Top Ten Songs by Neil Young
Young first hit the big time with Buffalo Springfield and was also in one of the world’s first super groups in Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. But his solo career has dwarfed the accomplishments of those two bands and the 00s (aughts) mark the fifth different decade he has released a solo album.
Here is my list of the ten best Neil Young solo songs.
#10) From Hank to Hendrix From 1992’s “Harvest Moon”, this song represents Neil’s quiet, reflective side, with homages to pop icons thrown in along the way.
“From Hank to Hendrix
I walked these streets with you
Here I am with this old guitar
Doin’ what I do.
I always expected
That you should see me through
I never believed in much
But I believed in you.”
The Hank in the song, of course, refers to country & western superstar Hank Williams. The song also mentions Marilyn Monroe and Madonna. Madonna seems an unlikely source of inspiration for Neil, but she is perhaps the only singer to have adopted as many different “personas” as he has.
#9) I’m the Ocean From 1995’s “Mirror Ball”, I’m the Ocean is impossible to pin down. It can be viewed as stream of consciousness or dream lyrics or it might be about his family or even about his own place in the musical landscape.
“I’m not present
I’m a drug that makes you dream
I’m an Aerostar
I’m a Cutlass Supreme
In the wrong lane
Trying to turn against the flow
I’m the ocean
I’m the giant undertow.”
What is sure is that it has some evocative lyrics and combined with Pearl Jam as the backing band, the song leaves a giant impact on the listener.
#8) A Man Needs a Maid From 1972’s “Harvest”, A Man Needs a Maid often gets lost in the face of more radio-friendly songs on the album. But the song ponders if love and companionship are worth the risk of getting hurt and what the alternatives may be.
“My life is changing in so many ways
I don’t know who to trust anymore
There’s a shadow running thru my days
Like a beggar going from door to door.
I was thinking that maybe I’d get a maid
Find a place nearby for her to stay.
Just someone to keep my house clean,
Fix my meals and go away.”
The song has been criticized as being anti-women but I believe the message is not that women are second-class citizens but rather that a committed relationship is not always the answer. It also has the benefit of being Bob Dylan’s favorite Neil Young song.
#7) This Note’s For You The title track from Neil’s 1988 album, This Note’s For You is an attack on artists selling out by lending their names, faces and songs to corporate sponsors.
“Don’t want no cash
Don’t need no money
Ain’t got no stash
This note’s for you.
Ain’t singin’ for Pepsi
Ain’t singin’ for Coke
I don’t sing for nobody
Makes me look like a joke
This note’s for you.”
The song met initial resistance from MTV, which refused to play the video for fear of alienating its sponsors. But public demand forced the video onto the air and in the end it was selected as the station’s Video of the Year based on fan requests.
#6) Cinnamon Girl The opening cut from 1969’s “Everybody Knows This is Nowhere”, Cinnamon Girl is a rare Neil Young track. It expresses longing, a common theme, but in an extremely upbeat way.
“I wanna live with a cinnamon girl
I could be happy the rest of my life
With a cinnamon girl.
A dreamer of pictures
I run in the night
You see us together,
chasing the moonlight,
My cinnamon girl.”
The song is clearly not about his wife, the cinnamon girl is not a groupie, either. She is probably an ideal, an imaginary person. Regardless, it’s great three-chord rock-n-roll.
#5) Tonight’s The Night Neil hinted at the pain drugs had caused with Needle and the Damage Done from “Harvest”. But he devoted an entire album to his ruminations on the subject with 1975’s “Tonight’s The Night”. The title track dealt with the death of roadie Bruce Berry from a heroin overdose.
“Bruce Berry was a working man
He used to load that Econoline van.
A sparkle was in his eye
But his life was in his hands.
Well, late at night
when the people were gone
He used to pick up my guitar
And sing a song in a shaky voice
That was real as the day was long.”
Neil’s singing and playing on this album is quite shaky, too. But it fits the subject matter perfectly. This is not radio-friendly material, and it is a polar opposite to Rod Stewart’s song of the same name. But it is haunting and powerful and ranks among Neil’s best work.
#4) Sugar Mountain One of Neil’s first recordings, Sugar Mountain was released as the B side of The Loner single in 1968 and never made it onto an album until his retrospective “Decade” was released in 1977. The song creates an imaginary, idyllic childhood place where you are forced to leave when you become an adult.
“Now you’re underneath the stairs
And you’re givin’ back some glares
To the people who you met
And it’s your first cigarette.
Oh, to live on sugar mountain
With the barkers and the colored balloons,
You can’t be twenty on sugar mountain
Though you’re thinking that you’re leaving there too soon,
You’re leaving there too soon.”
The song is one of many, including most notably I am a Child and Old Man, to look at age and maturity, or the lack thereof. These songs were written when Neil himself was barely an adult, which lends to the odd, almost mystical feel of the songs.
#3) Let’s Impeach the President (For Lying) The risk of creating a protest song is that once the protest has been solved, or worse forgotten, the song becomes dated and painful. The CSN&Y song Ohio, about the Kent State shootings, is one that has stood the test of time. I have no doubt that Let’s Impeach the President from 2006’s “Living With War”, will also age like a fine wine.
“Let’s impeach the president for lying
And misleading our country into war
Abusing all the power that we gave him
And shipping all our money out the door
Who’s the man who hired all the criminals
The White House shadows who hide behind closed doors
They bend the facts to fit with their new stories
Of why we have to send our men to war.”
The man who once sang, “Even Richard Nixon has got soul” and praised President Reagan’s foreign policy leaves no doubt where he stands on the activity of the current Bush Administration. An added bonus is the inclusion of contrary sound bites from President Bush on policy, while Neil sings “flip-flop”. The song is direct, uncompromising and passionate, which all contribute to the ultimate success of the work.
#2) Rockin’ in the Free World After a decade spent chasing different artistic styles, Neil closed the 80s with “Freedom”, an album filled with “typical” Neil Young sounds and themes. Rockin’ in the Free World is blessed with a sing-along chorus which hides its attack on crime, drug addiction, homelessness and the overall attitude of the Reagan-Bush Administrations toward domestic policy.
“I see a woman in the night
With a baby in her hand
Under an old street light
Near a garbage can
Now she puts the kid away,
And she’s gone to get a hit
She hates her life,
And what she’s done to it
There’s one more kid
That will never go to school
Never get to fall in love,
Never get to be cool.”
Neil sang the song on “Saturday Night Live” and the performance was selected as one of the show’s best during its 25h anniversary special.
#1) Hey Hey My My (Into the Black) The ultimate anthem song. From 1979’s “Rust Never Sleeps”, Hey Hey My My has simple lyrics but touches on many musical genres. Some heard it as praising Rock-n-Roll (and dismissing Disco) while others saw nods to rockabilly and punk. And it served as a bible for the grunge sound of the late 80s-early 90s.
“The king is gone
But he’s not forgotten
Is this the story
Of Johnny Rotten?
It’s better to burn out
’cause rust never sleeps
The king is gone
But he’s not forgotten.
Hey hey, my my
Rock and roll can never die
There’s more to the picture
Than meets the eye.”
Praising Elvis, acknowledging the Sex Pistols and paving the way for Nirvana, never has one song done so much with so little and sounded so great doing it.
