Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Neil Young’s New CD


I’ve been a Neil Young fan for about 30 years now, I have about a dozen of his albums and have always thought his blend of folk and rock made him one of the most interesting artists of his time. But I won’t be buying Neil’s new CD. I first heard about the CD on the Drudge Report a few days ago. One of the new songs is called "Impeach The President”.

I was a little surprised. Back in the 80’s, Neil took a lot of flak for publicly stating his support for Ronald Reagan. This was quite a shock at the time from a child of the 60’s who had written songs like Ohio. “Tin soldiers and Nixon’s coming, we’re finally on our way” he crooned while describing the Kent State tragedy, Neil had even expressed regret for penning Ohio, remarking that he felt guilty for making money off the four people who died. He even went as far as to recant his Crosby Stills and Nash years by singing in “Hippie Dream”.

But the Wooden Ships
Were just a hippie dream
Capsized in excess
If you know what I mean

"Wooden Ships" was one of CSN’s most popular songs. Neil’s no stranger to controversy, Lynard Skynard’s “Sweet Home Alabama” was a direct response to Neil’s “Southern Man”, a song about Alabama Governor George Wallace.

Southern change going to come at last
Now your crosses are burning fast.

Lynard Skynard defended their home state in “Sweet Home Alabama” by singing;

In Birmingham there was a Governor
We all did what we could do
I know my conscience doesn’t bother me
Does your conscience bother you?
(now tell me true)

Then later in the same song ;

We heard ‘ole Neil sing about us
We heard ‘ole Neil put us down
But Mr. Young can remember
Southern Man don’t need him around anyhow

After 9/11 Neil wrote “Lets Roll” about the passengers of Flight 93, and expressed support for
The Patriot Act. A few years later and Neil is still rockin’ in the free world. But now there is a lot more at stake than 4 college students. America is at war in Iraq and Afghanistan and Neil is going to make money off it. The CD is called “Living With War” and the entire album of 10 songs are protests against President Bush and the war in Iraq. Here’s a lyric sample from Neil’s website;

"I raise my hand in peace
I never bow to the laws of the thought police
I take a holy vow ... to never kill again ...

"In the big hotels ,
in the mosques and the doors of the old museum ...
I take a holy vow ... to never kill again."

So it was ok for the passengers on flight 93 to fight back, but now we’re “taking vows to never kill again“? Can we logically expect the terrorists to do the same? The Patriot Act was sound policy 4 years ago, but now it’s the “thought police”? Long time fans have got to ask. “will the real Neil Young please stand up?.” With over 2000 Americans dead in Iraq and Canadian Neil Young making a profit. That should dwarf the guilt he felt for writing Ohio, eh?

11 Comments:

Blogger American Crusader said...

lol..I firt posted this in the wrong place.
I've always been a big fan of Neil Young. I have "Prairie Wind", I think that's his latest but I can't recall any song calling for the impeachment of George Bush.
I was fortunate to see Neil Young once in Atlanta with Crazy Horse.
Favorite songs are Cowgirl In the Sand and Down by the River.

April 18, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

weak. not neil. you.

April 18, 2006  
Blogger kevin said...

I last NY cd I bought was Harvest Moon, it's excellant if you don't already have it. My favorite song of his is Cinnamon Girl, we used to play it a one of the bands I was in. I hate to pick on Neil, I really do.If it was just the one song I would have let it go, but a whole album? At that point I felt I have to choose between the troops and Neil. No choice there

April 18, 2006  
Blogger kevin said...

Anonymous,
Care to explain? I went to a lot of effort to make my point, now make yours.

April 18, 2006  
Blogger Jason Pappas said...

Neil seems confused and he has to live among the clinically nihilistic America-bashers in show business. Not the healthiest of environments. I know, I’ve lived my whole life in New York City among the most demented of leftist drones. But I can’t let him off the hook. When in doubt, keep your mouth shut before you windup putting your foot where it doesn’t belong.

April 19, 2006  
Blogger Brooke said...

An ENTIRE album?

What, is Alzheimer's kicking in?

I hate to say it, but Neil is pulling a George Clooney/Tom Cruise here. He is clouding his professional talent with his personal life and views.

When I see Clooney, I can't watch concentrate on his character because all I can see is his politics. When Cruise is on screen, all I see is him jumping up and down on Oprah's couch, and spouting his Scientology stuff.

Neil is doing the same thing with this album. The next time I hear him, I'm not going to hear his music; I'm going to hear his political views.

April 19, 2006  
Blogger JTL said...

And Toby Keith is somehow less crazy?

April 19, 2006  
Blogger kevin said...

I wouldn't know, I don't have any Toby Keith records. But I doubt he would devote an entire album to Impeachment of a Canadian Prime Minister.

April 19, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think Anonymous did a much better job of making his point than you did.

April 20, 2006  
Blogger kevin said...

Unlike anonymous, you have formed a complete sentence. However, neither one of you have given a reason for your opinion. I'm left to imagine why you disagree.

April 20, 2006  
Blogger WomanHonorThyself said...

"Neil seems confused and he has to live among the clinically nihilistic America-bashers in show business"...good one...and good posting Kev!

April 20, 2006  

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