Posts tagged Neil Young
I Shall Be Released from The Last Waltz
Mar 18th
The Last Waltz - best concert film of all time? Certainly right up there. When I stumble upon it on TV, like I did tonight, there’s no way I can turn away.
Thanksgiving 1976. The Band. Bob Dylan. Van Morrison. Neil Young. Dr. John. Joni Mitchell. Muddy Waters. Eric Clapton. Neil Diamond. Ronnie Wood. Ringo Starr. Ronnie Hawkins. Paul Butterfield.
Still such a thrill to watch. Here’s the last song of the show, as Dylan leads The Band and all the guests in his own tune, “I Shall Be Released”…
BUY iT ….
Oh hell, let me add a few other tunes…
The Band w/ Neil Diamond
“Dry Your Eyes”
The Band w/ Joni Mitchell
“Coyote”
The Band w/ Muddy Waters
“Mannish Boy”
Powderfinger
Oct 31st
Yeah, well, I can’t enough of Neil Young’s “Powderfinger”….
Shelter me from the powder and the finger
Cover me with the thought that pulled the trigger
Think of me as one you’d never figured
Would fade away so young
With so much left undone
Remember me to my love,
I know I’ll miss her.
That’s the final and most goosebump-inducing verse of the song. And this 10-22-78 performance at the Cow Palace near San Francisco (the shows that spawned the Rust Never Sleeps and Live Rust albums) ratchets the intensity up even further. Especially when guitarist Frank “Poncho” Sampedro comes over to Neil’s mic to join in for the final verse.
Thrasher
Oct 27th
A couple weeks back, I finally got a couple of good CD display cabinets, mounted them on the wall, and released my CD’s from years of exile in plastic storage bins. It’s nice to have them in my face again, and it’s making me revisit a lot of favorites from my past that haven’t yet made it to the iTunes rip machine.
One such CD is Neil Young & Crazy Horse’s Rust Never Sleeps, which I initially bought because of my love for the song “Powderfinger”. But upon listening to it recently, it was the beautiful lyrics, intense imagery and the simple & sweet melody of “Thrasher” that hit me.
The amazing lyrics have undoubtedly been absorbed and closely studied by longtime fans of Neil, but I’m still trying to wrap my head around them – even just the last few lines:
Where the vulture glides descending
On an asphalt highway bending
Thru libraries and museums, galaxies and stars
Down the windy halls of friendship
To the rose clipped by the bullwhip
The motel of lost companions
Waits with heated pool and bar.But me I’m not stopping there,
Got my own row left to hoe
Just another line in the field of time
When the thrashers comes, I’ll be stuck in the sun
Like the dinosaurs in shrines
But I’ll know the time has come
To give what’s mine.
There’s magic in those words. And the sort of melancholy, matter of fact style in which Neil sings it… Wow… Such a good tune…
Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Thrasher (mp3)
A Day in the Life: Paul joins Neil Young
Jul 3rd
Now this had me grinning ear to ear. Last weekend at Hyde Park, Neil Young was closing with “A Day In The Life”, and out strolls Paul McCartney. The look on Neil’s face while they’re singing together is just priceless. Pure joy. And they don’t call it a night until they’ve done a duet on the vibes. Killer!
Harvest Moonin’
Jul 9th
I’m in a “Harvest Moon” sort of mood tonight, so I went searching on YouTube for the MTV Unplugged performance complete with the sweeping broom. But I couldn’t find it. But I did find the video below. And wow, are there a lot of homemade covers out there! Some good, some – ehh. Like this or this or this. Or this or this. Or this. Or this or this, or this one by the Neil Youngsters!
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