Neil Young song draft

[Erik]

I just found that that Rolling Stone did its own top 100 Neil list in 2014. Here's how they ranked (or didn't) my 100-70. As you might imagine, our lists are pretty similar at the top, but much less so at the bottom.

100. Lookout Joe (RS unranked)
99. Ramada Inn (RS #47)
98. Look Out for My Love (RS #55)
97. Get Back to the Country (RS unranked)
96. Homefires (RS unranked)
95. This Old Guitar (RS unranked)
94. Slip Away (RS #86)
93. This Note's for You (RS #42)
92. Mansion on the Hill (RS unranked)
91. Grey Riders (RS unranked)
90. Motion Pictures (for Carrie) (RS unranked)
89. Downtown (RS unranked)
88. White Line (RS unranked)
87. Ride My Llama (RS unranked)
86. Windward Passage (RS unranked)
85. Albuquerque (RS #39)
84. Everybody's Alone (RS unranked)
83. I've Been Waiting for You (RS unranked)
82. Winterlong (RS #45)
81. Sail Away (RS unranked)
80. When You Dance I Can Really Love (RS #83)
79. Lotta Love (RS unranked)
78. I Believe in You (RS unranked)
77. Through My Sails (RS unranked)
76. LA (RS #74)
75. Goin' Back (RS unranked)
74. Crime in the City (Sixty to Zero) (RS #82)
73. From Hank to Hendrix (RS #20)
72. Drive Back (RS #76)
71. World on a String (RS #65)
70. Sea of Madness (RS unranked)

[johnnya24]

I'd love a Jack White - Neil Young album.

[Erik]

Jack White produced this Neil album: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Letter_Home

[johnnya24]

Jack White produced this Neil album: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Letter_Home

I want the Jack and Neil jam sessions Vol1-5

[Erik]

69. Razor Love (Silver and Gold, 2000; written and first performed in 1984)
Gentle but sprawling, this song goes back to Neil's mid-80s country phase, where it first appeared in International Harvesters sets but didn't make the cut for Old Ways. I first encountered it when given a tape of a radio broadcast of a 1989 acoustic show; it so happened to be its only appearance of that year. The rolling melody and touching lyrics about overlooking your partner's flaws to provide steadfast love hooked me. It was revived again on his 1999 solo tour -- I happened to be at the show where it made its first appearance that year, and was ecstatic. Neil finally committed it to record shortly thereafter, where it became one of the standouts of Silver and Gold.

[Erik]

Because we were in lockdown and I was bored and had a lot of time on my hands, I made a list of my top 100 Neil Young songs. I'll be posting one a day on Facebook (when I remember) and when I do, I'll add it to this thread because why not.

68. On the Way Home (Buffalo Springfield's Last Time Around, 1968)
This is basically two songs in one, but the message is the same. Neil's stint in Buffalo Springfield was a tumultuous one, as he constantly fought with Stephen Stills and quit the band on multiple occasions. He is barely present on their swansong, Last Time Around, but still makes an impact. The album kicks off with this, one of his finest compositions to that point. It's a breakup letter to the rest of the band and pretty stark emotionally. "I went insane like a smoke ring day when the wind blows" remains one of my favorite lines of his. Oddly, the decision was made to try to make it into a hit single, so it was adorned with horns and strings, and Richie Furay, who had the most conventional singing voice in the band, was given the lead vocal. Like other Springfield singles except "For What It's Worth," it didn't gain much traction on the charts.
The Springfield version is a lot of fun, but the real reason this song is on the list is the version on CSNY's live album Four Way Street. Stripped down to its essence, with Neil singing it himself, this version is as raw and honest as anything he's ever done. Neil warbling "And I love you/can you feel it now?" while CSN provide anguished harmonies has always given me the chills.

Springfield version:

[Erik]

CSNY version:

[Gregg]

CSNY version:

Great song on one of the best albums.

[Erik]

67. Long May You Run (Stills-Young Band's Long May You Run, 1976; written and first performed in 1974)
One of Neil's most sentimental and most quoted songs, this one means a lot of things to a lot of people. But it's actually about a car. Neil loves cars.
It's also the only song from Neil's duo album with Stephen Stills that really holds up. The rest of it is not A-grade material from either of them, and has a lot of the "layered b------t" production of the time that Neil hated. Not surprisingly, live acoustic versions are often where this song shines the most.

[Gregg]

67. Long May You Run (Stills-Young Band's Long May You Run, 1976; written and first performed in 1974)
One of Neil's most sentimental and most quoted songs, this one means a lot of things to a lot of people. But it's actually about a car. Neil loves cars.
It's also the only song from Neil's duo album with Stephen Stills that really holds up. The rest of it is not A-grade material from either of them, and has a lot of the "layered b------t" production of the time that Neil hated. Not surprisingly, live acoustic versions are often where this song shines the most.

It will be interesting to me to see what 66 songs you put ahead of this iconic one.

[chancellor]

It will be interesting to me to see what 66 songs you put ahead of this iconic one.

It's fun seeing the different reactions - mine was 67? This song made the top 100?!? I'm admittedly biased since I consider this album to be one of Neil's worst - if not his absolute worst - LP in his extensive discography.

[Erik]

It's fun seeing the different reactions - mine was 67? This song made the top 100?!? I'm admittedly biased since I consider this album to be one of Neil's worst - if not his absolute worst - LP in his extensive discography.

So I guess you haven't heard Are You Passionate or Storytone.

[Erik]

66. Like an Inca (Trans, 1982)
Trans is Neil's synth-and-vocoder album, except when it isn't. It was born after Geffen Records rejected the album he recorded for it in 1981, Island in the Sun. That was a guitar-based folk-rock album that the label decided was passe. They asked for a more modern product, so Neil gave them synths and vocoders, and you couldn't get much more modern than that at the time. However, while Trans is infamous for those tracks, it also had a few leftovers from Island in the Sun, the best of which is this one.
It's thematically descended from Cortez the Killer (he would go to that well again on 1987's Inca Queen) and borrows some of its lyrics from Hitchhiker, a chronicle of his drug use written in the mid 70s. (Hitchhiker made its live debut in 1992 and finally saw an official release in radically altered form on 2010's Le Noise. A sparse acoustic version from the mid-70s became the title track of a recent archival release.)
As for Like an Inca, it fascinates me because it's one of the few examples of Neil doing an extended jamming style that doesn't sound like Crazy Horse or CSNY. And the hippies and their descendants can certainly dance to it. After disappearing follwing the Trans tour, it was revived in even longer versions on the 2016 tour with Promise of the Real, Neil's only backing band that's ever been able to execute ALL of his styles.

[Erik]

It will be interesting to me to see what 66 songs you put ahead of this iconic one.

You are going to be really baffled by my placement of one of his most famous songs.

[Erik]

65. Interstate (Broken Arrow vinyl version, 1996; written and first performed in 1985)
This song, in which Neil laments missing his children while on the road, is one of best tunes he wrote in the '80s and gives me chills. But it's mostly been a mystery to non-diehard fans. Written in 1985 too late for Old Ways, Neil debuted it in Philly (!) on his fall tour that year and played it a handful of times thereafter. Those versions are stunning and as of now can only be heard on bootlegs. He next worked it up during the Ragged Glory sessions but decided the album didn't need an acoustic song. Finally, a more rustic version was worked up for Broken Arrow, but only included on the vinyl release, during the nadir of vinyl's popularity. Hopefully it comes out of hiding again someday.