Neil Young's Dynamite Tracks #18: Busting out of Jail
From the irrepressible Scotsman on Dynamite Tracks #18: Busting out of Jail:
Bob Dylan said:
“Hearing Elvis for the first time was like busting out of jail.”Bob’s words ring true. And whether the jail-break is instigated by Elvis Presley or Bob himself, busting out of jail is one of my favourite themes for music... and art in general.
Some music is about wallowing in despair, a comfort food of sorts. I prefer tracks that provoke positive action.
Sun Green is the classic, probably definitive Neil Young song about busting out of jail. A dynamite track not just in its performance, but in its very conception.
On one level, Greendale as a whole is basically the “guidebook to Neil Young”: and Sun Green is the bit where everything reaches boiling point. Obstacles within are demolished, and the spirit reaches its potential. A journey to freedom.
On a more down-to-Earth level, Greendale is about a bunch of very normal people—and a few abnormal ones—living their lives. And because Neil created them all, he’s in all of them.
He’s the curmudgeonly, world-wise Grandpa, but he’s also the ever-youthful Sun Green.
Remember how in the Wizard of Oz the real characters from Dorothy’s life on the farm appear in Oz, but they’re not quite the same? Parallel, but not identical? Greendale is like that:
In the character of Jed, we see an echo of Danny Whitten. And the track Carmichael tells a vivid story of a grief and mourning that is essentially the 2003 version of Tonight’s the Night.
…not identical, but parallel.
Greendale is not a political album, thank God… nor is it an environmental one. (The excellent final song kicks open the door to an environmental avenue).
It’s an album about living. And of course, there’s a lot of death in it, too. Death adds tension to Greendale, inspiring the survivors to live their lives more fully.
Full post @ Scotsman on Dynamite Tracks #18: Busting out of Jail.
Neil Young & Sun Green
Radio City Music Hall, New York, March 18, 2004
Photo by thrashette
Labels: bob dylan, elvis presley, greendale, neil young, songs
by thrasher@PermaLink: 11/08/2024 09:35:00 AM
6 comments
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6 Comments:
I really like the idea of "Greendale" being a quintessential Neil Young album and the concept of all characters being different aspects of Neil Young's biography and experience, very convincing. The conclusion, however, that this is not a political album does not follow from these brilliant insights (not for me, that is). Rather because it is an album about living, it's a political album through and through. Because it presents Carmichael, the good cop, and COINTELPRO-style police agents ("Sun Green"), because it presents an investigative and inquisitive young woman and "Susan Carol from Early Magazine" ("Grandpa's Interview"), because there is gun violence (echo: "shot four men on a cocaine tour") , because of the repressive atmosphere of small town social control ("the neighbours got mad as hell" in "Double E"), because of the very real threats to the last wilderness by "Powerco".
Politics, I believe, can be understood as the ongoing discourse about the relationship between the individual and his (social, physical etc.) environment. Ideally the outcome of politics is a sustainable maximum of individual and collective freedom. Freedom being the / a (?) central term of western political thought.
Thanks much Dionys.
Yes, agree, that Greendale is absolutely political. As usual, Scots is so insightful and poignant in his writings. Of course we're fond of Scots given that this platform launched him to bigger and better things.
We consider Greendale to be Neil "most cohesive and important album".
While that's not the same as his best music, it is lofty praise and puts Greendale in league w/ other "concept" albums.
Also, really appreciate all of your inputs here on TW. Esp the engagement w/ other TW folks as well.
@Dionys : I also see Greendale as political. It tells the story from a small town perspective, but everything in the story can literally be found throughout the world. The personal struggles of every day life. It’s a microcosm of the of politics in society, and the ramifications created by it.
I also believe that Greendale is one of Neil’s most creative endeavors.
Peace to all 🙏
Thanks all for the lovely and perceptive comments.
I like people who enjoy Greendale because I get the sense we're on the same wavelength. We'd probably get on well in the real world should we meet up for a ginger beer, strong coffee, or pint of real ale.
And one of many reasons I like Greendale is because it's its own world.
Not all albums or tracks are like this. Alabama from Tuscaloosa, for instance, with no added context, is objectively an out-of-tune din. Subjectively, it's a dreadful performance. What elevates it to being perceived as a work of art is because we see it in the *context* of Neil Young's life and career in the golden 70s. It's part of the legend.
But with Greendale, although there is lots of Neil Young in it (perhaps more than any other album), all we need to appreciate it is to notice ourselves within this town he has created for us. Dionys and Dan Swan get to the heart of this, above.
Some will relate to Sun Green (seeking to break out and fulfil her potential), some to the artist Earl (trying to juggle the drive to create with the need to survive), some
to Grandpa (on the Earth long enough to have seen a lot, done a lot, survived through a lot).
Many here, I think, will relate to all three. They will also relate to the grief of Carmichael's widow, and Jed, too: because like Jed, we've all made mistakes. (If we're lucky, they're the kind of beneficial mistakes that help us learn, and not the kind of mistakes that permanently derail us, or hurt anybody else.)
"Change comes slow in the country". And a big part of the success of this record is Neil is writing from his own experience of living in the middle of nowhere.
The clubs and bars in major cities might change every year — as might the political leaders. Parts of rural England, meanwhile, haven't changed in 200 years or more. The people haven't changed much, either.
The Sun Greens of the world often find peace (and the space to create and think and dream) in the countryside, but need to get out to the city to find inspiration, or to make an impact. Because that's where the change they seek to make is most likely to happen. (In the 21st century, the internet is it's own kind of city.)
So I agree with all you guys that Greendale touches on politics themes. But I don't see it as a political album, not *as such*, because the word "politics" for me brings to mind two things:
A) A sense of top-down power, sometimes rigged against those of us with a sense of ethics (on both sides of the political spectrum)
And:
B) a force that divides us into polarised groups lobbing spears at each other.
Grandpa, meanwhile, strikes me as the kind of guy who "doesn't trust any of the b*stards". The more time you spend on Earth, the more you seem unfold... And eventually, you tune it all out.
Sun Green, too, is the kind of the person who'd be out there making a positive ruckus regardless of who is in power.
Quite wonderfully, we're left with an album that retains it's relevance through the ages, no matter who's in power, no matter whether they represent us or not.
We can still go out and make a difference.
Greendale, I think, speaks most strongly to those who really believe in this. Lovers of this album want to get up and really make a positive contribution, and probably have done numerous times in their lives already. They are do-ers, not just talkers.
(The boss of this very website will certainly relate: he started the first Neil Young blog not in 2016 or 2022, like me, but in 1996 — ahead of just about everybody in the blogging world.)
I'll submit what some will interpret as a smug or deluded opinion, but I'd prefer it to be interpreted as just a bit cheeky:
Having a passion for Greendale says something very complimentary about us.
Scots.
I hope no-one will be offended if I say am trying hard, but I still don't get what it is they think is important about Greendale - sorry.
The lyrics tell a tale that is interesting, the characters are all relatable, but I don't see or hear anything revelatory or new - and I don't think I did when it was first released 20 years ago either. And I listened to it a lot when it first came out and remember having fun exploring the accompanying Greendale web site.
I can see that there are likely aspects of Neil's character and personality in a lot or maybe all of the characters, I can see that it touches on a lot of the problems of the world, but is there an important insight? Some important message?
Did we not already know then that there was corruption on the highest floor? That Mr Clean was dirty too? That the Government is all bought and paid for? That we need to save the planet?
There is the 'Be The Rain' call to action but hadn't people and organisations been saying similar for many years already? Greenpeace come to mind but I am sure there were many others.
Thanks Ron & Scots!
See Comments of the Moment: Neil Young's "Quintessential" Greendale
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