Johnny Depp with "Broken Arrow" Tattoo Johnny Depp has recently had a "Broken Arrow" tattoo placed on his wrist, per his Instagram account.
For Neil Young fans, there is no mystery on the meaning of a "Broken Arrow" tattoo.
Of course, "Broken Arrow" is the title of one Neil Young's most beloved and enduring songs from the Buffalo Springfield era and "probably the most formally arranged track of Young’s career."
Mike Gee summarizes the meaning of the song "Broken Arrow":
- "AND in the end that's what Broken Arrow is about -
roots. Spiritual, home, emotional, soul roots, about recognising those
roots, about getting in touch; freedom is within as well as without. On
Broken Arrow, Young and Crazy Horse bring it all on home. Cleverly split
in two, the electric evokes the spirit of times, that bugle call to
understanding; the second half evokes the spirit of knowing where you
are and who you are. Both are equal parts of the whole. And look at the
album artwork - in itself a message, a statement and a philosophy.
Photo by Uwe Grahl | Facebook
Broken Arrow Magazine was also the title of the Neil Young fanzine
published by the Neil Young Appreciation Society.
Within Native
American cultures, the sign of two crossed arrows is used to represent
an alliance, while an arrow broken in two is a sign of peace.
Broken Arrow Ranch's Redwood Studios
Photo by Audio Technology
"Broken Arrow" is also the name of Neil Young's legendary northern California ranch.
Tim Drummond, Jack Nitzsche, Neil Young, Kenny Buttrey, and Ben Keith
Broken Arrow Ranch, September 1971
Photo by JOEL BERNSTEIN
(Click photo to enlarge)
Broken Arrow Ranch
Broken Arrow Ranch ~1971
Photo by © Henry Diltz
(via BLENDER GALLERY)
Broken Arrow: The Neil Young Tribute
Hi Thrasher,been eavesdropping on your pages since the 90s,and can only remember writing once ,anyways your Broken Arrow comments brought back so many memories of that brown envelope coming in the mail ,like being a member of an exclusive little club,still got all issues since 50.keep up your great work,you do Jenkins and Sandie,long npmay you run
ReplyDeleteHey Jenkins and Sandie!
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by. Much appreciate the feedback.
yeah, good times with the little brown envelope arriving via air mail every quarter.
Remember how we had 3 months to savor an issue and wait for next?! those were some good times.
we try here @ tw to make a difference. thanks for noticing.
Thanks for reading & Keep on Rockin'!!!
Thrasher
DEAD MAN, an ACID WESTERN, A hallucinatory meditation on death, and by extension the death of a genre, it’s perhaps the richest and most cohesive of all acid westerns.
ReplyDeleteA spectral presence also haunts the purgatorial netherworlds of Jim Jarmusch’s greatest film, the 1995 monochrome western Dead Man. Johnny Depp is William Blake, a clerk headed for the town of Machine – “the end of the line”. It’s a journey into death, a Dantean odyssey guided by a Native American Virgil called Nobody (Gary Farmer). If psychedelics serve as a vessel for self-detachment, the sense of disembodiment is echoed in that name, and in Nobody’s insistence that Blake is in fact the 18th-century poet and artist.
Dead Man seeks to question its protagonist’s relationship to genre iconography, not least the landscape and questions of Native American representation. It’s a dislocating experience, one that seems to unfold out of space and time, fuelled by the repetitive soundscape of Neil Young’s improvised electric dirge.
Turner Classic Movies just recently showed Dead Man. It's a film that gets better with age, I believe the respect for the film has grown immensely over the years. It really is a strange, magical ride of a movie, propelled by Neil's guitar. And the Injun known as Nobody is a great film character
ReplyDelete