A World of Constant Strangers: The Neil Young Results Thread

at least i'm the ocean didn't place above this

Voted for Barstool & Turnstiles--Turnstiles was my #4. That song, Uncle Tupelo's cover of CCR's Effigy, and the Fall's Disneys Dream Debased were the closing trifecta on every mix CD I made for a long while

Didn't clem say #37 was the highest charting position for post-Rust in the voting thread?

listening to "Revolution Blues" now....I think the Laurel Canyon killing part overshadows the lyrics that come just before

I got the revolution blues,
I see bloody fountains,
And ten million dune buggies
comin' down the mountain

^in bold maybe my single favorite image in the history of american songwriting, outside of "the sadness of a falling star lights up a purple sky" by hank williams

Well. I don't particularly care for Danger Bird, but I thought everybody else would.

OK like I'm the Ocean is a good song and all but goddamn I cannot believe it just placed higher than a bunch of Zuma and On the Beach big-timers

oh no there's only going to be 30+ songs from the 70s higher boo hoo

I tried listening to "I'm the Ocean," and I almost made it all the way through, but Jack Irons is so monochromatically ham-fisted that I gave up. His playing actually made me angry.

From La Lechera: "Danger Bird"  - this song is perfect in every way

xpost as opposed to the technicolor spryness of Ralph Molina?

I tried listening to "I'm the Ocean," and I almost made it all the way through, but Jack Irons is so monochromatically ham-fisted that I gave up. His playing actually made me angry

the track is supposed to sound like an ocean!

Ralph is so much better than Irons, the unswinginging-ous drummer ever. At least Molina is sometimes accidentally spry!

^in bold maybe my single favorite image in the history of american songwriting, outside of "the sadness of a falling star lights up a purple sky" by hank williams

agreed. When David Crosby said playing on the song frightened him or some shit I don't know if he's lying or he's sad sack of shit. The song isn't frightening at all; it's unsettling, in part because it's got these perfect images that don't cohere.

I guess Song X probably isn't going to make it now, but it's a real belter too

Jack Irons is so monochromatically ham-fisted that I gave up. His playing actually made me angry

the track is supposed to sound like an ocean!

I'm imagining an ocean of ham, with crispy bacon fat froth on the waves of prosciutto.

Ralph is so much better than Irons, the unswinginging-ous drummer ever. At least Molina is sometimes accidentally spry!

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, July 10, 2012 12:40 PM (59 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, this. Irons sounds like he has a post-it in front of him that says REMEMBER TO HIT THE CRASH CYMBAL ON "1" EVERY SINGLE TIME.

I'd never heard I'm the Ocean before the voting thread but damn it's great - one of his best verbose, repetitive songs. "People my age/They don't do the things I do."

I have a lot of fond memories of listening to my vinyl copy of On the Beach over and over while reading Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon

Sentences like this make me feel a sudden need to send my family away for a long weekend.

I just thought Crosby regarded the Manson impersonation as bad karma

Anyways Barstool Blues and Danger Bird showing up causes me to despair for my favorite song off Zuma's chances of showing up

I guess we're not indicating #1 votes? Not a complaint, just an observation.

Anyway, yeah, "Danger Bird" was my number one. Such a perfect fucking tune.

<i>OK like I'm the Ocean is a good song and all but goddamn I cannot believe it just placed higher than a bunch of Zuma and On the Beach big-timers

oh no there's only going to be 30+ songs from the 70s higher boo hoo

― da croupier, Tuesday, July 10, 2012 11:37 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink</i>

for me, if i would have bothered to rank my list, like barstool blues and for the turnstiles and etc would all have been top 10

Mmmmmmmmm....ocean of ham.

imagine Lou Reed giving "Danger Bird" the "Foot of Pride" treatment.

I'll indicate #1s at the end--as I said upthread, the majority of ballots were unranked.

http://phildellio.tripod.com/neil35.jpg

neil was probably the first of his friends to write songs about how painfully old he is and the first of his friends to be crowing about how he'll be young and crazy forever

The ultimate boomer?

Ha ha. Quite.

"oh my god how i miss amusement parks and candy corn"

ten years later

"eat a peach, fat-asses! i'm a-go hang out with devo!"

I'll indicate #1s at the end--as I said upthread, the majority of ballots were unranked.

Oh, I missed that one, sorry. Like I said, not complaining, you are doing an A+++ job thus far.

Thanks. There were also people who numbered their lists but didn't allocate points--I'm not really sure if their #1 is in fact #1.

Thrasher is another top 10. So so awesome

http://phildellio.tripod.com/neil34.jpg

it's gonna be weird when neil drops Time Fades Away II - same songs, different performances!

OK like I'm the Ocean is a good song and all but goddamn I cannot believe it just placed higher than a bunch of Zuma and On the Beach big-timers

some dude? did you only vote for one song?

― wack nerd zinging in the dead of night (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, July 10, 2012 12:27 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark

i had 35 songs on my ballot and "I'm The Ocean" was at #25 with the minimum number of points fyi

Jack Irons is awesome on Pearl Jam albums but i don't feel like he's really at his best on Mirror Ball

"Thrasher" is textbook example of good lyric writing.

Time Fades Away is sensational, my no.3

"Time Fades Away" is the second of my top 10 to place. Great song, great performance.

Possibly my all-time favorite vocal of his.

You know, I bet if you took the best songs from Broken Arrow and the best from Mirror Ball with a little bit of Dead Man you could make a pretty great 95-96 patchwork

Take a look at a bit of this video if you get a chance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0df4vyeFhEo

It's footage shot in my hometown (Georgetown, Ontario) during the mid-'70s. Somebody put a series of them up a couple of years ago--that's where the image comes from. They're just so perfect in capturing how Time Fades Away and "Ambulance Blues" affected me at the time. Difficult to explain.

Alfred otm re Thrasher's lyrics

voted for Time Fades Away as well

http://phildellio.tripod.com/neil33.jpg

"Winterlong" really came out of nowhere on the second half of ballots to arrive. (The Pixies' cover got a vote too.)

I like Winterlong but have never understood effusive praise for it, like when Frank Black says it's the best song the Pixies ever did

I'm basically with you--exciting when it showed up on Decade, but it's lost something over the years for me.

"Winterlong" is very good but I never thought it would finish this high.

Eric Weisbard said it sounded like peak Big Star but I don't hear it.

Wow, I missed a lot. Meetings suck. Very surprised at some of these results, but cool nonetheless. Think "I'm The Ocean" is some kinda age thing. I had not time for that record when it came out, I had other fish to fry, and it still doesn't really compute with me, but if I had been younger and more in thrall of the moment I might have seen it differently, who knows. I have never made it to the end of the song.

Also consider "Winterlong" cool but not a heavyweight, can't see it this high either.

that "come back now, come back now" is pretty alex chilton

I'm far from a Big Star expert, but I don't really hear them in "Winterlong."

I do love the "come back now, come back now whoaoa" part for sure.

"Barstool Blues" or "Lookin' For a Girl" are closer.