(Click photo to enlarge)
Living Kennedy's dream
There was an automatic camera
Shooting elephantine
While the crew was relaxing
Before the video screen
Watching old reruns
Of Mohammed Ali"
~~"Misfits" by Neil Young
Paul Nelson writes in Rolling Stone, on 27th July 1978 on the Boarding House shows:
"In the manner of the best of the traditional blues singers, Neil Young seems totally alone on stage in a way that almost no contemporary performer ever does. But he's not foreboding, and you don't feel shut off.
Head down, chin tucked into his shoulders like a boxer, he peers out at you with those all-knowing eyes filled with humour and flashes that beatific, silly grin. Like Muhammad Ali, he may well be the greatest."
I know where I'm going and I know the truth, and I don't have to be what you want me to be. I'm free to be what I want.
~~Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali and The Beatles - 1964
Muhammad Ali speaking truth to power:
“Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?Only the greatest speak truth to power ... fearlessly.
No, I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here.
I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality. If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow.
I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years.”
- Muhammad Ali.
RIP to the Greatest of all time
ReplyDeleteI had a bootleg from The Palladium in 1976 where Neil plays an early version of "Pocahontas" where during the "Marlon Brando" part, Neil throws in some different names, and he mentions Muhammad Ali.
Funny you should mention that Richie.
ReplyDeleteThat was sort of the inspiration of this post. We spent about 15 minutes hunting around here at TW for that exact tape, to no avail. We recalled the show with the lyrics change but just couldn't seem to locate it in the TW Archives. What a shambles?!
But now we can zero in on it on our next hunt and give a spin in honor of "The Greatest".
Thrasher, the show you're looking for is 11/20/76. Good luck on your hunt.
DeleteBtw, I just want to say that you've done a great thing putting this site together. I've been checking it out for over a year now, and I think it's great. Glad to join the conversations about our favorite artist!
He also sang Muhammad Ali (along with Marilyn Monroe and john F Kennedy) at the first Neil Young gig I was at in glasgow in July 1996. You never know. He might repeat the tribute tomorrow.
ReplyDelete