A World of Constant Strangers: The Neil Young Results Thread

from that list of "greats", i would put Neil Young second to only Bob Dylan. and if it came down to who i enjoy listening to the most, Neil would be at the very front.

yeah, solo Reed is a walking monument of tastelessness (I had VU on mind but didn't specify)

Newman and Reed are not great singers but they don't have as "challenging" voices as Young.

Somedays I would argue Dylan and Cohen actually are great singers (with Dylan being perhaps only slightly less "challenging" than Young)

the aesthetic of those guys seems much less controversial. putting Dylan/VU/Newman on at a party will feel natural while things easily get awkward with Young.

anyway, I'm just digging myself deeper into a hole I'm not even sure I belong to. haven't listened to Young in ages so it's quite posible I don't agree with any of my "points" anymore.

sorry for this, just ignore me and enjoy the countdown. great work clemenza!

Young's actually the only one of the artists you mentioned who inspires near-universal affection. I know more than a few people who detest Dylan but adore several Young songs.

yeah that's true, any party of just old white dudes will be jamming to Randy

Neil is also the only Guitar God on that list, which makes him interesting in other ways. Apart from Hendrix, the only visionary songwriter who's also a visionary improv musician?

Neil's weird alright, but he's no more an unconventional singer than all the acts you mentioned, each of whom is a ... singular voice.

I was trying to pinpoint how I would describe Young's talent. I don't know that I would call him a genius, per se, or even clever, or a good craftsman, unlike many songwriters people consider great, or genius. He's more of a force of nature, which puts him in a different category.

He is a visionary guitarist, though.

When I first read someone calling Neil tasteless, I thought someone was bringing up his indigenous peoples fetish

By "tasteless" I thought he meant Neil Young's disinclination to self-edit. His catalogue is full of loose threads, first drafts and impulsive gestures, which may read to some as sloppy or self-indulgent, but to me the gold and the dreck all flow from the same place. The joy of even his greatest songs is that they don't sound overly worked on. A friend of mine says that what he likes best about NY is that he's unusually wise and insightful but never makes a big deal out of it - it's just like "Oh, here's something that occurred to me and maybe you'll find it useful too." You really hear that when he sings about politics - it's all first-thought-best-thought, for better or worse. It doesn't make much sense to compare that approach to patient craftsmen like Randy Newman or Leonard Cohen because it's something else entirely.

and Young's the only one of the lot to score a #1 hit that most people can hum.

As referred to upthread: Missed yesterday, but the list has been great. "Winterlong" was my #1, sad to see it so low -- I sort of suspected it had an outside chance at #1, add as that sounds. I'm sure that is colored by my love for it.

Yeah, I had a moment last night where I thought "hmm, 20 of my 30 votes haven't placed yet. that means that 20 of the top 25 tomorrow will come from my ballot! i am the hivemind!" until i realized that it might be possible that other people don't like the same songs that i do.

He's more of a force of nature, which puts him in a different category

That's a really good way of putting it! I'd say Dylan is one too. They're rare creatures though, I can't think of many others at all with that kind of relentlessness and drive. Maybe Prince.

I think when it comes to music, some people reach a level of genius for periods of time--a few years, a couple, three minutes. I'd call Dylan a genius in '65 and '66, and you can stretch that a year in two in either direction if you want. Peter Townshend was a genius from '65 to '67, etc. For me, what Neil did in 1969 and 1970 reached the level of genius, and then he was possessed of a very peculiar kind of genius from '73 to '75 (or to '79, if you'd prefer). The rest of his career, he's written and recorded a bunch of amazing songs, with lots of bumps along the way.

I wouldn't be looking for many surprises today. Someone yesterday said he figured out 20 sure things--if you think about what hasn't shown up so far, I'd push that even higher.

http://phildellio.tripod.com/neil25.jpg

My pick for his funniest song ever (the punchline, anyway); I'm sure more people would go with "Welfare Mothers."

Wow,.low.

I thought Top 25 was pretty good for "Pocahontas." Twenty-six votes from 66 people...almost 40%.

http://phildellio.tripod.com/neil24.jpg

That picture is great.

Very tired of this one. I liked it when it came out, though not as much as "Hey Hey, My My"--some of the lyrics seemed clunky. Now it gets played to death on the classic-rock station here.

Thanks, I love that picture. A lot of the images I found just by googling the song title.

I never hear "Rockin'" anymore, but it was overplayed for a long, long time. The SNL performance is still transcendent.

i've always liked "pocahontas", but mainly in a breezy, passive-smile kind of way. it never quite got under my skin like so many of his other songs have.

I'll have to look up the SNL, which I think I did see at the time.

lyrics to 'rockin in the free world' are a bit clunky but it was the first neil track i ever heard (video shown on a sunday morning music show, whats up with neil's hair in that video btw?) and a school band i was in attempted to cover it (badly i might add). so sentimental fave and all that.

Did not specify on my ballot, but it's the Unplugged Pocahontas for me.

I always assume Rockin' In The Free World gets misinterpreted, Born In The USA style.

It totally does.

the SNL clip:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5lwon_neil-young-keep-on-rockin-in-the-fr_music

Doing a sarcastic patriots' anthem looks like a pretty good career move, tbh.

I'm sure a lot of its staying power is that people do focus on the title/catch-phrase; it's actually the song's irony I find a little heavy-handed.

http://phildellio.tripod.com/neil23.jpg

This sounds totally hokey because it is, but I really loved hearing "Rockin' in the Free World" over the end credits to Fahrenheit 9/11. It felt like a gutpunch.

I love "Rockin' in the Free World" and haven't tired of it yet (which isn't to say that won't happen). I listened to the version from Seattle '89 this morning, the first time anyone other than Neil had heard the song (including his band)...and it's absolutely chilling. It starts a little clunky and you think, "Oh, this is kinda fun," and then it just keeps building and building and the guy in the car next to you is wondering if you're having a seizure or what.

"Hey Hey, My My" is my first one today. It's such a perfect closer.

This sounds totally hokey because it is, but I really loved hearing "Rockin' in the Free World" over the end credits to /Fahrenheit 9/11/. It felt like a gutpunch.

It was supposed to be "Won't Get Fooled Again," but Townshend wasn't a fan of Moore and wouldn't allow the song to be used.

Okay: if I'd combined "Hey Hey" and "My My" together, they would have totalled 42 voters/422 points. Happily, that would have only placed it/them fifth. If they'd won, I might have had the same situation as Sight & Sound with the two Godfathers. Again, I think it makes much more sense to count them as separate entities.

Pocahontus = my #4.
Hey Hey = my #11.
Rockin' = not on my list, but I agree - I could watch that SNL clip all day. Totally savage.

Townshend wasn't a fan of Moore and wouldn't allow the song to be used

still a pretty smart guy that Pete

I agree with separate counting fwiw. I voted for the one without the 'Johnny Rotten/Rotten Johnny' bit.

"Rockin" was my #4, will absolutely never tire of that song. It was the first Neil song I ever got obsessed with. Its definitely overplayed, but I'll never tire of it.

"Hey Hey My My" -- What tipped me to voting this over "My My Hey Hey" is just the joy of that monstrous guttural riff.

Thanks for the clip, that's great--helps me re-connect to the song. I love how everyone skulks around all hunched over. Extra points for mentioning "shuffling" years before LMFAO.

http://phildellio.tripod.com/neil22.jpg

haha anyone remember Annie Lennox's cover, used during the Spacey seduction scene in American Beauty?

"It's only castles burning"

<3

a kid that'll never get to be cool as the ultimate tragedy is such a neil young sentiment

Should be all killer, no filler from here on out, but this is the sort of list both Neil nuts and contrarians could easily subvert.

I think of it as the Mena Suvari seduction scene, but yes, remember it well. I don't think I realized it was Annie Lennox the first time I saw the film.

Strangest song on Gold Rush, the one that best captures the album cover.