Comment of the Moment: Neil Young, Where Do We Go Now ... Again?

Hello or Goodbye Neil Young???
Avery Fisher Hall, New York City, NY, April 24, 2011
(see The Emotional Resonance That IsNeil Young)

As you may recall, at the end of 2022, we posted on the subject of Where Do We Go Now?.

Essentially, this humble blog Thrashers Wheat has always been about the live concert experience with real time updates from fans around the world. With the various stipulations that Neil Young has made about performing publicly again,  there is serious debate on whether we've seen the last of "live" Neil. So, do we just pack it in and buy a pickup?

For an answer, on to our Comment of the Moment: Where Do We Go Now ... Again? by Minke:

I second the calls for serious discussion of NY’s output, utterances, biography (yes, that too), paraphernalia, influences etc. etc.

Here are my few cents.

I am a bookish person. A bit weird, but not really harmful. I don’t think other people should be like me. But it defines my outlook on life and the world. As many academics, I have an ambiguous relationship to rock writing. Most of it is too uncritical, breathtakingly descriptive, and basically scratching surfaces. On the other end of the spectrum, I have been looking for academic literature on Neil Young and discovered there is very little of it (as opposed to Bob Dylan or Miles Davis). I hear you thinking: why do we need academics to defile our hero, and you are perfectly right, we don’t, but still the absence is remarkable. The best writing on NY is journalist’s stuff, or some of the contributions on this site, and often somewhat lacking in biographical and intellectual analysis (that is: NY’s biography and intellect).

In my country of residence, the Netherlands, there is a famous 19th-century novel called Max Havelaar, which contains a funny episode in which the narrator rummages in a chest of paperwork bequeathed to him (you know this is 19th century novel stuff) and stumbles upon a sheer endless list of topics that the former owner of the chest wanted to write about. This list has turned into a Dutch expression, the Parcel of Shawlman. It contains a listing of the most outrageous and desultory topics.

Perhaps in the same vein as this obscure, almost Dickensian Shawlman, over the years I have been collecting thoughts about topics I would like to hear more about in things re: NY, and hardly could find anywhere. Most of those are not dealt with by Neil Youngs biographers, who mainly stick to the events and the music, the breakups and the breakdowns, and do not really venture into the world behind it. (Even though Jimmy Mcdonough’s book comes close; it is a classic and makes a compelling read.)

Although many here seem to be reluctant to discuss NY’s private life, I cannot understand how we should get a grip on his music and lyrics without a glance behind the front door. He is one of the most autobiographical songwriters around, so why shouldn’t we be able or allowed to respectfully discuss his life? F.i. I would say his not so recent change of partners has left a fairly deep imprint, so why not discuss that? I look forward to your positions on this matter.

So here we go, semi-sensically:

*Neil Young and books (did he ever mention reading a book or being inspired by it? In his home pictures I see many very old-fashioned furniture (see below under ‘taste’), but hardly any books. Still, he wrote a few himself, which not really betray a huge knowledge of composition and may be without model).
*Neil Young and politics (a tricky one).
*Neil Young and sex (o.k. we don’t know and we don’t want to know, but I find his references to sex somewhat muted. A fairly decent fellow, text-wise (“those magazines at night”). More beer than b**bs. Or rather, he refers little to his own arousal (“but she still gets me hot” is about the most explicit -- But look! the extra verse in Surfer Joe).
*Neil Young and God (who is accountable for this mess?).
*Neil Young as a farmer.
*Neil Young and race (he’s an old white guy after all, and so are most of his fans).
*Neil Young and rednecks (see above). Why is he attractive to the people I would want the least to be associated.
*Neil Young and (good) taste. No clues here.
*Neil Young and movies (well, here we have at least a few clues).
*Neil Young and humour (often fairly lame and herbed, as far as I can see, but some find it hilarious I guess).
*Neil Young and American Indians (or: Neil Young and cultural appropriation).
*Neil Young and male bonding (yes, I read Kim Gordon’s excellent “Girl in a band” recently).
*Neil Young and rationality (just curious).
*Neil Young and Asia (Pearl Jam is widely famous in Asia. Why did NY never play beyond Japan and Hong Kong?).
*Neil Young and art (he raised an artist, so how?).
*Neil Young and sports.
*Neil Young as an admirer (which is so much part of his character).
*Neil Young and maj7 harmonies.
*Neil Young and capitalism (/big business/big businessmen) (just asking).
*Neil Young and (post)coloniality (conquest is a romantic but ambivalent trope: TransAm, Cortez).
*Neil Young and not-4/4 beat.
*Neil Young and food (raw stringbeans ?).
*Neil Young and handwriting.
Etc etc

Other requests?

Not: cars, dogs, Elvis, carbon fuel, drugs, vaccines, Orangeman (except under: capitalism).
So if there is a future biographer lurking here: have a go at it. There is a voracious consumer here.

Cheers to all. Have a nice year’s end.

Many thanks here for all the great topic suggestions Minke.

That'll keep the rustie grains communities busy for awhile. Any volunteers who would like to answer the call, email us at:

thrasher ATSIGN thrasherswheat.org

(Be sure to check your SPAM folder. See
http://neilyoungnews.thrasherswheat.org/2022/12/attention-tw-email-subscribers-solution.html  )

So have a Happy New Year to all!

Where Do We Go Now ... 
or Where Did We Go From There?  Charles Theater, Baltimore, MD
December 2012
(Note: Photo not Photoshopped)

---