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An unofficial news blog for Neil Young fans from Thrasher's Wheat with concert and album updates, reviews, analysis, and other Rock & Roll ramblings. Separating the wheat from the chaff since 1996.
Donald Trump Uses 3 Neil Young Songs At Mount Rushmore Event
Donald Trump & Neil Young
Neil Young has again expressed his strong opposition to Donald Trump's use of his music. (Thanks Timmo & HtH!)
Neil Young objected to the use of his music after President Donald Trump’s event at Mount Rushmore yesterday, siding with Lakota Sioux who have long claimed the land as their own in violation of an 1868 treaty with the U.S. government. Trump used 3 Neil Young songs at the July 3 Mount Rushmore Event: “Rockin In The Free World” (2X, before and after), “Like a Hurricane”and “Cowgirl in the Sand”.
“This is NOT ok with me…” Neil Young re-tweeted footage from the Trump event in which “Rockin In The Free World” was playing.
A tweet with a video of “Like a Hurricane” played before Trump took the stage. Young’s “Cowgirl in the Sand” was also heard later at the rally.
Young criticized Trump‘s leadership of the U.S. in a lyrical rewrite of his 2006 track “Lookin’ for a Leader” during Porch Session earlier this week.
“Rockin’ In the Free World” was also played after Trump finished his speech at Mount Rushmore.
A Happy 4th of July To All of Our "Children of Destiny": Stay Calm & Enjoy - UPDATED
UPDATED
"Children of Destiny" - Neil Young + Promise of the Real
Frame from Official Music Video
A very happy 4th of July to all of our "Children of Destiny" out there across the lands.
And on this Independence Day in America, as we celebrate freedom and eat hot dogs, once again Neil Young drops in on the festivities with his own special brand of fireworks with the song and video "Children of Destiny" from the 2017 album The Visitor with the band Promise of the Real.
In 2019r, the application by Canadian Neil Young to become a U.S. citizen was delayed due to "possible lack of GMC (Good Moral Character)". In January 2020, Neil posted a photo of himself saluting the US flag, with a caption: "I'm Happy To Report In. Vote Your Conscience."
In 2019, in a posting on Neil Young Archives: "I Have Been Very Successful In My Life", Neil revealed that his initial citizenship interview went fine, but due to a technicality, another interview was required by the USCIS because of his "marijuana related activities".
In October 2019, Neil Young said in an interview: “I’ve passed all the tests; I’ve got my appointment, and if everything goes as planned, I’ll be taking the oath of citizenship” shortly after turning 74 on Nov. 12." Neil continues to be optimistic on becoming a U.S. citizen in order to "vote my conscious on Donald J. Trump".
In the meantime, President Donald J. Trump continues to use Neil Young's song "Rockin' in the Free World" at his campaign rallies as.
Neil Young's song "Rockin' in the Free World" starts @ ~1:50 - ~6:30
President Trump used Young's song "Rockin' in the Free World" at a campaign rally in Lexington, KY on Nov. 4, 2019.
"Children of Destiny" - Neil Young + Promise of the Real
Frame from Official Music Video
Meanwhile, back to Neil Young's song "Children of Destiny". Judging by the reaction in July 2017, clearly once again Neil had managed to polarize his fan base. As if right on cue, some fans say "Right on Neil! Tell it to The Man!". Other fans say, "This is really dreadful hippie patriot jingoism."
Neil Young has dropped a new track to commemorate the 4th of July, and it's as confounding as it is catchy. Marching drum beats, swelling refrains, a melody so epic and simple you'll be humming it in your head after one listen, whether you want to or not. Featuring a 56-piece orchestra and backed up by the band Promise of the Real, which includes Willie Nelson's sons Lukas and Michah, "Children of Destiny" was announced Friday by Young and Michah Nelson via Facebook Live.
Stand up for what you believe/Resist the powers that be/Preserve the land and save the sea/For the children of destiny, chants Young between verses that convey an incoherent message that feels, by turns, patriotic and defiant. Sort of.
The video is no less confusing. It's a barrage of jingoism and protest, a political statement devoid of any actual statement, aside from a vague theme of "America rocks."
Images of fighter jets and American flags, many in the hands of children at 4th of July celebrations, are interspersed with aerial shots of the Women's March in Washington, D.C., tanks rolling through presumably foreign lands, and nature footage of America's mountains and rivers. Oh, and the Kremlin, and marches in other countries, and satellite images of planet Earth. The lyrics, meanwhile, are at once triumphant and trite, as well as lazy: The people feel the pain/They feel the pain/They walk the streets/While the bombs fall in the rain/The children hide/Somewhere inside/While the bombs fall in the rain.
Apparently it's tough to find a word to rhyme with "rain."
We'll stop there on the hatchet job. Got it. Thanks for helping us understand "What Is Neil Young Trying To Say In His Surreal 4th Of July Anthem?" Mr. Alm.
We completely understand how easy it is to rip apart Neil's latest work. In some ways, the attacks feel all to similar to the attacks on Young's 2006 album Living With War (which we're still living with...) Bombastic, preachy, political, weak, uninspiring, antagonistic, etc.
"Children of Destiny" - Neil Young + Promise of the Real
Frame from Official Music Video
Neil Young really hasn't changed that much in the past 40 years. He is still singing truth to power and we love him for that alone.
"Children of Destiny" - Neil Young + Promise of the Real
Frame from Official Music Video
Once again, thanks Neil. You're clearly on the right track here. Past experience demonstrates that the more polarizing a new song is to your fan base, the more it demonstrates its the power and success. If we can't share our differences, we can't peacefully coexist.
To all, have a great and safe holiday.
Here is Neil Young's statement to go with the new video version of "Children of Destiny".
Friends
Thanks so much for your response to Children of Destiny! This is a heartfelt message to people all around the world, our home. We hope this song resonates with you and gives you strength to know that you are not alone. Resist those who lash out against our positive message with violence, name calling and negativity. We are concerned for our Democracy, Environment and Freedom. Nothing will ever stop us from standing up. We gathered together on the full moon to record our song.
"The Doubters" -- who embrace failure -- will never be the "Children of Destiny". Not sure about that? Check the danger of able @ ~2:00:00 and your world will be rocked for the children. This is the TRUE Field of wheat.
Likewise, we still see the vista. We hear the muse. We continue. We continue because we believe and have faith in that greater good. Just as we all must teach our children (of destiny) well, we "must have a code that we can live by." Because, you are a child, i am a child, and we are all children of destiny. And, don't forget, in the fields of wheat, the "Children of Destiny" will NOT be harvested -- however, the chaff will be burned by unquenchable fire.
Now with Neil Young's album "Homegrown" finally released after 45 years in the vaults, how does this impact the chronology of those cherished mid 1970's albums period known as "The Ditch Trilogy"?
For me, Homegrown clearly sounds--and feels--like a meeting point between Harvest on On the Beach.
In fact, I think Homegrown sounds more like OtB than OtB sounds like either TtN or TFA. Although TFA and TtN have a certain anguish and ragged edge in common musically speaking, the "ditch" classification is very loose and tenuous--if not artificial-- for me, at least in the straightforward sense that the classic trilogy of albums don't sound or feel too much alike for my ears (and Zuma is its own beast entirely, imho).
Each of these records just has its own musical identity and sensibility, such that it's never made that much sense in my mind to put certain albums into unified groupings, rank or otherwise quantify and compare them. In other words, "It's all one song".
Fwiw, however, it's possible we now have an alternative or parallel Ditch trilogy to consider: Tuscaloosa, Roxy, and Homegrown. That Tuscaloosa and Roxy offer counterparts to TFA and TtN respectively seems self-evident to me, and I'd argue that Homegrown offers essentially the mood of OtB with a seasoning of Harvest sound thanks to the Gators.
So perhaps an even more intriguing question would be, how do the last trio of NYA releases illuminate, echo, or counterpoint their "twins" classic catalogue? Also, how might Songs for Judy and Hitchhiker play into--or deconstruct--the ditch narrative? And of course, don't forget to enjoy and connect with the music, regardless of the mythos, as we chase our tails through the maze of Neil.
"Only real in the way I feel from day to day."
~Ian
Thanks Ian for sharing your thoughts here as your long view insights are most enjoyable to ponder. Right, what about Tuscaloosa and Roxy in the pantheon? Essential chapters? Or merely live concert versions of established classic songs in the canon?
Folks know that we here at TW regard the live concert experience to be paramount and far more essential than the albums themselves. We've long argued that the songs in concert are more powerful and effective than what was captured in the studio.
Streaming now on NYA, Neil Young’s “Fireside Sessions” returns with the launch of the Porch Episode -- another Downhome Production directed by dhlovelife.
“We had Barack Obama and we really need him now.
The man who stood behind him now has to take his place somehow
America has a leader building walls around our house
Don’t know Black Lives Matter and we gotta vote him out.
We got our election but corruption has a chance
We got to have a big win to regain confidence
America is beautiful/But she has an ugly side
We’re looking for a leader for this country far and wide
Just like his big new fence
This president’s going down
America is moving forward
You can feel it in every town
Scared of his own shadow
building walls around our house
He’s hiding in his bunker
Something else to lie about.”
"Lookin' for a Leader"
"Star of Bethlehem"
Over the past few months, Neil Young and his wife Daryl Hannah have produced 5 extremely intimate mini concerts called "Fireside Sessions". "The perfect pandemic antidote", TW tweeted.
Over the past few months, Neil Young and his wife Daryl Hannah have produced 5 extremely intimate mini concerts called "Fireside Sessions". "The perfect pandemic antidote", TW tweeted.
The Barnyard Edition even managed to find Neil performing for a flock of chickens -- which was even more delightful than one could possibly imagine.
They’re good for us all. I hope we don’t run out of songs, but probably that would take a long time. These songs are for all of us, left, right, in between. ALL.
And now -- at long last -- Neil Young's unreleased album "Homegrown" -- which was recorded in 1974 and 1975 -- is the "one that got away", Neil writes on NYA. At the time, Neil considered "Homegrown" to be "too personal and frank" to be released and chose to release the album "Tonight's The Night", instead. The Homegrown album has been described by Neil as “the missing link between Harvest, Comes A Time, Old Ways and Harvest Moon”.
This album Homegrown should have been there for you a couple of years after Harvest. It’s the sad side of a love affair. The damage done. The heartache. I just couldn’t listen to it. I wanted to move on.
“So I kept it to myself, hidden away in the vault, on the shelf, in the back of my mind.
But I should have shared it. It’s actually beautiful. That’s why I made it in the first place.
“Sometimes life hurts. You know what I mean. This is the one that got away."
In the often quoted hand written liner notes of Decade, Neil writes: " 'Heart of Gold' put me in the middle of the road. Traveling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch." Hence, the origin of the "Ditch" term -- which is sometimes also referred to as the "Doom" period or "The Wilderness Years".
The mid-1970's period was a very tumultuous time in Neil Young's life, as has been well documented. The success of the album Harvest collided with the implosion of Young's relationship with actress Carrie Snodgress and their son Zeke's physical disabilities. Along with the challenges of being in the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the death of his Crazy Horse guitar player and friend Danny Whitten, Young suffered from near debilitating back pain, so it's a wonder he recorded any albums at all during the period.
So Neil Young's mid 1970's albums period? The Ditch Trilogy/Quadrilogy/Quintology/Sextology in light of "Homegrown" release in 2020?
Some argue that there's actually no trilogy whatsoever and that the “ditch era was only made up of two albums; one jumping in, the other climbing out with "On the Beach".
Others argue for the "Ditch Quadrilogy" to include "ZUMA". Yet others argue for the "Ditch Quintology" with "Harvest - Time Fades Away - Tonight's the Night - On the Beach - Zuma.....Harvest being the prologue that leads to the Ditch. And Zuma serves as the light at the end of the tunnel."
Lastly (but not really), an intriguing comment by kahunasunset who suggests that once Homegrown is released, maybe it'll really be a "Ditch Sextology"?!
Suppose Neil DID release Homegrown back in 1975 and NOT Tonight's The Night. Fast fwd to today and imagine Neil releasing the "unreleased" Tonight's The Night in 2020 instead.
What would folks think today of TTN? How would Neil's career arc have changed if he gave the public what they expected w/ Homegrown in 1975.
I don’t actually think Neil’s career arc would have been any different had he released Homegrown instead of Tonight’s the Night back in the day.
Perhaps the fans arc would have been different, but I think Neil would have been right where he is now regardless. How his work is consumed by his fans has never been a concern for him, so we would have still gotten the same records we got.
Our perceptions might be different but not his.
Thanks Dan! Others? discuss.
"Though my problems are meaningless, that don't make them go away."
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