MASTER CLASS: Neil Young Speaks On Failure, Songwriting and Doubt

Jonathan Demme and Neil Young in Park City, Utah - 2012

 

In 2012, Neil Young and filmmaker Jonathan Demme held a "Master Class" at the Slamdance Film Festival.

In their dialogue about their life and art, Young and Demme shared thoughts on making the documentary film Neil Young Journeys,  as well as, Neil discussing failure, songwriting and doubt. 

 

“First of all, you have to trust yourself, there’s nobody else that matters.

It’s over if you start looking at other people, that’s what I think. The other thing that you have to be willing to do, and you have to be ready to embrace it and accept it and really open it into your life with open arms with wide-vision is failure.

Be sure to welcome failure, say, ‘You’re okay with me failure, come on in.’ Because then you have no fear, if you have no fear and you believe in yourself and only listen to yourself then you are number one. Everything else is behind you. Your name is on it, it’s your life, it’s your film. 

Everybody else be damned.

If you doubt what you’re doing, then fuck it, don’t do it and live with that. Why do something if you doubt it’s what you should be doing? What do you want to do? What is the way that you want to do it? Is somebody telling you to do something a certain way that you don’t want to and doubt if this is the right way, or do you doubt if this is something worth making a film about? 

Those two things, that’s taboo. Doubt, no.”

 

 

Also see, Coffee with Neil Young and Jonathan Demme (#1 of 4 parts).

Segment #2 of Coffee with Neil Young and Jonathan Demme at Slamdance Festival

Also, see Neil Young Journeys Film Premiere.

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