Neil Young Shares Previously Unreleased 1974 Song “Homefires”
Next month, Neil Young will release the massive new box set Archives Volume 2: 1972-1976. Young has had a career that’s been both long and great, but if you had to nail down a career peak, that five-year stretch would probably be it. The box set will include a whole lot of unreleased versions of Young’s classics, and it’ll also feature 12 tracks that have never been released in any capacity. One of those songs is called “Homefires,” and it dates back to 1974, the same year that Young released On The Beach.
Young played “Homefires” live for the first time in 1974, and he’s played it a bunch of times since, including during his recent 2018 solo tour. But he’s never shared a studio recording of the track until now. In the Archives Volume 2 box set, “Homefires” will appear on a disc that covers the man’s 1974 work. And right now, we get to hear it — or, if we’re not subscribed to the Neil Young Archives app, we get to hear most of it.
On Twitter, Young has posted a clip of “Homefires,” a tender acoustic ramble with Young accompanying himself on both guitar and harmonica. It’s the sort of old-man song that Young wrote even when he was young: “I’m not the same man I was a while ago/ I’ve learned some new things/ I hope that it shows.” With the Twitter version we can hear two minutes and 20 seconds of the song, which seems to be most of it. But Neil Young Archives subscribers can hear the whole thing here.
Archives Volume 2: 1972-1976 is out 11/20.