A World of Constant Strangers: The Neil Young Results Thread

Thanks. Be thankful I didn't post 75 Nixon-related images--not that you couldn't make a case for doing so.

yeah, images are great.
"birds" is one of my fave neil young breakup anthems. the harmonies on the chorus are incredible.

yeah, love the way it crashes in. once i found out it was a 1970 Crazy Horse live recording, I was like pleaaaaaase put out the full show! Only had to wait about 15 years.

― tylerw, Monday, July 9, 2012 3:43 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I was confuseder than fuck when I first heard it unedited on the Fillmore East disc. But that's a brilliant show, even though they had to share the bill with that sorry-ass non-playing motherfucker Steve Miller.

When I was gathering stuff for that covers piece, it was a real eye-opener as to how many people had covered "Birds."

Birds is in at 33 on my list. Fantastic song. I spent a REALLY long time trying to find the alternate band version that appeared on a single flipside back in the day (on Only Love Can Break... IIRC) and never found it. I DID get a copy of the 45 on eBay, but it had the regular album version.

Now that Archives Vol 1 is out, I don't have to look for it any more, thankfully.

Don't think I've ever heard a cover of Birds! Who has done it?

xp Neil had Nixon and Wallace covered. Factor in War Song and you've got McGovern too. He had the 72 election nailed.

Kathryn Williams does a beautiful version of Birds - she does great covers of I Started a Joke, Candy Says, Hallelujah and Thirteen on the same album.

bette midler does birds -- it's great! [i think i heard it via clemenza actually]

Linda Ronstadt did a cover of "Birds", too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t82DqhAsos

And seriously, what kind of motherfucker writes 53 songs that are better than fucking "Birds"?

I found seven at the time:

Aubriton Meek, Jr. (Be the Rain, 2006)
Bette Midler (Live at Last, 1977)
Claudine Longet (Let’s Spend the Night Together, 1972)
Field Mice (undated)
Jann Arden (Borrowed Tunes: A Tribute to Neil Young, 1994)
Paul Weller (Studio 150, 2004)
Suede (undated)

I guess that's not all that many, but I'd always thought of it as one of Gold Rush's least known songs.

As with so many '70s artists, I think of Nixon as (sorry for the cliche) Neil's great white whale.

How did I miss Ronstadt? I'll have to track that down.

http://phildellio.tripod.com/neil53.jpg

Clemenza - that is, no joke, one of my favourite photos of Toronto. I wish A&A (and Sam for that matter!) were still there - I don't think I ever saw it - but my husband and I are A&As with a love of vintage Toronto photographs/maps/etc. He's got that one saved for some eventual photo printing.

The Doom Trilogy!

xpost It's on her 3rd album (the self-titled).

oh man motion pictures. if i had ranked my songs, that might've been #1. super classic song to play on guitar while sitting around enjoying honey slides with your friends.

Some people listed this as "Motion Pictures (For Carrie)." But I checked the album, and the "For Carrie" seems to be a dedication-only on the paper sleeve--it's just "Motion Pictures" on the cover and on the record itself.

I worked just across the street at Sunrise for years--used to bank at that CIBC (which lasted till the late '80s; the photo's from '70 or so).

"Years ago," rather--it was all of two years.

Huh - yeah, just looked on Wikipedia and it seems like A&A was there til the mid90s! I remember when Future Shop came in but for the life of me can't remember A&A. But, I was pretty young. Pity. At least I got to log a few years in the gigantic Sam's!

my #1! would've barely cracked the list without me, it seems, so good thing I got the ballot in.

the way his voice gets creaky on that descending "start all over again" just fucking slays me, every single time. couldn't say why.

I've got Kingsmen albums from their 99-cent atrium, and I think I once held a fluorescent-skull White Light/White Heat in my hands there...don't get me started on record stores. (xpost)

Thanks for posting that "Birds" covers list... I actually own that Weller version and totally forgot about it!

Re: "Motion Pictures" -- didn't make my list, but if this finished this high, can we basically expect the entire On The Beach album to chart now? I can see "Vampire Blues" missing the cut though, I guess.

Where's the Suede version from, clemenza?

when they finally issued OTB on CD, they added "(for Carrie)" to the song title, no? it's on the CD track listing in my itunes...

need to spend more time with the second side of ATGR.

Somehow I bumped "Motion Pictures" lower on my ballot, but really 16-34 were all kinda interchangeable, I just had to list them all in some kind of order. On the right day though this is all time great for me. Super song to play on guitar, the chord sequence could just go on forever and be all right with me.

Cannot imagine "Vampire Blues" placing higher than this, would be really surprised.

Maybe they did append the parenthetical later on--it's not there on the album, though, just the sleeve. The Suede cover is just something I found on Soulseek.

xp oh I just looked up this Suede cover of Birds but are you confusing it with their song To The Birds?

I'll have to check that, I've got it on my hard drive.

http://phildellio.tripod.com/neil52.jpg

No, it's an NY cover - I just found it on youtube. To The Birds is something else.

dammn

xp oh but if you listened to it, there's a good chance I'm wrong! I don't know that Neil song but used to have a LOT of Suede so I wanted to see if I'd heard it through them. We won't talk about beloved record stores of yore. But as I just got a record player you can give me suggestions as to where I can dig now. ;)

I really do love these pictures - great stuff!

Nice song, grew tired of it over time.

Ah cool IK! I will have to look it up. I just googled and every hit seemed to be TTB.

Whenever I hear "Long May You Run," I think of "Eat a Peach - Love, Neil"

Ha! Gotta love that guy.

We've entered the section of the results full of songs I did not vote for. Though I think I almost voted "Long May You Run."

beach boys verse in long may you run is perfect. the beach boys should cover it, for god's sake!

I admire Eric H's restraint in holding back his own opinions during his horror-film poll. I can't do that--though if I say I don't like something (or that I'm tired of it), it's not meant to antagonize anyone who voted for it.

Yeah, the BB verse comes out of nowhere just perfectly--like Joe DiMaggio in "Mrs. Robinson."

LMYR just missed my ballot

I'll do one more for today. #50-26 will be tomorrow, the rest on Wednesday.

neil is good at evoking the beach -- not in the typical sunny fashion, but more the bleary, misty hungover mornings (as so righteously depicted on the On The Beach album cover). as someone who grew up in southern california, i appreciate this.

http://phildellio.tripod.com/neil51.jpg

Regret not voting for "Birds", though it too was a late cut, but "Long May You Run" was always a pleasant but minor song for me.

OK. I'm not sure what to do when Will To Love places higher than Lookout Joe.

Another one I'm sort of surprised to see here. I do love this recording, if not the actual song all that much.

Threw me way back when, but it came up on another Neil thread, and when I went back for another listen it sounded strange and good.