INTERVIEW: Neil Young Embraces Imperfection | The New Yorker

Neil Young Photograph by Ryan Pfluger for The New Yorker  (Click photo to enlarge)

In an interview Neil Young Embraces Imperfection | The New Yorker by Amanda Petrusich, he discusses his new album with the theme of climate change, his friendship with Rick Rubin, and recording melodies on his flip phone.

“There must be a way to effect change. There has to be a way to help,” Neil Young says. “I don’t think it’s gonna be by yelling at people or calling people names.”

The New Yorker: “World Record” has a looseness and a spontaneity that’s rare in new recordings. It reminds me a little of listening to old 78-r.p.m. records—most early recording artists had just one three-minute shot in front of the microphone, and sometimes things got a little wild, a little free. How do you purposefully cultivate that feeling in the studio?

Neil Young: I think it has to be an accident. 

One thing that many people have said about this record is that it sounds like it’s coming from another place or time. It’s not really relevant to the last record or the record before. I came up with the melodies for eight or nine of these songs while going on walks. You know how you do. You might be taking a walk with the dog or something, and you start whistling a tune. Maybe it’s not a tune you even care about; maybe you’re imagining you’re seeing a parade somewhere, and this is what the band is playing. Then I said, wait a minute, I’ve got my phone—which is a funky old flip phone, with a really funky camera in it—and I turned on the camera and made a movie while I was walking along, whistling this melody. That kept happening for weeks. I’d take my little flip phone with me, and record anything that I started whistling and didn’t know what it was. No words, no instruments, no tones, no chords—just the rhythm of walking, and whistling. And that’s how it started.

Then I was in Malibu, thinking about recording with Crazy Horse. I remembered that I had these whistling things in my pocket. I started listening to them, and I just banged out lyrics—I never corrected anything, except for my spelling, which is awful. I was using a computer instead of writing by hand—I never use a computer, so that was weird—and I’m listening to this guy whistling a melody, and I’m making up words. 

It was almost like I was writing with somebody.

Full interview Neil Young Embraces Imperfection | The New Yorker by Amanda Petrusich.

More on  Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse "World Record":

World Record - Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Also, see:

• Neil Young Talks World Record, Harvest 50th Anniversary, Elon Musk, Joni Mitchell & Climate Change | Zach Sang Show
  
• All About Making Neil Young & Crazy Horse "World Record" | Rusted Moon
• REVIEW: Finding the Way into Neil Young's "World Record"
• Comment of the Moment: "World Record" by Neil  Young w/ Crazy Horse

 

UNBOXING VIDEO REVIEW: Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse "World Record"

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