You may have heard about it by now, but Neil Young is about to release a new record entitled, I believe, “Life with War.” As you might expect from the title, it’s supposed to be political in nature. Word is that the first track is called “Impeach the President.” Well, a few days ago, one of the singers hired to do backup vocals on the single left a post on her website about the experience. Here’s a clip:
…On Wednesday, I was at work when I got a call for a Neil Young session the next day. Needless to say, I was excited about it – Neil Young is one of my musical heroes. When my husband and I got to Capitol, we found 98 other singers, a collection of L.A.’s finest. All I knew was that we were singing on a new Neil Young record, but when the lyrics we were supposed to sing flashed on the giant screen, a roar went up from the choir. I’m not going to give the whole thing away, but the first line of one of the songs was “Let’s impeach the President for lyin’!” Turns out the whole thing is a classic beautiful protest record. The session was like being at a 12-hour peace rally. Every time new lyrics would come up on the screen, there were cheers, tears and applause. It was a spiritual experience. I can’t believe my good fortune at being a part of this…
Let’s hope it packs the same kind of wallop that his song “Ohio” did in the wake of the tragic events that unfolded on the campus of Kent State in May of 1970… “Ohio” was released just ten days after members of the US National Guard killed four unarmed students during a peace protest. It’s taken him a bit longer this time out, but it’s better late than never. Of course, some will say that since he still maintains Canadian citizenship, he doesn’t deserve to have an opinion (in spite of the fact that he lives here, pays taxes, etc). To that, I say, thank god we’ve got at least one cantankerous, old Canadian living among us who isn’t terrified to do what few else will and speak the truth. I wish we had a hundred more like him. (note: Here’s an interesting fact that I just picked up tonight. Young’s father was a well-regarded Canadian journalist.) So, buy the record when it comes out, and help the single some radio play. It’s your patriotic duty.
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He’s amazing, but he’s old. Where is all the anger from our Youth? They lose the most to this man. Maybe, “We a draft to thin their ranks” should be changed to “Maybe we need the threat of a draft to mobilize the true power of rage!”?
Young’s recent concert film is amazing (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0473692/), BTW. Though the Ann Arbour viewing crowd that sported bare feet and answered cell phones mi movie could have burned alive and I would not have pissed…
Kids today are babies. They live with their parents until they’re married. (No offense to my many readers who still live at home.) It makes me sick that there aren’t riots on college campuses. Maybe the only difference is the draft. I’d like to think that people would ahve protested Vietnam anyway, but maybe it was all just self-preservation… up until the point that it got “cool”, and then everyone started doing it just to get laid.
Who wants to start an “American Youth are Worthless” campaign? Or how about, “American Youth are Drones”? Or how about we just call them “The Drone Generation”? There should be some kind of coordinated attack against them.
An interesting discussion about Young and this project can also be found at the Thrasher
And how is it that no one noticed that I’d used the phrase “Arc Weld” in the title of the last post? I thought that was a brilliant segue into a post about Neil Young.
I think the NeoConmen already have an “American Youth are Worthless” campaign. It’s called “Gulf War: II The Wreckening”
I read news of this in today’s paper right alongside an article about Jack White’s new relationship with Coke. The contrast coounldn’t have been any more clear. Here on one hand we have Young who is leveraging everything he has to make a statement about the state of the world, while, on the other hand, we have White investing his time and energy in selling soda pop… Rock and Roll (at least in this generation) is dead.
According to his website, the new record will be available in streaming audio before you can get it in stores. No word as to when that is though.
And, with few exceptions, Rock and Roll has always been commercial. It’s always been about sales. Some people, like Neil Young, just do it with a little more class. The trick is finding that ballance.