"Mother Earth": An Important Reassessment of Neil Young's Song | Scotsman

Mother Earth
image via Adobe Stock (Click photo to enlarge)

A special guest posting from the irrepressible Scotsman.

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Mother Earth

Out in the musical wilderness, life can be harsh.

In this discriminatory world, charming Neil Young ditties like “Till the Morning Comes” get cheerfully waved through the door of authenticated musical excellence. Meanwhile, less fortunate songs (Mother Earth, for example) are forced to walk through a metal detector and are submitted to an aggressive strip search.

Fan comments about the closing track from Ragged Glory are not always pretty. It’s been described as “a truly awful gift”, “putrid”, and “perhaps Neil’s worst song to this point”.

When criticism is this fierce, we must read between the lines.

After all, whatever you think about the lyrics and musical arrangement of Mother Earth, they’re clearly not as terrible as the over-the-top negative reviews would have you believe. So what can this song possibly have done to earn such scathing criticism?

When we look at fan discussions dedicated to “rating” Neil’s tracks (an entertaining but nonetheless foolhardy endeavour), arguably a trend emerges:

People give high ratings to tracks that make them feel safe, comfortable, and in control.

They give low ratings to tracks that create a sense of unease, discomfort or unresolved tension.

(The Earth album, I have no doubt, will be on the receiving end of harsh ratings simply because people have no idea how to “judge” an album of car horns, mosquitos, church bells and thunderclaps. The inner unease translates into a damning rating).

This all makes a song like Mother Earth— one full of supposedly misguided “hippie” vibes about saving the planet—a sitting duck.

The problem isn’t that it’s poorly written. It’s that, for many people, it’s a bitter pill to swallow. And it’s easier to discard it as a bad pill than to tolerate it.

One fan review hits the nail on the head:  

“Not exactly a particularly pleasant listen”.

But of course, not every track is intended to be a pleasant listen. If we rate music on the scale of “easy listening”, then a great many of the most moving, most generous albums and songs are thrown into the reject pile. A tragedy!

Mother Earth is also particularly noteworthy for being the track where Neil Young starts to directly tackle the subject matter that, in some ways, feels like his true calling.

It’s a crucial link in the chain between After the Goldrush, Vampire Blues, Greendale, Who’s Gonna Stand Up, the Monsanto Years, Colorado and World Record.

And, while I can enjoy ditties like the much-lauded Till the Morning Comes, I’m also relieved Mr Young has dedicated his time to tackling more substantial topics with equal creativity and generosity, too.

First released a full 13 years before Greendale, Mother Earth is a song that’s part stark warning, part prayer, part motivational speech. Perhaps, though, it’s most noteworthy for being an early iteration of the type of song that aims to inspire the real-life Sun Greens of the world.

That’s why Neil sings Mother Earth in concert so frequently. It’s a recruitment drive.

And of course, not everybody is interested in saving Mother Earth. But that doesn’t make it a bad song. It just means it’s not for everybody.

Lyrically, it’s not necessarily among Neil’s most razor-sharp creations of all time, but it works, and it’s certainly not the disaster zone some would like you to believe. Meanwhile, the concept of transcending nationalist concerns with a shared empathy for the planet is both inventive and worthwhile.

Still, like many fans I suspect, I cheerfully admit I tend to skip this track when listening to Ragged Glory. Not because it’s a bad song (it isn’t!), but because it’s a good song buried on the wrong album, and in a bad arrangement.

The idea of mimicking Jimi Hendrix’s version of Star Spangled Banner is a clever one. But after Ragged Glory’s multiple tracks with drum and bass, the solo-guitar arrangement feels like we’re being forced to ride a horse and cart after doing a few laps in a Ferrari.

The more pressing problem, though, is the production can’t decide whether it wants to go for safe slickness or fragile, meaningful connection. As such, the lyrics are buried in glossy harmonised vocal overdubs that sound too much like a chorus of unfeeling robots.

The message the audience receives is a) “this sounds pretty”, and b) “this isn’t a personalised communication aimed directly at me”.

Like Children of Destiny, Mother Earth is a song that works best when it’s whispered, person to person, heart to heart. There needs to be a sense of the listener and singer both leaning in, trying to establish a connection in a chaotic world.

Overlaying Mother Earth with extra vocals makes it safer, more impervious to attack. But it also neuters the very vulnerability that makes the song special.

The superior version from 2015’s Earth (a concert/studio hybrid) completely solves this issue. And it does so in a very unconventional, very inventive way.

Not only is it a compelling performance musically, but the wonderfully creative overdubs add a sense of musical sparkle and sustained interest that can sometimes be lacking in the in-concert solo renditions on pump organ.

Listen to the sheer breadth of sounds (and feelings) Neil conjures up. The opening pump organ and harmonica instrumental has a fittingly ominous, almost funeral-like vibe... but certainly church-like.

The intention here is both clear and effective: to put us in a meditative, prayer-like state of feeling. We’re in nature’s church.

We’re not in row #212 of the O2 Arena, or Madison Square Garden. Spiritually, we’re in the front row at a service.

The musical arrangement sets us up to really listen, to hang on every word. And those who want to check their phones can go next door and grab a beer, instead. Switch the record off. But please, don’t interrupt the service.

So far, this approach is effective but also fairly straightforward. But then, the real genius kicks in. Overdubbed, “robot-style” backing vocals contribute something else entirely — something that it’s hard to put a finger on.

It’s the first example of a recurring, very strange, very wondrous feeling on Earth:

Where deliberately synthetic vocals, when offset against a more “organic” performance, somehow contribute a sense of rich emotion that’s completely at odds with their artificial character.

The synthetic vocals don’t drown out the human being, as they do on the Ragged Glory version. Instead, they complement him. They somehow add a beauty all of their own.

How exactly does this work? Maybe in much the same way that caramel and salt combine into a flavoursome combo — the two extremes exaggerating the beauty of each other.

But it goes beyond that. The overdubbed “electro” vocals on Earth do something that’s both unusual and profound. So profound it’s hard to pin down exactly what it is. (Hah! That’s a bit of a cop-out from me, isn’t it!).

Meanwhile, the Sun Green of tomorrow is sitting in the audience — possibly with her Mum and Dad.

And she hears the message. It’s not buried like it is on Ragged Glory. Nor is it too direct, too ham-fisted, too shouty.

Instead, it’s transmitted quietly, from person to person, soul to soul.

At that moment, the crowd doesn’t matter. The cheering, the whooping, the booing might as well be silent. The fan discussions have subsided. Even the car horns and mosquitos and guitar solos have settled down.

No gunshots. No artillery fire.

Instead, there’s a sensation that real, deep, profound communication has taken place. A supremely skilled artist, standing in a studio—thousands of miles away, and perhaps even many years away, too—has inspired us. He’s passed on the baton, motivated the next person in the chain to run with it.

In the world of the 21st century, where so much supposed communication is either malicious or just mere noise, this sort of connection isn’t just very special. It’s practically a miracle.

Scotsman.

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Thank you so much Scotsman for sharing your writings with TW and the rustie-grains communities.

Yes, "Respect Mother (Earth) and her giving ways". Honor the treaties, indeed.

Your Neil passion sparkles through and through.  We know you sent this article much earlier for publication before our sabbatical. Apologies for not getting posted sooner. But the timing seems immaculate still.

Oh "Mother Earth" indeed.  BTW, what do you think of image selection above?  Lots of images of "Mother Earth" out there.  If you have something else in mind, please pass along.

And while on the subject of Guest Posts, the door is always open here @ TW.  Express theyself, freedom of speech über alles, etc. Use it or lose it. Say something, submit something.

Neil Young - "Mother Earth", Calgary, Jan 20, 2014

More on "Mother Earth" + song video @ Happy Mother's (Earth) Day! "Respect Mother (Earth) and her giving ways".

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