"She's Always Dancing" [Or is She Really???] by Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Sue, Jane, Laura, Betty, Joyce
Frame via "She's Always Dancing" Official Video - Neil Young & Crazy Horse

"She's Always Dancing" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse's from album, "Psychedelic Pill" is The Archives "Song of the Day" today.

She's always dancing... or is she really???



In 2012, during the rush of excitement during "Rock-tober 2012" -- when we had Neil Young albums, books and concerts coming fast furious -- the official video dropped for song "She's Always Dancing" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse from their new album, "Psychedelic Pill".

Boys Will Be Boys, Right?
Or Girls Will Be Girls?
Frame via "She's Always Dancing" Official Video - Neil Young & Crazy Horse

There were a few scattered reactions here and there, but otherwise it made about as much of a splash as say -- Neil Young covering "Born In The USA".

Those "Whores of Babylon"
Frame via "She's Always Dancing" Official Video - Neil Young & Crazy Horse

From comments on the video "She's Always Dancing" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse by cosplusisin:

I am shocked at the responses [to the video "She's Always Dancing"] is getting.

I think she has a valid point that the video for She's Always Dancing really is quite backward, and I'm surprised no one has jumped in to AGREE with her yet. It seems there are a lot of people who are still living in the stone age (add me to the list of people who cannot STAND that "panties in a twist" remark.. it is SO demeaning and condescending).

That said, I don't really know what the video means, and it is possible that it is meant to make a point about how backward those attitudes are, but who knows? It doesn't affect how I feel about Neil's music, because it remains pretty awesome. And like ANON 9:43 said, the song doesn't seem to have these backward connotations, so maybe it's just someone's dumb idea for a video, and nothing more.. I don't know who directed the video, but it wasn't necessarily Neil himself. In any case, it's generally a good idea to separate the art from the artist, because there are a lot of people who might let you down if you really get to know them. And why bother getting let down? It is what it is. People are who they are, but if they contribute something positive to the world, and try (through other means) to create positive change, then that's something. In other words, nobody's perfect.

Lastly, Anon 9:43 later said (at 12:06) "If you can't tell the video is sexist, you're a typical male." As a male, I must say I find that unfair. Please remember that it's not "men" who treat women badly; it's SOME men. If you are open to that way of thinking, you might be surprised at how many men are actually nice, normal, and decent people (hopefully, anyway!).

Crazy, Angry White Heterosexual Christian Male
(obviously The Anti-Christ)
Frame via "She's Always Dancing" Official Video - Neil Young & Crazy Horse

From a comment via Seattle:

It was great to see Neil in Seattle, but as a woman who's a longtime fan, he really put me off with his official video of She's Always Dancing.

It makes me think that Neil is a progressive about cars but prefers to be an old school pig about women. Even tho on his site he quoted Michelle Obama about women protecting their progress thru voting, and even tho the lyrics seem to be all about a woman dancing for the love of it free from sexual connotations, he slaps this ugly near porn, women-exist-to-sexually-arouse-men face on it. Showing the inner pig, kind of like Romney's 47% comment. But I guess most of his fans are men anyway. I guess I shouldn't be looking to a 67 year old rock star for an enlightened view of women.

Disappointing but revelatory.

The "Weaker" Sex?
Frame via "She's Always Dancing" Official Video - Neil Young & Crazy Horse

From an authority who is "stunningly gorgeous":

If you can't tell the video is sexist, you're a typical male.

By the way, I have been called stunningly gorgeous, so don't think I'm doing without or jealous of beautiful women. And people generally like me and think I'm kind and fun. And I love to dance. This is all about the final frontier in human rights: womens rights. And it's a battle. As evident here, Neanderthal attitudes are rampant. But each generation women progress further. Don't forget black men got the vote before women. Hey, I come from a state with a female governor and 2 female senators. And neighbor Melinda Gates is a role model for womens advancement.

Sorry guys, but white males and their regressive ideas are in descendency.

Completely Innocent & Always The Victim
Nothing Suggestive Going on Here What So Ever, Right?
Frame via "She's Always Dancing" Official Video - Neil Young & Crazy Horse

From a comment on VIDEO FLASHBACK: "She's Always Dancing" - Neil Young & Crazy Horse by ahpost:

Thrasher,

Thanks for revisiting the "She's Always Dancing" video. I must have missed the 11/16 spat on this blog, and reading it now, I'm more than a little surprised, not that there is some criticism, but that the "reviews" of the song and video come off like something out of my local high school weekly newspaper.

Both I and my wife loved the video, and have watched it and discussed it many many times. By the way, we are both progressive activists, which matters not one bit except that politics seems to be a big issue with the bloggers on 11/16/12. Neil, by using movie clips from a bygone era, suggests that women - and perhaps the women in his life, the most important people to him by far - love to dance.

He suggests that this is timeless. Neil both admires this and is mystified by this in women:

She wants to live without ties to bind her down
She wants to dance with her body left at ground
She wants to spin, and she lives in her own world
She wants to dream like she was a little girl

Dancing for women is a pure expression of freedom, of living in a dream.

The men in the video, for the most part, come across as sleazy, pathetic, slightly stupid, and even cruel. Yet the women won't let that inhibit their love of dancing. Do they want to be watched? In many cases yes, but that's hardly their main impetus for loving to dance, for expressing themselves in a way that men, or at least Neil, can barely begin to grasp. The first man seen may love dancing, and dances beautifully, but he turns it into dehumanizing judgement, something that the women depicted would never consider. The next segment at the drive-in, the women in spite of the foul men in their cars and stiff suits, choose just to enjoy themselves and be happy and carefree, without a thought that the situation is beyond creepy.

When Neil almost cries "She loves to burn", he does so with a longing for the kind of passion that men can only consider a mystery, like that of the later dancers in the vid. Neil's most recent writing, from No Hidden Path to the final verse of Hitchhiker to Ramada Inn, is more and more about his respect and adoration for women, particularly the women in his life; wife, daughter, sister, perhaps - that he feels have saved him. Maybe he puts women up on too high a pedestal, maybe that can seem unhealthy to some. But who can argue that the peace in Neil's life that women have brought to him has produced a level of creativity that is extraordinary for a rocker in is late sixties.

"When you dance, I can really love"

Thanks ahpost! Absolutely agree... "When you dance, I can really love".

So what do you think of this video?

We'll just say that given that the video in question uses stock footage from another time and place, we're not sure how much we can project into today's context.

Times change, things remain the same... "The Big Shift" rolls on...

She's Really Always Dancing
"When you dance, I can really love"
(Because when she dances, he can really truly love her)

The Love & Dance Songs of Neil Young

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