,' with a guitar humming and no clothes."

In 2005, the CBC Radio One series 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version declared "Heart of Gold" to be the third best Canadian song of all time.

Stryper frontman Michael Sweet covered this for his 2014 I'm Not Your Suicide album. He also recorded a second duet version with country artist Electra Mustaine, who is the daughter of Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine.

Young revived the guitar riff for this song on CSN&Y's "Slowpoke" in 1999.

Tori Amos covered this on her 2001 album Strange Little Girls . She was trying to demonstrate how men and women hear different meaning in the same songs.

Neil Young - Only Love Can Break Your Heart

Neil Young - Only Love Can Break Your Heart Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: After The Goldrush
Released: 1970

Only Love Can Break Your Heart Lyrics

Only Love Can Break Your Heart Song Chart

It was rumored that this was about Steven Stills, but Young later admitted it was about one of his other band mates, Graham Nash.

This was Neil Young's first Top 40 hit as a solo artist.

Young's former bandmate Steven Stills covered this song in 1984.

A version by Everlast was used in the 1999 Adam Sandler movie Big Daddy.

This is the first track on After The Goldrush. The entire album is acoustic.

The English band Saint Etienne had a hit in 1990 with their cover version of this song. It peaked at #39 on the UK Singles Chart and two years later became the group's only entry in the US Billboard Hot 100, when it reached #97. Pete Wiggs of St Etienne recalled to Q magazine July 2012 regarding their version: "The official reaction from the Neil camp was, He has heard it. Not exactly ringing praise." He added: "(BBC Radio 1 DJ) Nicky Campbell once smashed our version live on air on his radio show. He was so outraged by what we'd done."

Over twenty artists and bands have released cover versions of the song.

Neil Young - This Note's For You

Neil Young - This Note's For You Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: This Note's For You
Released: 1988

This Note's For You Lyrics

This Note's For You Song Chart

This song is Neil Young's critique of artists who "sell out" and allow their songs to be used in commercials. It mentions Coke, Pepsi, Miller, and Bud.

Artists like Young and Bruce Springsteen have never let their songs be used in commercials, feeling it cheapens their artistic integrity. Many other artists, like The Who and The Rolling Stones, have made lots of money by letting companies use their songs. Some classic rock artists like John Mellencamp resisted for years, but allowed their songs to be used for commercial purposes when they realized it was the best way to get them exposure. A band with a particularly interesting take on the subject is Devo , who feel it is part of their art.

MTV originally refused to run the video because it mentioned products by name. This created some controversy, prompting MTV to put it in rotation. It won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Video of the Year in 1989.

Young discussed his reasons for accepting the award despite it being originally banned in an interview with Village Voice Rock and Roll Quarterly: "I dunno - must be the Perry Como in me. I could do the hard-line Marlon Brando thing, not accept the award, give it to the Indians. But that's almost the predictable thing to do. You can't get money to make videos if MTV won't play them. In accepting the award I thought I'd be able to make more videos and get 'em played."

MTV at the time was about as permissive as the cable landscape got - at least in terms of bawdy behavior. That's why it was surprising anytime they deemed something not suitable for air. In 1992, Paul McCartney recorded a concert for MTV for their Up Close series, but the network edited out his song "Big Boys Bickering," which was about politics and the environment. MTV claimed that the song was excised because of curse words in the lyrics, although it would have been easy enough to bleep them.

This is the title track to the only album Young recorded with The Bluenotes as his backup band.

This was released as a single with the A-side as a live version and the B-side a studio cut.

The video makes fun of Michael Jackson, who was ripe for parody at the time. For the line "Ain't singing for Pepsi," a Jackson lookalike is shown with his hair on fire, referring to the Pepsi commercial shoot where a spark sent his hair into flames.

Neil Young - Powderfinger

Neil Young - Powderfinger Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Rust Never Sleeps
Released: 1978

Powderfinger Lyrics

Powderfinger Song Chart

There's no small controversy over the meaning of this song. Some think it is set during the Civil War, with the attackers being Union soldiers. Others say that the "White Boat" is actually a Coast Guard Cutter, and the family being attacked are involved in drug running or operating an illegal distillation business. (thanks, David - Lilburn, GA)

Young offered this to Lynyrd Skynyrd, but 3 members of the band died in a plane crash before they could record it.

Young recorded this with Crazy Horse. It was the first time since 1975 that he had recorded with the band.

This starts the electric side of Rust Never Sleeps. The first side of the album (or first 5 songs on the CD), are acoustic.

Powderfinger are an Australian rock band, originally from the city of Brisbane in the state of Queensland. They started out playing music from other bands like The Doors and Led Zeppelin. They also played Neil Young songs, and got their name from this song. Double Allergic (1996) was their breakthrough album in Australia, particularly because of the singles "Pick You Up" and "D.A.F" (which was named because of the first 3 guitar chords of the song).

When they were dating, Australian Mary Donaldson gave Prince Frederick of Denmark some of Powderfinger's music because it was her favourite Australian music, and he hadn't heard it before. Now they are married, and she is Australia's first princess. (thanks, Eliza - Sydney, Australia, for above 2)

The song's title is directly referenced in the line "Shelter me from the powder and the finger." This can be read as a critique of the prevalence of violence in American society.

Neil Young - Southern Man

Neil Young - Southern Man Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos
Album: After The Goldrush
Released: 1970

Southern Man Lyrics

Southern Man Song Chart

This song is about racism in the American South. It makes references to slavery and the Ku Klux Klan.

Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote "Sweet Home Alabama" as a response to this song. Young is mentioned in the line "I hope Neil Young will remember, a Southern man don't need him around anyhow." Lynyrd Skynyrd were big fans of Young. "Sweet Home Alabama" was meant as a good-natured answer to this, explaining the good things about Alabama. Skynyrd lead singer Ronnie Van Zandt often wore Neil Young T-shirts while performing.
Young was quite happy with "Sweet Home Alabama." He said, "They play like they mean it, I'm proud to have my name in a song like theirs."

After the release of "Sweet Home Alabama," Neil Young wrote several songs for Lynyrd Skynyrd as means of reconciliation, including his eventual standby "Powderfinger." However, the band had their infamous plane crash before they could use the songs, and Young ended up keeping them for himself.

Director Jonathan Demme first cut the opening sequence of his movie Philadelphia to this song in an effort to get Young to write a song like it for the film. Young gave him "Philadelphia," which he used over the end. Bruce Springsteen's contribution, "Streets Of Philadelphia," was used over the open.

In the liner notes for his greatest hits album Decade, Young wrote: "This song could have been written on a civil rights march after stopping off to watch Gone With The Wind at a local theater."

Young summed up the alleged "feud" instigated between him and Lynyrd Skynyrd in a 1995 interview with Mojo Magazine: "Oh, they didn't really put me down! But then again, maybe they did! (laughs) But not in a way that matters. S--t, I think 'Sweet Home Alabama' is a great song. I've actually performed it live a couple of times myself."

In his 2012 biography Waging Heavy Peace, Neil Young apologized for "Southern Man": "I don’t like my words when I listen to it. They are accusatory and condescending, not fully thought out, and too easy to misconstrue." (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)