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An unofficial news blog for Neil Young fans from Thrasher's Wheat with concert and album updates, reviews, analysis, and other Rock & Roll ramblings. Separating the wheat from the chaff since 1996.
In memory of all of the Bridge School Benefit Concerts we've attended over the years, here's a posting of our thoughts on Remembering The Warmth & Love of Bridge School Concerts . So in memory of the 30 years of Bridge School Benefit Concerts, readers have been submitting favorite memories. Let us know a favorite Bridge School Benefit Concerts and we'll try and post.
Here's a tribute to the late, great Lou Reed at the 2013 Bridge School Benefit Concert by Neil Young & Friends. (Thanks to Syscrusher for suggestion, who said: "Incredible moving performance. Lou and Neil are my top two favourite musical artists, and to see Neil send off Lou, channeling that energy from The netherworld via his harmonica brought me chills and tears every time I watched it")
The loss of the hugely influential Lou Reed came just a day before the annual Bridge concerts, so there was great anticipation about not if -- but who - would step forward to pay homage to Mr. Street Hassle himself. The tribute task fell to My Morning Jacket's Jim James, who covered the Velvet Underground’s “Oh! Sweet Nuthin’” along with Neil Young, Elvis Costello, Jenny Lewis, and more.
Also, check the great save by the strings when the strap comes off of Neil's guitar towards the end.
In memory of all of the Bridge School Benefit Concerts we've attended over the years, here's a posting of our thoughts on Remembering The Warmth & Love of Bridge School Concerts . So in memory of the 30 years of Bridge School Benefit Concerts, readers have been submitting favorite memories. Let us know a favorite Bridge School Benefit Concerts and we'll try and post.
Before attempting to answer these questions, let's back up a bit. Actually let's go way, way back to the immortal song "Powderfinger" by Neil Young, written circa 1976. In the highly enigmatic song, Neil sings:
"Daddy's gone, my brother's out hunting in the mountains
Big John's been drinking since the river took Emmy-Lou So the Powers That Be left me here to do the thinkin'
And I just turned twenty-two
I was wonderin' what to do
And the closer they got,
The more those feelings grew."
Generally speaking, "The Powers That Be" most often reference Government or to use George Orwell's 1984 term -- "Big Brother". But who really is behind "Big Brother"? (Here's a hint ... from the essential film "Network" (1976), the essential "Boardroom scene".)
So is Neil referencing the same "Powers That Be" in his new song "Children of Destiny" as he was in "Powderfinger"? We'll venture a qualified "Yes and No."
Yes, both the new song "Children of Destiny" and "Powderfinger" are referencing Government SLASH "Big Brother" as "The Powers That Be". Typically, "The Government" is viewed as an extraordinarily powerful monolithic system where resistance is futile. In the context of the narrator of "Powderfinger", it seems that he has been abandoned by his fellow soldiers, i.e., Government, hence he has to do his own thinking. And thinking for oneself is the definition of true freedom.
"Children of Destiny" - Neil Young + Promise of the Real
Frame from Official Music Video
In Neil Young's new Song "Children of Destiny", he sings the lyrics:
Stand up for what you believe Resist the powers that be
Preserve the ways of democracy
So the children can be free--
the children of destiny...
Again, judging by the video's images, "The Powers That Be" appear to reference "The Government", particularly the military, similar to "Powderfinger".
One reason that we think that Neil Young's new song seems to be causing so much mis-placed grief is that some seem to be taking this as a direct attack against U.S. President Donald Trump. While Neil Young has been very clear about not supporting Donald Trump, we do not feel this song is targeting President Trump as the power to be resisted, specifically.
We see this as a non-partisan position -- resist all the powers -- Republican, Democratic, Socialist, Communist, Military, police, Authority, etc.
And one can see this position of resisting power as being consistent for Neil Young even going as far back as 1970's song "Ohio" with CSNY and the lines:
"Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming
Four dead in Ohio."
Today, we have an ever growing clamor by the elite media to reign in "fake news" that would make the crusading anti-Communist Joseph McCarthy quite proud. It is without irony, that nowhere in the establishment is there a concern whatsoever about infringing on our Constitutional rights of free speech and free press.
Officer Carmichael in Greendale
As everyone is recognizing, the real threat to democracy and freedom is the propaganda spewing elite mainstream media which is ramping up their war on "Fake News". And the irony of ironies is that the war on "Fake News" is being waged with -- what else -- fake news.
Lukas Nelson Discusses Neil Young: Interview by Chris Shiflett
Lukas Nelson discusses working with Neil Young in an interview with Chris Shiflett on the Walking the Floor podcast.
Lukas says of his friend, collaborator and bandmate, Neil Young:
"I was playing Farm Aid with my band, and we covered this one song of Neil's, "L.A.," off of Time Fades Away, which is a super-obscure Neil album," remembers Nelson.
"We covered that song four or five years ago, and Neil came up to me and said, 'Hey man, that's great.'" That casual conversation kicked off a longstanding friendship that has since grown into an onstage collaboration, with Nelson and his bandmates joining Young in the studio for his thirty-sixth album, The Monsanto Years. When Young released the record in 2015, he hired Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real as his backup band.
"We all came from the same cosmic soul cluster," Nelson says proudly, adding, "The last two years of playing with Neil has just been a constant elation."
Neil Young + Promise of the Real's new song "Children of Destiny" -- featuring a full orchestra -- has been making a bit of a splash this summer. So much so that Thrasher's Wheat counter response to Forbes Magazine's review of Neil Young's new song "Children of Destiny" merited a personal reply by the author David Alm. (More below)
I'm the writer of the Forbes piece, and I really hope I'm not opening myself up to any direct hostility by posting here. I just wanted to say that I've enjoyed reading these exchanges, and appreciate the thought many of the posters have put into their comments.
I also wanted to say, for what it's worth, that I'm actually a very big Neil Young fan and have been for 30 years. I first started listening to him around the "Rocking in the Free World" era and he was my number one throughout college. Decade was my soundtrack on my first solo cross-country road trip when I was 20, in 1995, and Sugar Mountain was an especially important song to me that summer. Same with Powderfinger, when I turned 22, and Old Man when I turned 24. (Those of you who know his lyrics will know why I specify these songs.) My list of favorites goes on and on.
I only offer this because I wanted to assure those who felt offended by my reading of Children of Destiny that I hold Neil Young in very high esteem, and have a lot of deep personal connections with his music. At the same time, I'm extremely concerned about the current political climate, and I think what we need is strong statements of protest, not statements that could easily be appropriated by the far right to condone a white nationalist or jingoistic message.
Unfortunately, I see Children of Destiny being such a "statement," regardless of Young's disavowal of Trump (the video/song will be interpreted on its own merits, not in conjunction with other statements Young has made in the press). The American flag waving in front of the white house, all the white children waving flags at July 4th celebrations, etc. It wouldn't be hard for a Trump supporter to get as amped up about this song as anyone on the left. This is what I meant when I wrote that the song is "by turns, patriotic and defiant, which was quoted by the original poster as an indication that I was "hedging." But the "by turns" is important: it means that the video flops between the two. On the one hand, it can seem extremely patriotic, in the USA! USA! USA! vein, while also seeming to protest the current state of affairs. I find this ambiguity dangerous.
As for the title of the piece, the word "surreal" refers to the juxtaposition of patriotic imagery, protest marches, foreign countries, and Young himself singing behind glass streaming with rain. It's just odd, bizarre, sort of nonsensical (to me).
Again, I hope I'm not opening myself up to any attacks, but I don't really get the sense that folks on here are the type to attack (thanks for that!) Just wanted to offer my two cents, and again, to assure anyone who's interested that I'm as big a fan of Neil Young as many of you. But he's not a deity, and I still think it's important to think critically about everything, no matter how much you may like the person who produced a given song, or whatever.
Thanks for reading.
"Children of Destiny" - Neil Young + Promise of the Real
We truly appreciate your dropping by here to comment. It's good to know you're a long time Neil fan as well, so need to feel you may be opening yourself up to any hostility.
That said, we do realize that we were a wee bit harsh on your review and can see your long time appreciation of Neil's work.
Thank you for the clarification on the "surrealism" and the protest message.
No disagreement about concerns the message could easily be mis-appropriated. But really now? We only say that because we've have been though all of that in depth with Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" and Neil Young's "Southern Man" and "Alabama". (See Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" and Neil Young.)
The risk is worth it because in the end the blowback comes full circle.
Or take Neil's recent song "Neighborhood" on Peace Trail. You know, "The Drone Song", about terrorist suicide Hang gliders? “Neighbors with funny names”, “hidden in the dark” that could “end your life tomorrow”.
Look at how that blowback comes full circle?
As Micah Nelson responded: "The song is calling out the hypocrisy of the prejudice people here in our country, mainly Trump supporters who can't tell the difference between an innocent Muslim man and a terrorist. The song is a critique of shallow, narrow-minded viewpoints that sadly pervade our culture." (See Micah Nelson Responds To Neil Young's New Song "Neighborhood" .)
Again, thank you for your reply here David. These are important discussions to have where we can freely express ourselves without fear of the thought police.
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