Inside Neil Young's Faith: An Old Man Takes A Look At Young's Religion

 Neil Young in the shadow of a cross From the Journey Through The Past Album 

The song "Timberline" -- from Neil Young's unreleased 2001 album "Toast" with Crazy Horse album -- told the story of an unemployed lumberjack and his worldly battles with faith.

 

"Fooled by the Lord 

Fooled by his grace 

I put my faith in Jesus 

Took away my livin’ 

Took away my place 

Oh Lord" 

 

While Neil Young's views on "faith" are sprinkled throughout his lyrics over the decades, his actual "beliefs" are often some what inscrutable.

The earliest directly overt song on faith by Neil Young was the song "Soldier" from 1972's Journey Through the Past album with the following lyrics:

"Jesus, I saw you 

Walkin’ on the river 

I don't believe you 

You can't deliver 

Right away

 I wonder why"

 

Journey Through the Past 

Original Soundtracks Recordings by Neil Young - 1972

 

Since the song "Soldier" -- which was written and recorded in November 1971 -- much, much has happened in Neil Young's life which has caused him to reflect on these weighty matters and compose many additional songs referencing faith and God.

 

We begin...

 

In 2005, on NPR's World Cafe,  Neil Young was interviewed on the  "Prairie Wind" CD. 

In the interview with World Cafe's David Dye, Neil revealed some rather personal observations on faith and politics. And long time readers of Thrasher's Wheat know that we have a particular fondness for the collision of politics and religion. 

The question was a lead-in to "Prairie Wind"'s "When God Made Me", a song with lyrics that have provoked a wide range of reaction. 

Here's a partial transcript:

YOUNG: "I think religion and freedom of religion and people’s relationship with God is something that should not be hijacked by any certain political party.

The Founding Fathers of this country, there were only a couple of them that were religiously-based or were God-fearing. And now, in the Bush cabinet, you have almost, like, a hundred percent Christian. I just think it’s out of balance. I respect their religion, I respect the way they feel, I respect everything about the way they want to worship, I respect their right to do whatever they want. But, I just want to be respected for my right and have my relationship with God, and I don’t want any political party to be accused of not being faith-based or to be anti-faith because they don’t happen to agree with some Christian ethics or some Christian ways of life.

Christianity can be respected just like Muslim religions, like Jewish religion, just like any other religion.

Your relationship with God is about your relationship with God. When you go to Heaven, or wherever you go, you... it’s between you and God. It’s not between, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t, you know, I could be called a pagan, I suppose, but if you go back far enough, you’ll find that pagans really are people who believe in the Earth, they’re people who believe in the harmony of nature. They’re like the Indians, they’re like the Great Spirit, they believe in the Great Spirit, and it was the insecurity of Christianity that turned paganism into a negative term. 

And, if you go back to the roots of these things, and see where they came from, you know, I respect everyone’s right to do whatever they want to do, but I think that, this particular administration, and in the country this time, and it’s only a temporary thing – I have faith in that – but, ah, I think they’ve just hijacked people’s right for freedom of religion and, they’ve confused the separation of church and state.

Prayer meetings in the White House, um, all the time, you know, all of these things. There’s nothing wrong with having a prayer meeting, but, and obviously there’s absolutely nothing wrong with having a prayer meeting, I wouldn’t, you know, be against that under any circumstances, but it’s a little bit too focused in one place, and it seems to be that, that, you know, Christianity has taken a turn here, attendance is down in churches, there’s a disbelief, it, it’s been hijacked, I feel like something is totally out of whack, and I think we’re going to get it back, I think there’s going to be a rebound, it’s a pendulum, and but the way it’s going right now, there’s just too much of it, you know, I’d like my kids to grow up free, to live the way they want to live and to worship their own, worship the way they want to worship without pressure in the United States of America."

 

 Neil Young's Decade Album Cover - 1977

In a blog post titled "Old Man Take A Look At My Religion", The Mighty Barrister (10/24/05) took a few hard shots at Neil Young's comments on religion in a 2005 interview on NPR's World Cafe. 

In the interview, Neil Young revealed some rather personal observations on faith and politics. As we noted, some missed Neil Young's point completely regarding the separation of church and state. On the contrary, "Prairie Wind"'s song "When God Made Me" is not "a subtle attack on Christianity". A very close analysis of the lyrics reveals nothing of the sort. There's been quite a bit of debate about the lyrics and here's what commenter Togu posted about "When God Made Me" lyrics:

"This is an incredible song because of what Neil achieves with the lyrics and music combined.

It is a warm melody and rendition, so you can't say that Neil is out to argue. The song is disarming because of its plaintive melody and questioning. It makes you ask: can God who is so great and so gracious really be as limiting as we humans often make him out to be? The song also celebrates the incredible diversity of persons that God created and the wonderful gifts God gave to each person and asks what those gifts are meant to be used for. It also asks why don't we cherish these gifts in the way they were meant to be used? I'm a Christian myself and I'm sorry to see how some feel the need to peg this as a Christian or non-Christian song.

Listen to the music first and let its honest questions move you."

Blogger Dave Faulkner offers a healthy and even handed comment from the Christian community on the song "When God Made Me". His comments come in the context of similar comments that Neil made in an interview in Word Magazine:

"Rather than dismiss Young due to those apparently strange views, it would be better to look seriously at what he says.

Of course as a Christian I don't believe that the doctrine of God making humankind in his image is about conceit or arrogance: it's an act of pure grace and it should not make us careless with the rest of creation. But the problem is, that is precisely the way it has been taken for centuries and we now have an environmental problem.

We need to hold this together with Young's statement that 'We're all here together, we're all nature', except that I would just change that last word from 'nature' to 'creation'."

 

"Did God give me my voice so that others could silence me?"
Neil Young sings "When God Made Me"
Live 8 Benefit Concert - July 2005

It strikes us that the lyrics of Neil Young's "When God Made Me" from 2005's album Prairie Wind still continue to be poignantly prescient.

Did he give me the gift of voice
so some could silence me?
Did he give me the gift of vision
not knowing what I might see?
Did he give me the gift of compassion
to help my fellow man?

When God made me.

(Complete lyrics and analysis for "When God Made Me".)

And just as Young's performing of John Lennon's "Imagine" for the 9/11 "Tribute" and the song's debut at the Live 8 Benefit Concert in July 2005, the performance has incited passions.

The reaction to the song's lyrics for "When God Made Me" generated more reader comments than just about any other article on Thrasher's Wheat history at the time.

For example, from Peter V.:

"A beautiful song, lyrics and melody, which embodies the heartfelt surge that is mounting in America's conscience to challenge the overbearing sentiments of the religious right that have been choking the compassion of this country. This song fills my heart with hope that once again we will know that the power of God is love."

And Goodlife said:

"Hearing "When God Made Me" caused me to flip on the computer and "google" looking for the lyrics. I am a believer ... but not a part of the fundamentalist right. This is a song which touches my inner spirit. I hope many will hear its message, and think deeply about who they are underneath the encumberances of their everyday life."

Of course not everyone was pleased when rock stars venture into the debate on religion. Tim Graham posts on NewsBusters:

"Are rock stars trying to give us lectures as they sing on hurricane-relief benefits? Last night's mega-channel concert featured Neil Young sang his song "When God Made Me." The lyrics clearly show Young thinks that the problem with religion is that God tends to favor people who believe he exists. That, and religion is the reason for too many bloody wars. Some compare it to John Lennon's "Imagine," but Lennon wants no God, and Young just thinks He might be a Unitarian Universalist."

Neil Young
Photo by Danny Clinch

 

Here's an interview with Neil Young from the TW Archives (via Esquire circa 2006) on "What I've Learned" by Cal Fussman:
 

What about God have you learned?

Neil Young: When I was six, I really didn't know what God was. But I did know about Sunday school. I was reading a lot about God, but I was bored. I couldn't wait to get out of Sunday school. God was secondary to the whole thing. But as time went by, I got more and more angry, to the point where I didn't like religion. Hate is a strong word. But I just kept getting angrier and angrier...until finally I wasn't angry anymore. I was just peaceful, because I thought: This is not fruitful for me. I rejected the whole thing and found peace in paganism. Jesus didn't go to church. I went way back before Jesus. Back to the forest, to the wheat fields, to the river, to the ocean. I go where the wind is. That's my church.

 

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

From the November issue of Word Magazine, interviewer Robert Sandall asks Neil Young whether he is a Christian?

YOUNG: "I don't know. I don't think so. I certainly don't say, don't be a Christian. Everybody needs something to hang their hat on. But I really don't buy into any particular story. The Indians had something going on with their 'great spirit' as a term for God. They were more concerned with the trees, the grasslands, the animals and a sense of balance. It's a pagan thing and there's nothing bad about paganism. It only became bad because of the insecurity of the church. That song is about the self-righteousness that makes certain people think God created man in his own image. What a conceited idea! What about the squirrel? What happened to him? We're all here together, we're all nature. One big thing."

Neil Young - 2005
Photo by Chris Pizzello
From "Companion" interview with Neil Young by JODY DENBERG in OCTOBER 2005:

JODY DENBERG: Neil, thank you so much for joining us for this Prairie Wind Companion. Prairie Wind seems a definitive snapshot of where you're at today as you approach 60 and it's a beautiful piece. But in the hundreds of songs you've written it's been rare that you've sung directly about God. What were the circumstances of you composing Prairie Wind's final song, When God Made Me?

NEIL YOUNG: First of all I didn't know what I was doing. There was a little room with a piano in it. And the piano is locked in the room. It'll never leave the room unless they destroy the room. It can't leave, 'cause the room was built around it. And the room is in a church. The studio is in a church. So the ceiling of this studio has got a few little vents in it. And if you stand on top of a ladder with a flashlight and look up through the holes, you can see the, the church windows.

And this old huge roof and everything, and it's closed off, because to get the right sound and everything they, they made a lower roof. But when you see that, it really gets you. And then I just started playing this hymn. And, and, you know, a Spooner Oldham is one of the most beautiful, uh, beautiful Gospel, you know, on the organ, it's just great. I mean he's just alive with it.

So, you know, I've learned a lot from him over the years, just listening to him. So all the passing chords and the blending of things together, the, but all hymns seem to have these little passages on the piano between them that sets up the next verse, kind of gets everybody in the key and kicks it around and gets ready to go. It's, so I found myself just playing this, and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Still don't.

One of the things that, that bothers me today is how religion seems to have been hijacked and politicized by the administration. The thing that bothers me the most is how one political party can say that the other political party is not faith-based. That, how can you say something like that? And I think it doesn't represent America. It only represents part of America. And I think that faith has a lot to do with family and loving God.

It doesn't matter whether you read the Koran or whether you're a Buddhist or whether you're, whatever you are, you're still trying to get in touch with the one thing that made us all, who we are, the great spirit. So I feel like that's been taken away from us. It's being used as a tool against some people. And, uh, and so that bothers me a lot. I don't like to go into church and hear the Star Spangled Banner.

That's a song about bombs bursting in air. Let's, let's have God Bless America if we're going to sing a song like that. I don't think that one is really needed either. But if you're going to have one, let's, let's have one that, that, that tries not to think about our country only. Let's start, let's have a song that tries to think about humanity and, you know.

So, you know, one of my friends went to church last week here in and, and had to stand there while we sang about, you know, bombs bursting in the air and that was the first thing. I don't believe that. I don't, and, and I think a lot of Americans and Canadians and just citizens of the planet don't necessarily go along with that. And that's why there's such an upheaval in the church and that, you know, attendance is off?

Some places it's up. But a lot of places it's not up. It's down. And it's because the church has been, you know, taken to all these different places. And really, it should be everywhere. It shouldn't be a tool.

JODY DENBERG: Neil Young asking the big questions on When God Made Me, the final song on his new album. The answers my friend are blowing in the Prairie Wind. Neil's new album that brings together his dreams, his love of family and friends, and his concern for the ecology in a way he's never done before.

Prairie Wind Companion CD
Here are the lyrics for the Neil Young song "When God Made Me" from Sharry (Up in T.O. keepin' jive alive) posted on Rust:

WHEN GOD MADE ME

Was he thinking about my country,
or the colour of my skin?
Was he thinking about my religion,
and the way I worshipped him?
Did he create just me in his image,
or every living thing?

When God made me.
When God made me.

Was he planning only for believers,
or for those who just had faith?
Did he envision all wars
that were fought in his name?
Did he say there was only one way
to be close to him?

When God made me.
When God made me.

Did he give me the gift of love
to say who I could choose?

When God made me.
When God made me.
When God made me.

Did he give me the gift of voice
so some could silence me?
Did he give me the gift of vision
not knowing what I might see?
Did he give me the gift of compassion
to help my fellow man?

When God made me.
When God made me.
When God made me.

The lyrics are ripe for interpretation. And everybody likes to analyze Neil's song meanings.

At first glance, certainly not Neil's most obtuse lyrics like ""And I saw you in my nightmares, but I'll see you in my dreams" but more like the enigmatic lyrics "What is the color when black is burned?".

On second glance there is a lot going on here. Start with the gospel choir-like Fisk University Jubilee Singers. The student vocalists introduced "slave songs" to the world and, in many opinions, preserved this music from extinction. So Neil has not embarked on some light-hearted exercise here as many seem to believe.

Neil and the Fisk University Jubilee Choir
Live 8 Benefit Concert - July 2005
From the comments:

"Musically this is a nice song, but in terms of lyrics it's a different story. Lennon's song "Imagine" was quite unambiguous.

Young's is totally ambiguous, asking ten questions, but giving no answers. You might think the answers are all obvious, and so might I, but I doubt we agree on what those obvious answers are. Is that the beauty of this song, or its evil side?"

"Shelter From the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast"
How can a man asking 10 questions provoke so much discussion?

The debate and controversy over the "When God Made Me" lyrics continues to this day.

After flaring up after the song's debut at the Live 8 concert in July 2005, things settled down.

Then when the song reappeared for the Hurricane Katrina Benefit "Shelter From the Storm" in Septemeber 2005, the debate heated up once again. A comment by Matt M. sums things up as well as any of the many provocative interpretations:

"Keep in consideration that Neil Young is a musician and an entertainer.

He may very well have kept his real thoughts on God to himself, and set these lyrics to music and released them downstream to either collect as silt and drop to the bottom of the riverbed, or spawn and multiply farther along.

Either way, Neil has once again stirred the muddy waters of controversy.

And no matter what side you take, or what your reaction is, the fact remains that Neil knows how to spark a debate."

Read for your self how a man asking 10 simple questions ignited a firestorm.

An interesting exercise to answer Neil's questions laid out starkly in the deceptively simple lyrics.

Others question Neil's motives. For example, on Get Religion, Douglas LeBlanc writes rather absurdly and demonstrates a complete lack of lyrical analysis -- much less christian-like empathy:

"For a few decades now, John Lennon’s “Imagine” has served as a secularist hymn. From the end of The Killing Fields to the post-9/11 America: A Tribute to Heroes broadcast, “Imagine” has been there to tell us that the world could be so much more pleasant if only everyone were inclusive enough to set aside what they believe about God, the afterlife and other trivial matters.

Neil Young played “Imagine” on America: A Tribute to Heroes, and now he’s written a song that could join it in the pantheon of believer-bashing hymns.
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You’ll likely hear “When God Made Me” many times in the coming decades, especially at elementary schools’ winter holiday festivals and weddings that favor vows custom-written by the bride and groom."

ECJ responds to the above post on Get Religion:

“The implied answer to every rhetorical question was ‘No.’ The song is a denial of both explicit revelation, and Exclusive Truth.

“Was He planning only for believers or for those who just have faith?”

He divides belief from faith, thus implicitly asserting that faith is more important than the object of the faith. Have faith in what? Can you have faith in God and yet disbelieve? Yes, you can, if what you disbelieve is the exclusive doctrine rooted in Revelation which demands conformity. If God is silent and we are all just struggling in the dark to find Him, then each man can follow whatever faith he thinks up in his own mind. Who is to question him?

“Did He envision all the wars that were fought in His name?.”

Since having faith is what is important, and not any specific content for that faith, then why should anyone fight over it? In essense he argues that the exclusive religious belief is dangerous because it leads people to fight. Of course, the important question is whether this exclusive belief is true. But he has already answered that in the previous line.

“Did He say there was only one way to be close to Him?”

This is the penultimate question. Is it true that God has revealed Himself through only one religion? Was Jesus lying or deceived or mistaken when He said “If you do not believe that I Am, you will die in your sins.” Place the question in the context of the previous two lines, and you see how the song frames the question.

This just scratches the surface. I could have just as easily focused on Providence. Or Sovereignty. I took the song and the artist seriously. And I think this is a reasonable and fair rendering of its meaning. It has nothing to do with grace and election. It presents a Theology of uncertainty - a god lost within the haze who knows nothing of holiness, and speaks with no clear voice."

In an interview with The New York Times by Jon Pareles, Young commented:

"I feel like our religion and our faith have been hijacked.

What is bothering me the most is the misappropriation of religion and faith, the misuse of God and the house of worship. It's one faith with different people trying to express it in different ways. It's all about being the little guy in the big world."

In an interview in Rolling Stone magazine by Alec Wilkerson:

"Young has a seeker's sensitivity, a susceptibility to impressions received in passing or only half-clearly. The hymn "When God Made Me" is deeply subversive. It is meant to unsettle those ardent believers whose certainty of holiness makes them feel they can abusively enforce their beliefs on the rest of the world.

"I was asking questions about faith," Young says. "But one kept evading me. I couldn't figure out what the last question was."

Not until Young realized that the recording studio was actually in a former church, was he able to complete the song.

From A churchless song: “When God Made Me” - Church of the Churchless:

"The way I see “When God Made Me,” it offers a glimpse of how much better religions would be if their focus was on asking questions that didn’t have ready-made dogmatic answers.

I’m going to make it the Church of the Churchless theme song."

 

 "When God Made Me"

Neil Young and Fisk University Jubilee Choir
"Shelter From the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast"

 

"The Companion Story"  is where Neil Young calls the "Companion" the "wisest person I've ever met."

"The wisest person I ever met had to be my companion in the hospital a few months ago. I was recovering from complications after an operation to remove an aneurism in my brain. She was about eighty-five years old and maybe five feet tall.

An old black lady from South Carolina. This young nurse wasn't really in touch with what she was doing, and the old lady would tell her how to do what she needed to do without telling her. She never talked down to her, just gave examples. I felt that this old woman must be deeply religious, but there was nothing forceful about her. I woke up one morning at a quarter to six and looked out the window. Fog was on the bridge outside the room, and I said, "Well, that's just beautiful." And she said: "Yes, it is." She turned toward me with this eighty-five-year-old face that didn't have a line on it, no strain, nothing, and she said:

"So the master's not taking you. It's not your turn."

The Vista and The Muse 

Also, see "Prairie Wind": A Gentle Breeze Deceptively Lulls The Howls Of Loss.

So, if you got faith in Neil, then here's a Sunday sermon on "Finding God in Neil Young's Songs."

Heart of Gold: Sunday Morning with Neil Young

 

"Be A Miner for a Heart of God"
Calvary Chapel - Nederland, Colorado
(Click photo to enlarge)  

Neil Young - God's Prophet?

 

"In this message we're going to talk about God's love, beauty and truth as it's found in the life and music of Neil Young. "The task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us..."

~~ Theologian Walter Brueggemann in The Prophetic Imagination, pg 13

A YouTube comment:

"I agree with the pastor's explanation of why Neil is a prophet.

I knew Neil, he came on the scene and I felt love/ God.

He was my rowboat. The pastor said it all.

As Shaky my friend says "Neil's not God", she was challenging a comment I had made.

I wish she could hear this sermon."

Stop hating. Start participating.  

peace & love

Neil Young in "Mansion On The Hill" video

(more on "Mansion On The Hill" video)

 

More on the prophecies of Neil Young. 

Have a Good Friday and Happy Easter!

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Dave Matthews tells the story of Neil Young 'repo man' adventure | Goldmine

Neil Young & Dave Matthews 

(see 2018 Farm Aid Press Conference in Hartford, CT - Sept 22)
Photo by Hounds That Howell

 

In a recent interview, Dave Matthews tells a story to Ezra Koenig on Apple Music 1 about an acquaintance repossessing a boat for Neil Young, via Goldminemag.com.

Dave Matthews: "A buddy of mine was repossessing a boat of Neil's that some guy had.

My buddy builds boats. And a buddy of his called him and said, 'Look, we got to repossess this boat. This guy bought this boat from Neil Young, down in the Bay Area. He hasn't paid for it.' But I guess maritime law says if someone's on a boat you can't take the boat. You got to wait till they get off the boat and then you can take the boat. But if they're on the boat, it's like some kind of maritime squatter's rights. So he called my buddy. So they figured out the guy who was on the boat had a dog, and he was parked in Seattle somewhere, docked or whatever you call it. And the guy had called my friend and said, 'Okay, I know when he leaves the...' They'd been staking him out. This is so cool. The guy was going to repossess the boat.

"So he's been watching the dude and the dude every morning would have to take his dog... But the dude knew that someone was coming to get the boat. So the guy had his suspicions. So they had to figure out a consistent time that the guy wasn't on the boat. So they'd call my friend and say, 'Come down. When he walks his dog we're going to take this boat.' And so my buddy can drive any boat. So the guy gets out, takes his dog and he's walking down there. In my mind, I maybe I'm making it up, the guy's paranoid. He's looking around like someone's trying to get him. And then he gets far enough away from the dock. So then these guys go, they're trying to look casual, walking down the dock and then they hop on the boat at which time the guy notices them. But then they got to figure out how to start the boat. They got to get the (beep) out of there. And then they start going, the guy's running down the pier with his dog and he's trying to get back on the boat and they're shoving him. He's trying to grab and they're shoving him off and everything. 

"But the funny part of the story is when they told Neil they're going to get the boat, it was that morning. Sorry, I kind of jumped over it 'cause I got excited. Neil said, 'I'm coming up there.' He's going to come... They're like, 'No, we don't need you.' 'No, I'm coming up there. I'm going to help you guys.' And he's like, 'We don't need you, Neil. You just stay at the ranch and we'll bring your boat back.' But I just love the idea that Neil's like, 'Yeah, I want to get a couple blows in on that guy.' He's an angry hockey-playing Canadian that sings pretty songs.

"But I guess cooler heads prevailed and Neil stayed down at the ranch and those guys got his boat back."

 More on Dave Matthews and Neil Young: A Tale of Two Benefit Rebels.

Chatting w/ Dave Matthews on Pipelines, Farm Aid and more

(See That Day We Stood with Standing Rock to Defend & Protect DAPL Protesters)
photo by thrashette

More on other musicians influenced by Neil Young's music.

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Crazy Horse's Ralph Molina - Getting the magic, the passion, and playing till the end

  

MTL&Y

 Nils Lofgren, Billy Talbot, Neil Young & Ralph Molina 

Credit Joey Martinez

 

Ralph Molina: Getting the magic, the passion, and playing till the end

In a TW exclusive interview, the drummer of Crazy Horse, Neil Young’s legendary band, talks to Robert Broadfoot of Neil Young Unreleased -NYU about being there, “in the pocket”.

 

It would not be a misnomer to call Ralph Molina the dark horse of the Crazy Horse stable. He talks rarely in public. Interviews with him are few and far between, and mostly to be found in specialist music blogs and ‘drummer’ magazines rather than mainstream music press. It has something to do with the way he is: unbelievably warm-hearted, polite and charming, but at the same time a very very modest guy, never putting himself front of stage. Jimmy McDonough, author of the Neil Young biography “Shakey”, quoted Ralph’s band companion Nils Lofgren: “Ralph is the deadpan guy… never gets excited. He lowballs everything.” I guess that comes from being a drummer. Ringo was like that. But Ralph is actually very passionate. He just lowballs it.

 

He came to songwriting “late”. His only project as a solo artist was the album “Love & Inspiration”, released in 2019. However, with the current release of “All Roads Lead Home”, an album whose existence is best ascribed to the exceptional circumstances of the Corona epidemic and the impact of lockdown on artists and musicians, Ralph Molina the solo artist now has another outing doing his own thing. This new joint-venture album by Molina Talbot Lofgren Young is the result of four musicians putting their own music down at a time when getting together with each other was not an option. It is a hybrid album, with the three members of Crazy Horse each contributing three songs they produced separately, and Neil Young contributing a different solo version of a song they had all recorded together as a band on the album “Barn”. As it says on the back of the album: “Friends with deep bonds, though at times on different paths, found that All Roads Lead Home.”

 

Jimmy McDonough also quotes Neil’s very own personal description of the Crazy Horse drummer: “Ralph? The greatest drummer in the world. What can I say. Number one… For my music, he’s fuckin’ great.” Ralph himself would never dream of claiming to be anything remotely like a number one. As he says himself, he is a team player. What is important to Ralph is fitting in right there “in the pocket”. He knows instinctively what Neil needs and how important it is to hold it all together. And that’s what makes him number one, certainly as far as Neil is concerned, and Neil is a better judge than most.

 

Born in Puerto Rico, Ralph grew up in New York under the Brooklyn Bridge. Too late to think about being a Dodgers fan, he went for the Yankees, and to this day sports a Yankee cap on stage. At fifteen he was singing doo-wop with a group in Florida until a cousin summoned him to California to join a new vocal group called Danny & The Memories. He can tell you the rest himself. But first I asked him about his new songs.

 

Q: Tell us about the new album “All Roads Lead Home”, the latest Crazy Horse project with Nils, Billy Talbot and Neil. How did it come to be and how was it realized in terms of organization?

 

Ralph Molina: Billy and I had spoken a lot before about doing our own album and about a year ago or so we decided to go ahead and actually do it. I called Nils and asked him if he’d be willing to add three songs to the project, and he agreed wholeheartedly. And then I talked to the big guy [Neil Young] and asked him if he’d add a song. He agreed and sent us a solo version of “Song Of The Seasons” that we had already done as Neil Young and Crazy Horse on the album Barn. He had recorded it back in his home town Omemee during the Corona shut down. We had also recorded our own songs during the pandemic, and we worked on them separately, but we were thinking of them all the time as Crazy Horse. And although we worked on them separately, we felt that Nils suggestion for the title. “All Roads Lead Home”, seemed to be just right for what we were doing. Crazy Horse is our home.

 

What about your own contribution to the album? Take us through the three songs.

 

I arranged “It’s Magical” with a guy called Marco Valerio Cecilia, the lead guitar player of Francesco Lucarelli’s band from Rome called The Rawstars. Marco and I together have arranged about eight different songs of mine. “Look Through The Eyes Of Your Heart” is a song I wrote together with my buddy Anthony Crawford, who as you know has also played with Neil a lot. The Rawstars played on that song too and I asked their drummer, a guy called Marco Molino, to listen to a track on Neil’s Colorado album called “Shut It Down”. I wanted him listen to the tom toms I had played on it, which is why the drums sound the way they do. I also got Marco Cecilia to play some raunchy guitar and lead work, and he, Francesco and I arranged it all. On the third song, “Just For You”, Marco Cecilia played the piano, beautifully I must say, and I wanted a sax to play the solo, so I got Dave Becker out here in California and he played it beautifully. Marco added strings during the solo, and that was it, my three songs.

 

You’ve been pretty busy with Neil in the recording studio (and the barn!) these last few years. Touring is a different matter though. After the major Alchemy tours back in 2012-2014, the Horse has only played the five Fresno/Bakersfield dates in 2018 and a couple of isolated Canadian shows in 2019. Are you up for a big long Crazy Horse tour sometime soon? Physically too?

 

Of course I’m ready for a long tour, both physically and mentally, whenever Neil decides to give the go ahead. And glory be to God, I’ve been blessed to be able to do what I do. He’s kept me strong in every way. Physically, touring does not actually take anything out of me, not one bit. I’m as ready as I ever was.

Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse

Credit Warner Records

You came pretty late to drumming. How old were you when you got your first kit? You sound very accomplished on the The Rockets album, presumably after only a year or so playing? What was the learning curve like in those earliest days?

 

As you know, I had just been singing in a doo-wop group and I was working out in Florida at the time. When the Beatles started to get known, playing their own instruments, I got a call from my cousin Lou Bisbol to come out to LA. Danny [Whitten] already played guitar, and he asked Billy to play bass and me to play drums. I had never played drums in my life LOL, but that’s how it started! My first recollection of drums was playing cardboard boxes, with a spaghetti strainer as a hi-hat and I was 22! It was just me, Danny and Billy at the time. I really have no idea at all what it sounded like but that’s the beauty of being young. You just don’t care! I think it was our roadie, Willie B. Hinds, who first got me a small set of drums. Then we got three other guys to play with us, the Whitsell brothers George and Leon on guitars, and Bobby Notkoff on violin. And so The Rockets were born. We originally just played small gigs around Hollywood, but then we got a break and in August 1968 played our biggest gig so far at the Whisky A Go Go on Sunset Strip. That was when we asked the big guy [Neil] to sit in with us. By the time the first Rockets album came out, I guess I had been playing drums for about a year or so. The rest I guess is pretty much history. Neil wanted a band so Danny, me and Billy left the Rockets and became Crazy Horse.

 

What makes a good rock ‘n roll band drummer? Do you have a philosophy of drumming? What are the essentials? Do you have any idols?

 

The essentials are a drum kit LOL, that’s all I ever needed! I guess the absolutely most important thing about being a good rock drummer is keeping time and being right there in the pocket. Me, I just try and play what I feel is the best for each song. I like to improvise a lot... you can start a song and I’ll just jump in! I don’t really have any other drummers as my idols but I love Dave Grohl and Neil Peart for example. My favorite guitar player is of course the big guy, Neil, because of his passion. He doesn’t pose, he’s not a ‘supposer’. It’s all feel, every note means something.

 

What is your “go to” kit when playing with Neil? Can you give some details? What about your newer Craviotto kit? How did that come about?

 

I never really got into the technicalities of what cymbals are best etc. etc. In the early years, I just had one ride cymbal and one crash, that was it. The drums I have mostly used with Neil were my Blue Pearl Ludwig set which I bought back in 1969, I think. I used them on practically all our tours, until I believe the Psychedelic Pill album. Neil had gotten a Craviotto set from Johnny Craviotto, the drummer from his 1977 Ducks band who had in the meantime set up his own drum manufacture. I still had my Ludwig set up, but Neil asked me if I would play the Craviotto kit, and I said no problem. I am an easygoing kind of guy! I’ve used the Craviotto set on our last 3 albums together, and also on our latest tours. I generally use 18-inch crash cymbals and a 20-inch ride. And then I use two 18-inch crashes as hi hats. But it’s my snare, a clear Ludwig snare, which is most important, as it is with most drummers. It sounds great, as does the Craviotto snare. I’m actually not too particular about what I use as far as my Ludwig set goes. It’s just got to feel comfortable. Like I said, I’m not into sizes, shapes or model numbers. 

 

It turns out you are still a crooner at heart. I guess it’s the Danny & The Memories pedigree! Am I right that your solo album “Love & Inspiration” from 2019 has been your only solo project, or is it the only one that made it to release?

 

I guess I am a bit of a crooner still! I just love to sing. I started writing late in life, and yes, “Love & Inspiration” was my first and only solo album, at least until the new songs on “All Roads Lead Home”. I have always been more interested in being a team player. All my time so far has been spent in helping other people’s songs. I have no regrets, I’ve always been a team player.

 

You once said in an interview: “I love playing when I don't know the song. [Neil] knows I hate listening to tapes, and rehearsing a song because when it's time to record, all you have is a part, no magic.” Do you ever get specific input from Neil when you are working up a song or does he really leave it up to you entirely?

 

Sure, there are times when Neil might say “Why don’t you maybe try it this way?” I’m not an egoist, I’ll try anything. But most of the time he leaves it up to me. If you know a song too well, or get a cassette in advance to start preparing for a session, you tend to focus on working out a part. And all of a sudden, you’re just playing the part, there’s no magic any more, no passion. At least that’s the way it is with me. I’ve loved working on the recent albums with Neil. We’re even more raw now than we were. I guess it’s a mind thing. In the early years, as in the first Crazy Horse album with Jack [Nitzsche] and Nils, we would rehearse almost every day, it was really tight. I didn’t mind that at all, in fact I loved it at the time. But now I really love to improvise, like in jazz… just improvise. That’s why Neil loves to record live. He will start playing a song, and we just jump in. We get the feel… heart… magic… passion that way…

Crazy Horse 

Credit Warner Records

Exactly 50 years ago you were dealing with Danny Whitten’s passing. After Danny’s death, Neil went on his troublesome Time Fades Away tour with the resurrected Stray Gators. And then came the double whammy of Bruce Berry’s death followed by the legendary Tonight’s The Night sessions, the Roxy shows and the equally legendary Tonight’s The Night tour. What memories will you never forget of that time? What places do you still like to go back to in your mind?

 

Needless to say, Danny’s and Bruce’s deaths were heart breaking… bless their souls. First thing I remember is where we recorded Tonight’s The Night, at Bruce’s brother’s rehearsal studio in Hollywood, the S.I.R. studio. We would shoot pool, and just walk around. The thing was, we all somehow got the mood at the same time, usually around midnight, and we all just walked to our instruments and began to play. The mood we had was light but at the same time dark, it was as one. The album with those great songs was magical. Then the shows at the Roxy, where Elliot Roberts [Neil’s manager] was one of the owners... those shows were magical too. Neil, Billy, Ben [Keith], Nils and myself, were just one unit. The songs made it possible to play… passionately. They were the very first shows played at the Roxy.

 

Tell us a little about your life at home without giving any secrets away. How do you live day to day? Can you sum up your philosophy of life? What are the principles that guide you?

 

At home, I’m with my family. Family, as always, is the most important. I write, I pay my taxes, I garden, I watch sports, I take walks. I guess I live like anyone else. On the road, after a show, I toss and turn, thinking how we can play better, sing better. My philosophy, my principles? I was raised to be fair, no more no less. I try my best to be kind to all. I believe that to hate anything or anyone, is not hating anything nor anyone, you’re simply hurting yourself. So I don’t hate. I don’t step on anyone’s toes. I wish that people who preach about love would stop using it as just a word. True love is in our hearts. So don’t just say it, show it. I live like it’s my last day. 

 

And what’s next on the Ralph Molina “To Do” list? Do you ever think about retiring completely? Do you ever think about writing a book? Any big round birthday wishes for June?

 

I may, God willing, write a book but I don’t mix music with family. The only wish I would have is to stay healthy, and that my loved ones, all my friends, my musical cohorts, all stay healthy too. Retire completely? Never! I’ve been blessed to be able to do what I do, and that’s what I’ll do. I’ll play till the end.

© Robert Broadfoot: Neil Young Unreleased - NYU 2023

All Roads Lead Home by Molina, Talbot, Lofgren & Young (Click photo to enlarge)

 

ALL ROADS LEAD HOME is released on the new NYA label, catalogue #09362486951, on vinyl and CD via The Greedy Hand Store at Neil Young Archives (NYA)and music retailers everywhere. It is also available on hi-res audio at Neil Young Archives and most DSPs.

Track list
1. RAIN - Billy Talbot

2. YOU WILL NEVER KNOW - Nils Lofgren

3. IT’S MAGICAL - Ralph Molina

4. SONG OF THE SEASONS - Neil Young

5. CHERISH - Billy Talbot

6. FILL MY CUP - Nils Lofgren

7. LOOK THROUGH THE EYES OF YOUR HEART - Ralph Molina

8. THE HUNTER - Billy Talbot

9. GO WITH ME - Nils Lofgren

10. JUST FOR YOU - Ralph Molina

 

Also, see First Impressions: All Roads Lead Home by Molina, Talbot, Lofgren & Young | The Old Grey Cat

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First Impressions: All Roads Lead Home by Molina, Talbot, Lofgren & Young | The Old Grey Cat

All Roads Lead Home by Molina, Talbot, Lofgren & Young (Click photo to enlarge)  

From First Impressions: All Roads Lead Home by Molina, Talbot, Lofgren & Young | The Old Grey Cat:

At first glance, one might think that All Roads Lead Home, the “debut” album from Molina, Talbot, Lofgren & Young was a more egalitarian Neil Young & Crazy Horse release, with the four jamming in the studio. In fact, it’s a compilation of tracks that were recorded apart both before and during the pandemic, with Ralph Molina, Billy Talbot and Nils Lofgren each contributing three and Neil Young sharing one that’s just him, his acoustic guitar and harmonica. Yet, despite the time and distance, the songs flow the way one would expect from an in-studio collaboration—no doubt due to the musical DNA the four have long shared.

An earthy folk-rock vibe emanates from the tracks. The opening “Rain” comes courtesy of Talbot and his band, which features—for just this song—Rain Parade’s Matt Piucci on electric and acoustic guitars, organ and backing vocals. It sounds like a long-lost outtake from the 1971 Crazy Horse album. (That’s a huge compliment.) It has a lived-in feel from the get-go, in other words, almost as if it’s been kicking around the communal subconscious for eons but just now slipping into the frontal lobe for us to enjoy while awake.

Thanks OGC! We really enjoyed listening to All Roads Lead Home. In particluar, Ralph’s tracks were quite fun.  

Full review @ First Impressions: All Roads Lead Home by Molina, Talbot, Lofgren & Young | The Old Grey Cat.

Molina, Talbot, Lofgren, & Young - Rain (Official Audio)

 

 

MTL&Y

 Nils Lofgren, Billy Talbot, Neil Young & Ralph Molina & ???

 

More on Comment of the Moment: "ALL ROADS LEAD HOME": MTL&Y = Ralph Molina, Billy Talbot, Nils Lofgren & Neil Young.

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