Once Again, Neil Young Takes A "Stand For Peace"

"Stand For Peace" by Neil Young
(Frame from Official Music Video)

UPDATED

Neil Young released an official music video on Thanksgiving Day titled "Stand For Peace".

"Stand For Peace" is an instrumental of the American national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner" on electric guitar, similar to Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock. The video is directed by Young's wife Daryl Hannah.

Neil Young Archives | T-C

 

Jimi Hendrix (1969)  and Neil Young (2023)

 

Before moving into some background onto background on Neil Young's longtime position on war and peace, a comment earlier by Dan:

@ The Metamorphic Rocker : You are not alone in your thinking. The words you have written are logical, and well thought out. [See comment here by Meta Rocker] I just wanted you to know that I understand your position completely, and support your views wholeheartedly.

If we could all somehow just get past the ’Us Against Them’ mentality, and see each other as the same species, then perhaps we could make this world a better place. Until then we are sadly doomed to repeat history time and time again.

If the human race could finally understand just how much better off ‘everyone’ would be if we were able to consolidate our efforts together, then there would be no one going hungry, or homeless. Or die because they can’t afford health insurance. Everyone could be free to express themselves without judgment, or persecution. Instead of ‘don’t tread on me’ we could embrace ‘don’t tread on anyone’. Then maybe life on earth wouldn’t be so damn dangerous.

We are one of the only species on earth that hunts itself….for their own gain.

Greed kills, and as Dylan once sang…. Money doesn’t talk, it swears. 

But sadly, here we are in 2023 and we're still living with war.

Living With War by Neil Young - 2006

If there was ever an artist to which the label "anti-war" sticks, it would be Neil Young. 

 

Over 50 years since "Ohio" and Kent State, the tin soldiers are still marching onwards toward war.  Except this time, not just some random regional conflict to keep the War Machine primed, but full on discussion and encouragement to get a full blown World War #3 going.

 

Military madness, indeed.

In 2022, as the war drums started beating in Ukraine, Neil Young penned an editorial on  Neil Young Archives: VIEWPOINT: The Apotheosis of War.

 

“The Apotheosis of War” by Vasily Vereshchagin(Click photo to enlarge)

 

With military madness continuing to kill our countries, what's the average citizen of the world to do?

Obviously, we're Still Living With War -- both in our minds and hearts -- because it's all just deja vu, all over again and again and again ...

 

In a 2008 article on Who Got Iraq Right? by Greg Mitchell and Tom Engelhardt, they include Neil Young and his album Living With War as an alternative voice for:

"... exposing the criminal nature of, and the many costs of, the Iraq war that have emerged from an "alternative" universe that includes former war correspondents, reporters for small newspapers or news services, comedians, aging rock 'n rollers, and bloggers, among others. "

As Neil Young has stated: "History is a cruel judge of overconfidence."

 

Neil Young Signs "PEACE"

So more "Shock And Awe" coming everyone's way again?

Once completing the album Living With War in 2007, Neil Young played the album for his label Reprise and than immediately gave a live interview to CNN. For many fans, this was Neil at his finest -- speaking truth to power.

Neil Rocks on CNN 

So did "Living With War" become the rock equivalent to the film "Fahrenheit 9/11"? For critics, it seemed to be the case.

 "CSNY DEJA VU" Film Poster - 2008

 

Part performance, part documentary and commentary, the film CSNY Déjà Vu is a call to peace and remains relevant today. Because if we ignore the lessons of history, we do so at our peril.

From album "Living With War", the title track's lyrics continue their prescient revelations on today's times.

 

Neil Young - 2016

[ Try to remember peace (visualize) ]

"I join the multitudes
I raise my hand in peace
I never bow to the laws of the thought police
I take a holy vow
To never kill again
To never kill again

I'm living with war in my heart
I'm living with war in my heart and my mind
I'm living with war right now"

 Frame via Neil Young's "Fireside Sessions" - 2020

 

Despite what the critics wrote negatively about the album -- if nothing else -- Living With War was the most courageous album of 2006.

In 2016, Neil Young released the album "Peace Trail".

 

Neil Young: "Peace Trail" - 2016

 Track Listing: Neil Young's "Peace Trail" - 2016(note title of Track #6)
 

Even though when Neil Young sings about peace and love and war he admits that he doesn't "really know what I'm saying" and while "Just singing a song won't change the world", it certainly has proven to be a good starting point at least.

Neil Young:"Just singing a song won't change the world"
2008 Berlin Film FestivalPhoto by Markus Schreiber

peace

No War
Greendale Film still

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"Flags of Freedom" For Memorial Day: A Neil Young Idea

For Memorial Day: A Young Idea

Neil Young, "Flags of Freedom."

Support the troops... Bring Them Home & End The Wars.

And we're still Living With War.


The 4 Musketeers
Woodie Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, & Neil
Art by Down With Tyranny!
Back in 2006, it all started when an obscure blog link popped up over in the right sidebar here on Thrasher's Wheat. According to the blog Last Left Turn Before Hooterville a new Neil Young album was being recorded. The blog, written by a member of a 100-voice choir, said the album would contain the lyrics: "Let's impeach the President for lyin'!". Alicia blogged:

"Every time new lyrics would come up on the screen, there were cheers, tears and applause. It was a spiritual experience ... We finished the session by singing an a cappella version of "America the Beautiful" and there was not a dry eye in the house."

"I've never been at a recording session that was more like being at church. Heck, I've never been to a church that was more like a church than that session."

Needless to say, the Rusties were in an uproar in April 2006, with a serious meme circulating that this was all an elaborate hoax.

Could this be the predicted swerve to the ditch? This wasn't the first time Neil was ahead of the curve on impeachment (Nixon) or calling out for the truth.

As word of the album began to percolate through the blogosphere, reactions began to pour in fast and furious.

From Cole Slaw Blog:

"Mildly disappointed with Neil Young's syrupy fall release 'Prairie Wind,' this morning I'm happy (I'd write 'thrilled' or 'overjoyed,' but I'm trying to be more understated) to read that Neil will soon release a hard-rocking protest album called 'Life in War.'

After days of continuing speculation as to what Neil was up to, his official website began to offer up specific details. Neil himself described the album as "Metal Folk Protest" like Phil Ochs and Bob Dylan.

Once completed, Neil played the album for his label Reprise and than immediately gave a live interview to CNN. For many fans, this was Neil at his finest -- speaking truth to power.


Neil Rocks on CNN
So would "Living With War" be rock's "Fahrenheit 9/11"? For critics, it seemed to be the case.

But things would get ugly. Very ugly. Blogs exploded on early news reports of the still unheard album.




Day By Day Cartoon
Sadly, a not untypical comment on Hammer of Truth » Neil Young Jumping on the Impeachment Train by Taylor:

"How should I put this? How but, Fuck Neil Young.

He nothing but another commi, liberal, anti-american, hippie. If he hates the way George Bush runs America, then he can just take his whining ass back to Canada. We sure as hell don’t need him here, complaining about how bad things are. He talks like he would make a better president than George Bush. If someone like Neil Young was our president, then every terrorist in the world could walk all over us and he wouldn’t do a damn thing. His little anti-war ass."

Well, we thought we had seen everything. Until "War on Neil Young" from Red State Update started appearing on YouTube. Couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry.

It nearly became depressing. How could so many who probably had never even heard of Neil's music become so filled with hate? I was down on a frown when a messenger brought me a letter. Thankfully, there was much support for both Neil and Thrasher's Wheat. Without the stunning and overwhelming reader support, this site would have folded in April 2006.

Eventually, the CD was released, heard and evaluated. Reviews of "Living with War" were predictable for their focus around one song on the album and failing to grasp the larger picture.

The experience of April 2006 was unlike anything ever experienced before here at Thrasher's Wheat. Now I know what it feels to be hit by a virtual tsunami with 100's of comments on nearly every post -- many of which were filled with hate about Neil's freedom of expression. One of the things Thrasher is most proud of is the coverage the site has received that notes our non-partisan and apolitical stance, as Daily Kos notes:

"The definitive Neil Young site Thrasher's Wheat has done the hard work of assembling reaction from musical and political bloggers. Some of the reactions gathered on the normally apolitical Thrasher's Wheat show Bush's zombies in early meltdown."

If nothing else, Living With War was the most courageous album of 2006.

As Neil Young has stated: "History is a cruel judge of overconfidence."

It's now been 10 years since the days of "Shock & Awe" and "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq.

And. We're. Still. Living. With. War.

So just as Neil Young was right about the Vietnam War being wrong, so he was again by warning of the consequences of reckless war in Iraq.



Leia's Daddy: Find the Cost of Freedom

From Pressing Issues: When Neil Young Hit Bush, and the Media, On Iraq by Greg Mitchell, the former editor of Editor & Publisher (the newspaper for newspaper editors) and author of "So Wrong for So Long: How the Press, the Pundits and the President Failed on Iraq.":

Neil Young: Rock star as journo? It essentially happened in 2006 when Neil Young, son of a famous Canadian sportswriter, hurriedly wrote and released (only online at first) his ripped-from-the-headlines Living With War CD. He even proposed impeaching the president "for lying" (and "for spying"). In one of the songs in the collection, Young sang repeatedly: "Don't need no more lies."

He emphasized the prohibition against the media showing pictures of coffins with the American dead being returned from Iraq, singing: "Thousands of bodies in the ground/ Brought home in boxes to a trumpet's sound/ No one sees them coming home that way/ Thousands buried in the ground." In another song: "More boxes covered in flags/ but I can't see them on TV."

When Young urged that Americans "Impeach the President," he included audio clips of embarrassing Bush statements ("We'll smoke them out ..."). But a highlight of the collection was the blistering "Shock and Awe," which, along with its antiwar lyrics, included the more philosophical "History is a cruel judge of overconfidence." He also recalled that "back in the days of Mission Accomplished ... the sun was setting on another photo op."

"There's one more kid that will never go to school
Never get to fall in love, never get to be cool."
Photo by Chris Hondros - NYTimes.com
More on why we're still living with war.

Complete coverage of the Living With War controversary at Neil Young News: 04/01/2006 - 05/01/2006 and Neil Young News: 05/01/2006 - 06/01/2006.

American Dream: How could something so good, go bad, so fast?

(Thanks Greg!)

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Tune in details and podcast info @ Thrashers Wheat Radio Hour.


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Tune in on WBKM.org, Saturdays @ 9P EST

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Still Living With War... and Yet More War To Come

Living With War by Neil Young - 2006
Sadly, we're still living with war.

And judging by the beat of the war drums, it looks like we'll soon have another war front open up in Syria.

In a 2008 article on Who Got Iraq Right? by Greg Mitchell and Tom Engelhardt, they include Neil Young and his album Living With War as an alternative voice for:

"... exposing the criminal nature of, and the many costs of, the Iraq war that have emerged from an "alternative" universe that includes former war correspondents, reporters for small newspapers or news services, comedians, aging rock 'n rollers, and bloggers, among others. "

As Neil Young has stated: "History is a cruel judge of overconfidence."

More "Shock And Awe" coming our way.


Neil Young / Shock & Awe by ivaxavi

Try to remember peace (visualize)

"I join the multitudes
I raise my hand in peace
I never bow to the laws of the thought police
I take a holy vow
To never kill again
To never kill again

I'm living with war in my heart
I'm living with war in my heart and my mind
I'm living with war right now"

Despite what the critics have written -- if nothing else -- Living With War was the most courageous album of 2006.

ps - Dear World, Americans Don't Want War With Syria


No War
Greendale Film still

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For Memorial Day: A Neil Young Idea - "Flags of Freedom"

For Memorial Day: A Young Idea

Neil Young, "Flags of Freedom."

Support the troops... Bring Them Home & End The Wars.

And we're still Living With War.


The 4 Musketeers
Woodie Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, & Neil
Art by Down With Tyranny!
Seven years ago it all started when an obscure blog link popped up over in the right sidebar here on Thrasher's Wheat. According to the blog Last Left Turn Before Hooterville a new Neil Young album was being recorded. The blog, written by a member of a 100-voice choir, said the album would contain the lyrics: "Let's impeach the President for lyin'!". Alicia blogged:

"Every time new lyrics would come up on the screen, there were cheers, tears and applause. It was a spiritual experience ... We finished the session by singing an a cappella version of "America the Beautiful" and there was not a dry eye in the house."

"I've never been at a recording session that was more like being at church. Heck, I've never been to a church that was more like a church than that session."

Needless to say, the Rusties were in an uproar in April 2006, with a serious meme circulating that this was all an elaborate hoax.

Could this be the predicted swerve to the ditch? This wasn't the first time Neil was ahead of the curve on impeachment (Nixon) or calling out for the truth.

As word of the album began to percolate through the blogosphere, reactions began to pour in fast and furious.

From Cole Slaw Blog:

"Mildly disappointed with Neil Young's syrupy fall release 'Prairie Wind,' this morning I'm happy (I'd write 'thrilled' or 'overjoyed,' but I'm trying to be more understated) to read that Neil will soon release a hard-rocking protest album called 'Life in War.'

After days of continuing speculation as to what Neil was up to, his official website began to offer up specific details. Neil himself described the album as "Metal Folk Protest" like Phil Ochs and Bob Dylan.

Once completed, Neil played the album for his label Reprise and than immediately gave a live interview to CNN. For many fans, this was Neil at his finest -- speaking truth to power.


Neil Rocks on CNN
So would "Living With War" be rock's "Fahrenheit 9/11"? For critics, it seemed to be the case.

But things would get ugly. Very ugly. Blogs exploded on early news reports of the still unheard album.




Day By Day Cartoon
Sadly, a not untypical comment on Hammer of Truth » Neil Young Jumping on the Impeachment Train by Taylor:

"How should I put this? How but, Fuck Neil Young.

He nothing but another commi, liberal, anti-american, hippie. If he hates the way George Bush runs America, then he can just take his whining ass back to Canada. We sure as hell don’t need him here, complaining about how bad things are. He talks like he would make a better president than George Bush. If someone like Neil Young was our president, then every terrorist in the world could walk all over us and he wouldn’t do a damn thing. His little anti-war ass."

Well, we thought we had seen everything. Until "War on Neil Young" from Red State Update started appearing on YouTube. Couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry.

It nearly became depressing. How could so many who probably had never even heard of Neil's music become so filled with hate? I was down on a frown when a messenger brought me a letter. Thankfully, there was much support for both Neil and Thrasher's Wheat. Without the stunning and overwhelming reader support, this site would have folded in April 2006.

Eventually, the CD was released, heard and evaluated. Reviews of "Living with War" were predictable for their focus around one song on the album and failing to grasp the larger picture.

The experience of April 2006 was unlike anything ever experienced before here at Thrasher's Wheat. Now I know what it feels to be hit by a virtual tsunami with 100's of comments on nearly every post -- many of which were filled with hate about Neil's freedom of expression. One of the things Thrasher is most proud of is the coverage the site has received that notes our non-partisan and apolitical stance, as Daily Kos notes:

"The definitive Neil Young site Thrasher's Wheat has done the hard work of assembling reaction from musical and political bloggers. Some of the reactions gathered on the normally apolitical Thrasher's Wheat show Bush's zombies in early meltdown."

If nothing else, Living With War was the most courageous album of 2006.

As Neil Young has stated: "History is a cruel judge of overconfidence."

It's now been 10 years since the days of "Shock & Awe" and "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq.

And. We're. Still. Living. With. War.

So just as Neil Young was right about the Vietnam War being wrong, so he was again by warning of the consequences of reckless war in Iraq.



Leia's Daddy: Find the Cost of Freedom

From Pressing Issues: When Neil Young Hit Bush, and the Media, On Iraq by Greg Mitchell, the former editor of Editor & Publisher (the newspaper for newspaper editors) and author of "So Wrong for So Long: How the Press, the Pundits and the President Failed on Iraq.":

Neil Young: Rock star as journo? It essentially happened in 2006 when Neil Young, son of a famous Canadian sportswriter, hurriedly wrote and released (only online at first) his ripped-from-the-headlines Living With War CD. He even proposed impeaching the president "for lying" (and "for spying"). In one of the songs in the collection, Young sang repeatedly: "Don't need no more lies."

He emphasized the prohibition against the media showing pictures of coffins with the American dead being returned from Iraq, singing: "Thousands of bodies in the ground/ Brought home in boxes to a trumpet's sound/ No one sees them coming home that way/ Thousands buried in the ground." In another song: "More boxes covered in flags/ but I can't see them on TV."

When Young urged that Americans "Impeach the President," he included audio clips of embarrassing Bush statements ("We'll smoke them out ..."). But a highlight of the collection was the blistering "Shock and Awe," which, along with its antiwar lyrics, included the more philosophical "History is a cruel judge of overconfidence." He also recalled that "back in the days of Mission Accomplished ... the sun was setting on another photo op."

"There's one more kid that will never go to school
Never get to fall in love, never get to be cool."
Photo by Chris Hondros - NYTimes.com

More on why we're still living with war.

Complete coverage of the Living With War controversary at Neil Young News: 04/01/2006 - 05/01/2006 and Neil Young News: 05/01/2006 - 06/01/2006.

American Dream: How could something so good, go bad, so fast?

(Thanks Greg!)

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Shock & Awe: 10th Anniversary of Still Living With War

As Neil Young has stated: "History is a cruel judge of overconfidence."

It's now been 10 years since the days of "Shock & Awe" and "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq.

And. We're. Still. Living. With. War.

So just as Neil Young was right about the Vietnam War being wrong, so he was again by warning of the consequences of reckless war in Iraq.


Leia's Daddy: Find the Cost of Freedom
From Pressing Issues: When Neil Young Hit Bush, and the Media, On Iraq by Greg Mitchell, the former editor of Editor & Publisher (the newspaper for newspaper editors) and author of "So Wrong for So Long: How the Press, the Pundits and the President Failed on Iraq.":

Neil Young: Rock star as journo? It essentially happened in 2006 when Neil Young, son of a famous Canadian sportswriter, hurriedly wrote and released (only online at first) his ripped-from-the-headlines Living With War CD. He even proposed impeaching the president "for lying" (and "for spying"). In one of the songs in the collection, Young sang repeatedly: "Don't need no more lies."

He emphasized the prohibition against the media showing pictures of coffins with the American dead being returned from Iraq, singing: "Thousands of bodies in the ground/ Brought home in boxes to a trumpet's sound/ No one sees them coming home that way/ Thousands buried in the ground." In another song: "More boxes covered in flags/ but I can't see them on TV."

When Young urged that Americans "Impeach the President," he included audio clips of embarrassing Bush statements ("We'll smoke them out ..."). But a highlight of the collection was the blistering "Shock and Awe," which, along with its antiwar lyrics, included the more philosophical "History is a cruel judge of overconfidence." He also recalled that "back in the days of Mission Accomplished ... the sun was setting on another photo op."

"There's one more kid that will never go to school
Never get to fall in love, never get to be cool."
Photo by Chris Hondros - NYTimes.com
More on why we're still living with war.

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