It's always interesting when Neil Young writes a song about current events. In 2002, for instance, Young released "Let's Roll" on the album Are You Passionate?. It's his tribute to the passengers on United 93 -- the ones who fought the 9/11 hijackers and then died when the plane crashed in a Pennsylvania field. Now, Young's got a new song called "Let's Roll Again," but it's not a direct sequel. Instead, this one is about how American automakers need to make better cars, with an incidental swipe at Elon Musk.
Neil Young is about to head out on tour with his new band Chrome Hearts, which has Spooner Oldham on organ, Micah Nelson on guitar, Corey McCormick on bass, and Anthony Logerfo on drums. Young co-produced their debut album Talkin To The Trees with his old friend Lou Adler, and it's coming out next month. They've been talking about this LP for a little while, and now we know the details. Young and Chrome Hearts released the single "Big Change" back in January. That song is on the album, and so is new single "Let's Roll Again," which Young and Chrome Hearts debuted live last week.
"Let's Roll Again" is a "This Land Is Your Land" re-write with fuzzy guitars and lyrics that individually call out the big American car companies: "Build somethin’ useful people need/ Build us a safe way for us to be/ Build us somethin’ won’t kill our kids/ Runs real clean, yeah it runs real clean." Young sings that China is "way ahead" on making clean cars, and he throws in a stray line for Elon Musk: "If you're a fascist, then get a Tesla/ If it's electric, it doesn't matter." Weird song! Below, check out the studio version of "Let's Roll Again" and the Talkin To The Trees tracklist.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Family Life"
02 "Dark Mirage"
03 "First Fire Of Winter"
04 "Silver Eagle"
05 "Lets Roll Again"
06 "Big Change"
07 "Talkin To The Trees"
08 "Movin Ahead"
09 "Bottle Of Love"
10 "Thankful"
Talkin To The Trees is out 6/12 on the Other Shoe/Reprise.
