Off The Tracks

Off The Tracks
  • Blog
    • Interviews
    • Miscellany
    • Special Guests
    • Reviews
  • Podcasts
  • The Vinyl Countdown
  • Back Catalogue
  • About
    • About
    • About the banner image
    • On Song
    • Advertise
August 8, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

Five Songs For Friday: 32 – The Tao of Neil 

I guess Neil Young’s been on my mind a lot this week – I rediscovered the Weld album which took me to writing about how I first discovered. And before that I enjoyed the Live Rust tribute concert. Sitting there, hearing so many of those great songs got me to thinking about how so often there’s a line – just a single line – that shows off a worldview, sets up a mood, shows a philosophy. You can enjoy Neil for so many reasons. There’s country-Neil, rock’n’roll-Neil and many points between. But lyricist-Neil is important. To me anyway. I love picking just a single line and wondering how he got to that. So clean. So simple. But containing multitudes. Here’s five off-the-top of the head examples that, er, mellow my mind…
 

1.On The Beach

The whole album is a revelation to me. But the title song has a line that gets the mood Neil sustained across the record. And it’s been part of a philosophy of sorts for me in recent year – a good trigger for empathy: “Just because my problems are meaningless, that don’t make them go away”. We’re all just struggling through. Muddling. Making a fist of it if and when we can. 

2. What Did You Do To My Life? |

From back on the self-titled solo debut- a curious wee album with some gems. Fifty years old now – but still so relevant. Neil just taking his own path, his own stand: “It’s hard enough losing/Without the confusion/Of knowing I tried”. Stoicism. That’s Neil. Stubborness is how it gets written up. But like all of us, any of us, he’s just struggling through. Muddling. Making a fist of it if and when he can.

3. Don’t Let It Bring You Down

The whole lyric really, but I love the half-line of “It’s only castles burning” – where it was about the small stuff being big in the On The Beach lyric here it’s the opposite. Don’t let it bring you down. It’s only something fucking enormous. Move on. Get through it. Don’t let it drop a shit in your milkshake. This song fucking destroys me. And I’m grateful for that. 

4. Razor Love

“You really made my day/With the little things you say”

5. Revolution Blues

It feels right to bookend this with On The Beach cuts, plus there’s some genuine anger here, what a killer-closer: “Well, I hear that Laurel Canyon is full of famous stars,/But I hate them worse than lepers and I’ll kill them in their cars.” Venom. Fire. But what I really love is the verse-ending couplets here that speak to Neil’s go-it-alone philosophy. First “I won’t attack you, but I won’t back you” and then, “I won’t deceive you, I just don’t believe you”. Sometimes Neil is the best person to write you a good Bob Dylan line. 
Bonus: The Full BBC 1971 Solo Acoustic Gig

You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron

 

  

 

  

 

  

  

 

 

Posted in Blog, Miscellany and tagged with #32, Don't Let It Bring You Down, Five, Five Song, Five Songs, Five Songs For A Friday, Five Songs For Friday, Five Songs For Friday:  32, Five Songs For Friday:  32 – The Tao of Neil, Lyrics, Neil, Neil Young, On The Beach, Philosophy, Razor Love, Revolution Blues, The Tao of Neil, What Did You Do To My Life?, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron, Young. RSS 2.0 feed.
« R.I.P. David Berman 
The Vinyl Countdown # 267  »

Popular

  • Janna Lapidus Leblanc: Four Years In Pictures
  • The Sad Story of Bob Welch: Fleetwood Mac’s Most Undervalued Member
  • The Best Guitarist in The World: # 8 – Mark Knopfler
  • John Patitucci / Vinnie Colaiuta / Bill Cunliffe: TRIO
  • Sweetman Podcast # 247: Talia Marshall
  • The Best Guitarist in The World: # 11 – Lindsey Buckingham
  • Poem: “It Was Like Watching Myself Die”
  • Substack: “Sounds Good!”
  • R.I.P. Lawrence Ferlinghetti
  • Revisiting Live at Knebworth (1990)

Archives

Tags

Album Review Auckland Book Book Review Chat Compilation DJ DVD DVD Review EP Film Film Review Gig Gig Review Guest Blog Guitar Interview Jazz Jon Mcleary Live Live Gig LP Movie Music NZ Podcast Poem Record Records Simon Sweetman Soundtrack Spines Spotify Stub Stubs Sweetman Podcast The Ghost of Electricity The Spines The Vinyl Countdown Vinyl Wellington Wgtn Writing You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron [OST]

Categories

  • Back Catalogue
  • Blog
  • Interviews
  • Miscellany
  • Mixtapes
  • Playlists
  • Podcasts
  • Reviews
  • Scene Of The Day
  • Special Guests
  • The Vinyl Countdown

Off The Tracks is the home of Sweetman Podcast, a weekly interview/chat-based pod. It's also home to my reviews across film, TV, music and books and some creative writing as well.

Off The Tracks aims to provide quality reviews and essays, regular blog updates about the shows, albums, books and movies you should be experiencing.

It's a passion project. Your support will help to keep Off The Tracks online.

All content © 2021 by Off The Tracks. WordPress Themes by Graph Paper Press