No Wonder Neil's Getting Lousy Reviews
Listened to the new Neil Young on my iPod this morning and had to rewind to make sure I was hearing this right.
From "No Wonder":
That song from 9/11/ keeps ringing in my head
I'll always remember/ something Chris Rock said
Don't send no more candles/ No matter what you do
Then Willie stopped singing/ And the prairie wind blew
Neil, next time how about leaving the gratuitous namedropping to Skateboard P? Studio Moustache hosts the MP3 and has the same reaction as me (WTF?). Go download it -- Neil doesn't mind (he thinks music should only exist on vinyl).
Posted at 4:20 PM
i dont even know what to say. this is just WEIRD.
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You remember when U2 released Pop and kicked their tour off in K-Mart and everyone kinda gave them a bunch of shit and even went as far as to call them sell-outs and then after like 5 years everyone was like 'woah, that was brilliant' and now they're superstars again?
I think Neil Young's more humorous than you give him credit for maybe. I'll never question the man who penned Harvest and After the Gold Rush.
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I had the exact same reaction, and since then I have been playing it for everybody that I know. It makes me want to vomit. Neil is always best when he simply lays back and acts like himself; these ham-fisted attempts at contemporary relevance (and almost all of his albums contain at least one, the most glaring example being the incredibly distasteful cell-phone ring at the beginning of "Let's Roll") always blow up in his face and mar the entire album.
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i loved neil's 'silver and gold'.
that being said, i can't wait until all the 60's hippies are too old to make records and live in the nursing homes needing to be fed their pot thru a straw, rather than attempting to recreate their heyday by their silly political observations.
i hate hippies. –Eric Cartman
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...and what have you accomplished in this life that gives you the hubris to mewl and puke like an infant in his mothers arms? I see your name is stolen from an old hippie trying to give peace a chance...he also said war is over iIF you want it...if you live that out in your life time starting with the war you wage with your words hopefully you will be privilleged enough to hold that straw for those old hippie musicians.
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It all began and ended with Computer Age. For serious.
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neil's a dick. he rah-rah'd bombing afghanistan like 30 seconds after someone suggested it.
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NO WONDER
See the bluebird fly easy as a dream
Dipping and bobbing in the sun
Could she be the one I saw so long ago
Could she be the one to take me home
This pasture is green
I'm walking in the sun
It's turning brown
I'm standing in the rain
My overcoat is worn
The pockets are all torn
I'm moving away from the pain
Tick-tock
The clock on the wall
No wonder we're losing time
Ring, ring
The old church bell
The bride and her love
Seeking guidance from above
Amber waves of grain bow in the prairie wind
I'm hearing Willie singing on the radio again
That song from 9/11 keeps ringing in my head
I'll always remember something Chris Rock said
Don't send no more candles
No matter what you do
Then Willie stopped singing
And the prairie wind blew
The green kept rolling on
For miles and miles
Fields of fuel rolling on for miles
Tick-tock
The clock on the wall
No wonder we're losing time
Toll, toll
The fallen soldier bell
The old church on the hill
Still standing when so many fell
Back when I was young, the birds blocked out the sun
Before the great migration south
We only shot a few
They last the winter through
Mother cooked them good and served them up
Somewhere a senator sits in a leather chair
Behind a big wooden desk
The caribou we killed mean nothing to him
He took his money just like all the rest
Tick-tock
The clock on the wall
No wonder we're losing time
Ring, ring
Ring the wedding bells
The bride takes the ring
And the happy people sing
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I'll always remember/ something Chris Rock said
"Smack her with a dick/ Smack her with a dick/ Smack her with a dick/ Smack her with a dick"
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Chris Rock on Fahrenheit 9/11
author: Amadeus
I don't usually watch these award shows with a bunch of rich idiots giving awards to other rich idiots, but I have to say that Chris Rock hit the nail on the head at the Oscars last night. He again broke all the "rules" and spoke his mind.
For your enjoyement, here is the substance of his statements that I pulled from a couple of sites:
1st Rendition: My favorite movie of the year was Fahrenheit 9/11. This was the best movie of the year! Michael Moore didn't even get nominated and he should have. I am not going to bash Bush. I saw Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bush is a genius. The movie showed how much Bush sucked at his job. You would never get away with this at your job. Imagine if you worked at your job and lost as much money as Bush. Not Bush though started a war. Imaged you worked at the GAP and you were behind in your register. Thousands of GAP employees are dead after attacking Banana Republic over tank tops only to realize after thousands are dead Banana Republic doesn't have any tank tops.
2nd Rendition: We just went through this election and that's basically the President reapplying for his job. That's gotta be tough when Fahrenheit 9/11 is playing in the theaters. Can you imagine reapplying for your job when there's a movie out showing all the ways you suck at your job? Bush did some things you could never get away with at your job, man. When he came into office we had a budget surplus, and now we have a trillion dollar deficit ... Just imagine you worked at the Gap. You're $70 trillion behind on your register and then you start a war with Banana Republic 'cause you say they got toxic tank tops over there. You have the war, people are dying, a thousand Gap employees are dead, bleeding all over the khakis, you finally take over Banana Republic, and you find out they never made tank tops in the first place.
He went on to say that the Passion Of The Christ wasn't that funny. Bravo!
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Here's the audio/video for that Chris Rock monologue:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/02/27.html
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Dugan, call me crazy on this one, but I don't think people are calling Pop "brilliant" just yet...It's still coaster-worthy in my book.
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The only people who DON'T seem to like Neil's new album are hipster bloggers, who somehow deem the Silver Jews or Clap your hands say yeah more relevant in this day and age. So he made a pop culture reference, "indie" bands do it all the time and no one seems to mind. No one else thinks it's incredible that Neil Young can still pen albums that matter after more than 30 years, and write songs that reflect the times.
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Pardon my ignorance, but to what 9/11 song is Neil Young referring to??
And what other songs refer to Chris Rock?? I know there is a Soul Coughing song that samples him (How much/ she said/ for $300 I'll do it)
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hey chris rock - not all of us are hipster bloggers & agree Neil Young is and was incredible...
& Edwin, you are right Pop=poop=low point in U2's career..
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I severely disagree that Pop=poop. I think it's a more relevant sound now than it was then is my point.
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hey Cartoochio,
What Ever Happened to Peace on Earth
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Neil may not have the same lyrical flare, but his music as of late (minus Are You Passionate?) has been solid.
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Dugan, agree to disagree. As for Chris Rock references, I'm pretty sure "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" by Good Charlotte is a Chris Rock routine... oh nevermind, it's original material. My bad, everyone.
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At least 2 worthy songs on Greendale: "Bandit" and "Be The Rain".
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If only hippies would rule. The Eric Cartmans of the world: insufferable. Hipsters: my mindless brethren, docile though. Bloggers: the last hope? Neil Young: philosopher-king.
"Put a quarter in your ass you played yourself"--Beastie Boys
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"i did it like this, i did it like that, i did it with a wiffle ball bat."
-i can't remember if it was the dali lama or mike d.
if hippies ruled there would be no free world to rock in because hitler, musolini, and stalin wouldn't allow it. the only art allowed in communist states pushes forth the communist message. i guess that wouldn't bother you tho. and it wouldn't be a big change for most artists since that's what they promote anyway.
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If I could remind you name dropping really isn't anything new for Neil Young, in Hey Hey My My, Neil name checks Johnny Rotten, back in 1979:
"The king is gone
but he's not forgotten
Is this the story
of Johnny Rotten?
It's better to burn out
'cause rust never sleeps
The king is gone
but he's not forgotten."
And then there is Pocahontas:
"And maybe Marlon Brando
Will be there by the fire
We'll sit and talk of Hollywood
And the good things there for hire
And the Astrodome
and the first tepee
Marlon Brando, Pocahontas and me
Marlon Brando, Pocahontas and me
Pocahontas."
Then again anyone that found that Dana Carvey joke funny really doesn't know too much about Neil Young, anyway.
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Yeah, but Marlon Brando was cool and so was Johnny Rotten. Chris Rock is an unfunny, googly-eyed jig who will be forgotten 5 years from now. Neil really blew it this time.
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Just because _you_ don't get it doesn't mean his lyrics don't make sense. I know today's short-attention-span youth require shouted, unambiguous messages; but the rest of us still appreciate subtle, oblique poetry in our lyrical content...
Andy
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Neil, a "name dropper" - what a laugh. He just writes from his dreams and experiences and he, like the rest of us, is inundated with popular culture, and it seeps into his songs. He has always infused his lyrics with topical tidbits. Keep on rockin in the free world quotes Bush I and Jessie Jackson, for example. And some of his songs get really personal, such as nearly the whole album of Tonight's the Night, and the song Thrasher, and the song Sharpshooter, etc, and come right out of his own life, and losses, and for that matter the latest album is really personal - loss of his father, trying to get back home to the prairie, etc.
It's just so Neil. If you don't get him, you just don't, and who really cares? I'm sure that Neil doesn't, and I don't either for that matter, except to stop and post this, and after I do, I'll probably forget this site ever exists. As Neil says, "it's just a dream, only a dream, and it's fading away ..."
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Then again, Neil himself gets namedropped in song by none other than Bob Dylan. From Highlands: "I'm listening to Neil Young, I gotta turn up the sound. Someone's always yelling
turn it down."
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"Chris Rock is an unfunny, googly-eyed jig"
Hey, creep, why don't you crawl back under the rock you came from, close your eyes, and wait for time to go back to 1830. Don't emerge until that occurs.
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omg, most of you and your comments are wack. Neil is brilliant, and his new album reflects that, as usual.
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Has anyone listened to the Painter? great song. This old guitar. just long winded. I read some of Eric's comments and hippie comments and and you folks make me VOMIT. If you don't like 60's 70's music thats fine, even though there's not ONE in your generation that can put out a note better than anyone could in those days. Take your Gap, take your BMW, your testosterone laden brains and send them for a ride on A1A. You better hope you don't get old one day and have me handing you the straw at the nursing home. HA HA HA!! Assholes.
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Everyone's talking about name dropping. No one mentions Lynyrd Skynyrd's "I hope Neil Young will remember. A southern man don't need him around anyhow." People do this. What's the big deal. Personally, I like his Crazy Horse stuff more than his Harvest stuff, but you cannot deny, Neil Young does rock.
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im a new age kid, with a testoserone filled brain, but i still love this music. I dont even believe in God and When God Made Me still hits me hard. Its beautiful. Plus music doesnt always have to make sense, its stream of conscious writing.
I cant believe somebody actually thinks Neil Young gives a care what people think about his albums. Instead of getting more towards rock, i think his albums sound even more country and gospel based than ever before.
o and daves right. please go back under that rock, and i hope it crushes you....: )
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Neil Young does not care what anyone thinks about his music. I have met and spoken with the man and there is one thing that he has always been and that is authentic. Either you get it or you don't and those of us who do know greatness when we hear it. He is after all an artist. Are all works by Rembrandt and Picasso appreciated by all?
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I'm sure that Neil is "name checking" Chris Rock so that he can earn "mad street creds" dawgs.
And oh, that's sarcasism, by the way. I probably should explain that because apparently a lot of you don't understand irony either.
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the "9/11" song Young references is "God Bless America".
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Yo Cartman...jelous that you missed the greatest times in America? I would be...sing on Neil make us grateful that we don't trust the GOV.
~`Surferdave
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You are all dumb fucks. you have no right whatsoever to criticize neil's work. His music has made an endless number of profound/humbling/political/historical/social statements which have been the inspiration for other artists and his fans in general. what the fuck have you done with your life you individualistic, technology driven, objectively thinking peices of shit. So what if he says chris rock's name. the song he's referring to is his song about 9/11, "let's roll" which admittedly isnt great, but theirs obviously a connection between the song/lyrics or the 911 period and somethign that chris rock said, either publicly or privately. IF YOU CANT RESPECT ARTISTIC INTEGRITY KEEP LISTENING TO YOUR CORPORATE ROCK YOU SOCIETY SUPPORTING OBJECTIVE AND MATERIALIST THINKING FUCKS.
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I liked Neil's Prairie Wind album- found it very easy to listen to. His songs leave me with a feeling of hope among all this chaos. Keep rock n' Neil and thanks- If I was asked to describe you I would say you are a genius with a Heart of Gold.
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Neil Young...indispensible artist...
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I believe that this is a reference to the concert/fundraiser for 9/11 (where Neil sang Imagine surrounded by about a million candles). Willie Nelson closed out the show with America the Beautiful. Chris Rock was one of the hosts of the concert, and as part of a request for donations told the audience not to send any more candles.
I don't think it is a shoutout or an attempt to be relevant at all. The amber waves of grain and Willie singing on the radio reminds him of 9/11 and the Chris Rock line. Whether he will always remember it because he thought is was funny, or because the events of 9/11 give it greater significance in his mind, I'll leave up to you to decide.
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