Neil Young song draft

[Erik]

Here's the SNL performance I was referring to:

I thought I could sneak this late in our draft, but Cobain beat me to it.

[madducks]

Looking forward to seeing where my favorite Neil tune ends up on this list. Maybe it will be number one here as well.

[Erik]

Looking forward to seeing where my favorite Neil tune ends up on this list. Maybe it will be number one here as well.

The top 12 are pretty much what one might expect. Tomorrow’s entry may be a bit of a surprise.

[Erik]

13. Don't Let It Bring You Down (After the Gold Rush, 1970)
Why is this the highest-ranked of the many incredible acoustic songs on After the Gold Rush? Personal history. An amazing live version appears on Four Way Street, which my parents had and which I heard as a young child. I didn't become familiar with much of the rest of the album until my teen years.
One could debate for hours what all the images in the song are supposed to mean, but to me the bottom line is, there's a lot of crazy stuff going on in the world, you can't let it get to you. And this year, we need that message more than ever.

[Erik]

12. Old Man (Harvest, 1972)
This is my favorite song on Neil's most popular album and always has been. It's perfectly constructed in every way, and performed expertly by the Stray Gators with harmonies from Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor (who also played banjo). It's about how we all share many needs regardless of age: "Old man take a look at my life, I'm a lot like you/I need someone to love me the whole day through/Ah, one look in my eyes and you can tell that's true." Neil's vocal brims with emotion and is one of his finest singing performances.
Neil wrote this in 1970 for Louis Avila, the caretaker of his ranch that he had recently purchased. Neil told the story in the Heart of Gold documentary: "Louis took me for a ride in this blue Jeep. He gets me up there on the top side of the place, and there's this lake up there that fed all the pastures, and he says, "Well, tell me, how does a young man like yourself have enough money to buy a place like this?" And I said, "Well, just lucky, Louis, just real lucky." And he said, "Well, that's the darnedest thing I ever heard." And I wrote this song for him."

[Erik]

11. F*!#in' Up (Ragged Glory, 1990)
This song slaps you in the brain. A monstrous, crunching riff guides the crowning achievement from Crazy Horse's comeback album, appropriately set to lyrics of anguish and frustration. It musters the kind of energy and power that most younger bands of the time couldn't touch, especially when everything kicks up a notch starting at 3:40. I was obsessed with this song in college and played it at a loud volume constantly.

[Gregg]

12. Old Man (Harvest, 1972)
This is my favorite song on Neil's most popular album and always has been. It's perfectly constructed in every way, and performed expertly by the Stray Gators with harmonies from Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor (who also played banjo). It's about how we all share many needs regardless of age: "Old man take a look at my life, I'm a lot like you/I need someone to love me the whole day through/Ah, one look in my eyes and you can tell that's true." Neil's vocal brims with emotion and is one of his finest singing performances.
Neil wrote this in 1970 for Louis Avila, the caretaker of his ranch that he had recently purchased. Neil told the story in the Heart of Gold documentary: "Louis took me for a ride in this blue Jeep. He gets me up there on the top side of the place, and there's this lake up there that fed all the pastures, and he says, "Well, tell me, how does a young man like yourself have enough money to buy a place like this?" And I said, "Well, just lucky, Louis, just real lucky." And he said, "Well, that's the darnedest thing I ever heard." And I wrote this song for him."

This is my favorite Neil Young song of all time.

I was young when he wrote it. Now the young guns could be singing it to me.

[Erik]

This is my favorite Neil Young song of all time.

I was young when he wrote it. Now the young guns could be singing it to me.

I was 1 when he released it and not yet born when he wrote it. And the youngsters who confuse "middle age" with "old" might sing it to me.

[Erik]

As we head into the top 10, here is where my list stands against Rolling Stone's. Six of my top 10 are also in their top 10, but no songs hold the same spot on both lists.

101. Lookout Joe (RS unranked)
100. Ramada Inn (RS #47)
99. Look Out for My Love (RS #55)
98. Get Back to the Country (RS unranked)
97. Homefires (RS unranked)
96. This Old Guitar (RS unranked)
95. Slip Away (RS #86)
94. This Note's for You (RS #42)
93. Mansion on the Hill (RS unranked)
92. Grey Riders (RS unranked)
91. Motion Pictures (for Carrie) (RS unranked)
90. Downtown (RS unranked)
89. White Line (RS unranked)
88. Ride My Llama (RS unranked)
87. Windward Passage (RS unranked)
86. Albuquerque (RS #39)
85. Everybody's Alone (RS unranked)
84. I've Been Waiting for You (RS unranked)
83. Winterlong (RS #45)
82. Sail Away (RS unranked)
81. Vacancy (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)
69. Razor Love (RS #60)
68. On the Way Home (RS #46)
67. Long May You Run (RS #32)
66. Like an Inca (RS unranked)
65. Interstate (RS unranked)
64. Days That Used to Be (RS unranked)
63. New Mama (RS unranked)
62. Wrecking Ball (RS unranked)
61. Shots (RS unranked)
60. Scenery (RS unranked)
59. Live to Ride (RS unranked)
58. Prisoners of Rock 'N' Roll (RS #87)
57. Come on Baby Let's Go Downtown (RS unranked)
56. Too Far Gone (RS #48)
55. Natural Beauty (RS unranked)
54. Unknown Legend (RS unranked)
53. Comes a Time (RS #51)
52. Broken Arrow (RS #23)
51. No Hidden Path (RS unranked)
50. Heart of Gold (RS #2)
49. Roll Another Number (for the Road) (RS #54)
48. Last Dance (RS unranked)
47. Welfare Mothers (RS unranked)
46. Pushed It Over the End (RS #61)
45. Harvest Moon (RS #37)
44. Don't Be Denied (RS #38)
43. Pardon My Heart (RS unranked)
42. Time Fades Away (RS unranked)
41. Change Your Mind (RS #40)
40. Love and Only Love (RS unranked)
39. Don't Cry No Tears (RS #21)
38. Mr. Soul (RS #35)
37. Tell Me Why (RS #75)
36. The Needle and the Damage Done (RS #13)
35. Birds (RS unranked)
34. Silver and Gold (RS #78)
33. Expecting to Fly (RS #15)
32. Sedan Delivery (RS #30)
31. Love to Burn (RS #91)
30. Words (Between the Lines of Age) (RS #64)
29. Walk On (RS unranked)
28. Ordinary People (RS #78)
27. War of Man (RS unranked)
26. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (RS #72)
25. The Loner (RS #41)
24. Ambulance Blues (RS #33)
23. Danger Bird (RS #24)
22. Only Love Can Break Your Heart (RS #26)
21. Cinnamon Girl (RS #7)
20. Thrasher (RS #56)
19. Pocahontas (RS #25)
18. On the Beach (RS #43)
17. Like a Hurricane (RS #10)
16. After the Gold Rush (RS #8)
15. Revolution Blues (RS #29)
14. No More (RS unranked)
13. Don't Let It Bring You Down (RS #34)
12. Old Man (RS #11)
11. F*!#in' Up (RS #36)

[Gregg]

I was 1 when he released it and not yet born when he wrote it. And the youngsters who confuse "middle age" with "old" might sing it to me.

Or you to them.

[Erik]

10. Southern Man (After the Gold Rush, 1970)
This is an incredibly powerful song musically and lyrically that unfortunately still resonates today. Neil rattles off horrific images of slavery ("I heard screamin' and bullwhips crackin'") and warns that the culture that allowed it to happen will persist unless we do something about it.
All of this is set to a pounding piano line by a very young Nils Lofgren, who had never played piano before this session, and anguished, ferocious runs from Neil on guitar. Live, it reached titanic heights as it became a prime vehicle for guitar duels with Stephen Stills at CSNY's 1970 shows, as captured on Four Way Street.
It was also featured prominently on the 1973 Time Fades Away tour with the Stray Gators and the 1976 tour with Crazy Horse, but it has taken a back seat since then, usually coming out in solo acoustic sets or in the early parts of nostalgia-driven CSNY shows. It's only been tackled a few times by Promise of the Real. Given today's climate, I wonder it will return to its old place of late-set blowout should they ever tour together again.
People think this song inspired Sweet Home Alabama ("I hope Neil Young will remember/A southern man don't need him around anyhow") but that was more Southern Man's successor, Alabama, which appears on Harvest and is kind of redundant; Neil couldn't convey his message any better than he did on Southern Man.

[Erik]

Strap in, here's the Four Way Street version:

[chancellor]

4 Way Street Version is by far my favorite. This one would be #2 on my list.

[Erik]

4 Way Street Version is by far my favorite. This one would be #2 on my list.

The Southern Man and Carry On jams on Four Way Street are among my favorite tracks on any live album by anyone.

Basically my top 6 are what they are because of personal stories. Had these not existed, maybe this would be top 5 for me.

[Erik]

9. Cowgirl in the Sand (Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, 1969)
As he was making preparations for his second solo album, Neil was laid up in bed with the flu and a high fever. During this time, he composed this, as well as Cinnamon Girl, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and Down by the River. It has to have been the most productive fever ever contracted.
Rock and rollers had taken guitar noise to a different level starting in 1967, but Neil went even further afield on this song. His lead runs are angry and yet melodic. It wasn't much like what the blues-influenced guitar virtuosos were doing at the time, and it was a different approach to the sonic wallop from what Jimi Hendrix was doing, but it captured something innovative and magical. Some writers have compared Neil's guitar work on this and Down by the River to free jazz; I know not nearly enough about music theory to comment on that.
I actually first encountered this as an acoustic song. It appears on the acoustic disc of CSNY's Four Way Street, which I heard often when I was young, and I had no idea this was an extended electric jam until I sought out FM radio as a tween.
The lyrics make some interesting points about the dilemmas regarding sexual freedom that were hotly debated at the time, but some of the lines have dated badly, to say the least. That may be a reason why this song is here and its companion is where it is.