May You Live in Inneresting Times: The Neil Young Voting Thread (deadline July 8)

ok now I'm bummed Neil did not rig up a Trans-poline for the tour

i like winterlong but not top 5 by a longshot (sorry)

Not for me either, but I might vote it high strategically. It's a great, self-contained song.

I got a couple of ballots in today and discovered that unranked lists of 20 or 40 would both involve decimals according to the point system I set up above. A couple of suggestions:

For a ballot of 40, (15 x 10) + (25 x 7) = 325...identify your 15 favorite from your list of 40.
For a ballot of 20, (10 x 15) + (10 x 10) = 250...identify your 10 favorite from your list of 20.

Mr. Math, Mr. Big Shot--hope you're happy.

I could also slightly penalize an unranked ballot to produce an even split:

40 songs gets you 320 points (8 per)
20 songs gets you 240 points (12 per)

Don't think of it as a penalty, though--it's a tax.

ballot sent.

xpost Also explains why Nils had both hips replaced a couple of years ago.

Voted, I had to draw a line under this. Apologies to Neil Young, Sleeps With Angels and the others I didn't get round to.

I liked @rocketmail too, that's a nice touch.

Tempted to listen to Americana a ton since I think it could get a song if not two on my ballot, but it'd undoubtedly make my ballot more of a fool's errand than it already is (currently decade make-up is

60s: 7
70s: 14
80s: 9
90s: 6
00s: 4

but I'm still tinkering with it).

Hadn't thought about that. I've had a Rocketmail account (bought out by Yahoo at some point) for 15 years.

Some notes after 20 ballots (with one pending because of a scoring issue):

--167 different songs, 172 versions--curious as to how that compares to the Rolling Stones poll
--#1 has opened up a bit of a lead over the next four
--I think there's still only one album where every song's received a vote; three others are within a song or two
--among songs with multiple votes, #4 and #32 are tied with an average of 15.5 points per vote
--highest post-Rust song has dropped to #37
--non-solo songs: Buffalo Springfield (6), covers (4), CSNY (3), Stills-Young Band (3), Crazy Horse (1), Mynah Birds (1)

highest post-Rust song has dropped to #37

ugh really didn't want to make a political ballot but damn tempting to do it in reversal chronological order now

reverse, i mean

I don't mean for these occasional updates to influence anyone's ballot--I try to avoid being specific. For what it's worth, it would probably be futile trying to move post-Rust songs up--I was planning on counting down 50--so I'd just vote as you normally would.

yeah i know i'm better off throwing my weight to the chestnuts i love most, but still, this is why they don't release election day polling data until the ballots are closed!

What was Rust, '79? I had thought there would be a good half-dozen later songs likely to do well :(

Where are the lurking Shocking Pinks fans?

Fearing that I've opened the door to a groundswell of Landing on Water votes, you've convinced me--no more exit polling.

I'm trying to control to violent side!!!!

ugh, landing on typo

I drew up a 33-song 'rough draft' ballot; I am not nearly familiar enough with the 80s or 90s stuff but I know there were at least 5 post-Rust songs in it

Easily the hardest poll I've done where stuff that made #25 or #30 I like only a little less than stuff that made top 5. I had a couple deep cuts I didn't think were gonna get more than a couple votes, so I wanted to give them a boost. They ended up #17 and #29 respectively

Some back-and-forth on the Pet Shop Boys thread reminded me how much I like tired people singing tired songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wmCOjNLpx8

the second side of OTB!

Melodically tired, preferably--dirgey tired's more hit-or-miss.

urgh, i'm going to have to stop putting this off! listened to tonight's the night this morning (a weird "monday morning with the kid" record for sure) and i felt like i could vote for all of it.

considering all-obscurities/contrarian ballot

i love enough neil that it's pretty unlikely i'll feel butthurt by the results, even if they sound less inneresting than they could be

of course, when the stats come out, we can figure out top 10 80s, top 10 90s etc

Question for Tyler: I'm guessing your daughter (if I remember correctly from WDYLL threads) hears a lot of Neil Young around the house and in the car--future fan? My students hear "Cinnamon Girl" (on Neil's birthday) and "Ohio" (on May 4) every year. They're very interested in the latter because of the backstory, but, although they're cognizant of Neil's importance to me, they don't react much to the former.

kids gotta learn about one-note guitar solos sooner or later

When I tell that "every day Neil's shufflin'," they seem to perk up.

ha, i have no idea what sort of music she'll actually be into in the future! scary. i hope she at least tolerates neil young. these days, she actually responds to more synthy 80s-sounding stuff (whether or not it was recorded in the 80s). like she really wanted to hear the pet shop boys last weekend. maybe i should be playing Landing on Water for her. the perfect kids album.

"tell them"

So if I have my list whittled down to 30, does any of it have to be ranked? Because I don't want to rank it. Please?

30 unranked is fine--10 points each.

Thank god.

clemenza - presumably covers are counted separately? Like if I vote for Saint Etienne's Only love Can Break Your Heart or Pixies' Winterlong, those won't be added to the total for Neil's own versions?

And for songs on Archives that previously surfaced in different versions - Everybody's Alone or Journey Through the Past - will all versions be counted together?

whittled my list down to 30. pretty clear i could do a list w/ at least 75, but oh well. not going to freak out too much about it!

i'm pretty sure you can't vote for covers of neil young songs by other artists, right?

Covers are eligible... As long as Neil wrote (or co-wrote) it, it’s eligible.

Although it does seem weird to me.

Oh, I stand corrected, sorry!

What?! I veto that rule. I don't want St. Etienne placing on a Neil Young poll, or Pixies or whatever. Because I'd totally vote for those if I recognized the rule.

Yeah, covers count. A few of the polls have followed the more open songwriter-vs.-performer format: Pet Shop Boys, Stevie Wonder, some others. (I can't remember, but I think the PSB poll may have even let in productions-only.) Covers aren't going to have an effect on the final 50, so it's kind of a moot point. (I thought one might have a chance here, one that I voted for, but ends up it won't...I'm wading into spoilers again.) Different versions I'll be counting together. Following the way the voting's going, I have decided to count votes for "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)" and "My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)" separately, although I'll make note of where a combined vote would have placed.

Josh: don't worry, it's not going to happen.

I totally thought you meant covers as in Neil Young covering someone else.

that's what i thought too. just in case i wanted to vote for farmer john.

No...I mean, of course those are eligible too--he does a great "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" on some Dylan tribute album. Myself, I consider covers by Neil more marginal than others covering Neil.

But to answer DL's question, yes, covers are counted separately--St. Etienne would be counted separately from the original.

The Butthole Surfers thread near the top has a purple border; can I get a plaid border for Neil's countdown?

OK, I think I'll drop covers from my ballot if they're going to be wasted votes. Makes more room for other songs.

ok i think i'm finally done! gonna let it simmer for a day or two to make sure.

yeah, was about to send mine in and then thought i should wait a couple days to make sure i have made the right decisions.