Comment of the Moment: PREMIERE TODAY: "Sun Green" from "Greendale" | Neil Young Archives #BeTheRain

"There's Corruption on THE HIGHEST FLOOR"
(Yet More Inconvenient Truth of Greendale)

The Comment of the Moment is from yesterday's post on PREMIERE TODAY: "Sun Green" from "Greendale" | Neil Young Archives #BeTheRain by Scotsman:

Most of the time, when I write something about Neil's music I'll do so right here on Thrasher's blog.

But occasionally, when my medication wears off, I will dazedly step out into the wider world. I am HUNGRY, frantically searching for someone who doesn't appreciate Greendale so I lecture them in my usual exasperating and pontificating tone, a crazed look in my eye, my fangs as sharp as icicles (etc).

And then the medication kicks back in, and I revert to my "normal" human state.

Anyway, here is something that I wrote on the weirdest corner of the 'net, that I thought some of you may relate to:

Greendale isn't just the quirky, crazy, oddball, light-relief album you all think it is.

It is an album about life (and death). Neil's own life, but also what he sees in the world. And from our perspective, it's about our lives.

The characters in this story aren't just a bunch of oddities, they are expressions of our lives, our emotions, our relationships, our desires.

When Officer Carmichael is shot down by Jed, it's obvious to me that the grief of his widow is something that Neil and Crazy Horse are feeling.

Not necessarily because they particular care about fictional Carmichael's family. But because they too have people to grieve, people who have been snatched from them and left them "talking to the wall". They can relate.

And when Grandpa has died on the porch and Sun Green takes him over his dinner, unaware he's dead and about to be told she won't be seeing him again. We've all had experiences like that, haven't we?

*"When I picked up the telephone and heard that he died..."*

Greendale is a very creative album of very real, very multi-layered emotion. That's why Neil puts this one up there with Tonight's The Night; not just because it's a nice picture-book to watch until On The Beach or Hitchhiker comes back on again.

You have to remember what it was like to be Sun Green. Or Carmichael's widow. Or Grandpa. It's no good being on the outside looking in.

You have to start to relate to these characters and their lives, as you would the characters in a movie or a novel.

That's the key that unlocks to the door to this very remarkable album.

Thrasher: thank you for maintaining your blog. I'm sure a lot of people appreciate your effort.

The discussion here over the last few years has always been thoughtful and often lively, with many differing worldviews, outlooks and opinions: for me that's part of the fun.

Scotsman.

Thanks so much Scotsman! As always, thanks for your insightful contributions -- once again demonstrating that Neil fans/rusties are some of the most knowledgeable and articulate music fans out there. Your words inspire us to carry on here.

btw, curious as to "weirdest corner of the 'net"? thought TW had that market pegged.?!

17 years since Greendale. So much has changed and yet so little to show. There's Corruption on not only on THE HIGHEST FLOOR, but nearly every single floor as well, sadly. Our job is now even bigger than saving just Alaska. Undaunted we go out into the fields for another day ...

More on PREMIERE TODAY: "Sun Green" from "Greendale" | Neil Young Archives #BeTheRain.

Sun Green in Neil Young's Greendale Concert Tour - 2003

GREENDALE = "FUTURE PROVES PAST"

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