Thursday, November 12, 2009

Old Man? Not Hardly. Happy Birthday, Neil Young


Happy 64th Birthday to genius, hero, iconoclast, guiding light and inspiration Neil Young, born on this day in 1945.

Now that he is comfortably in the AARP target demographic, it would be easy to say "Old Man, take a look at my life, I'm a lot like you" or something like that. But in spirit Neil is neither Young nor Old; he is ageless and timeless. In fact, watching this 1971 clip of "Old Man," hearing the thump of his Martin and the howl of his voice, he was so much Older then. He's Younger than that now.


Neil's commitment and sense of urgency have never waned, whether he is writing songs, recording albums, switching genres, playing live, converting his Lincoln Continental to biodiesel, starting the Bridge School to help physically impaired children like his son, buying and saving the Lionel Train Company, making esoteric films, releasing his Archives,... you get the idea.

I had the good fortune to see Neil way up close at Madison Square Garden last December, and he attacked "Cinnamon Girl" with a fury that was scary and awe-inspiring. Wuss-bags like Green Day who call themselves punk should take a look at Neil and see what real rocking is all about.


Now that we have seen Neil as master of acoustic and electric, let's take it home with something sort of in between: Neil and his buddies Crosby, Stills & Nash playing three beautiful hollow bodies on an intense version of his 1969 murder ballad "Down by the River." HB & TCB Neil.

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