What if you were just following your muse and you became a cultural icon? What would you do?
Artists fight for fame and fortune, and when they get it, it fucks them up. Or maybe it's that today's artists fight for fame and fortune first and artistic expression second. So they're sold out from the beginning. If you've already tied in with major corporations how can your soul be affected by success? You don't HAVE a soul! Neil Young had a soul. He even sang about the concept when he was in Buffalo Springfield.
But that band didn't work out. So the man went solo. And nobody noticed. I'd argue strongly that the very first Neil Young solo record is the best. There's really only one other candidate, "After The Gold Rush". Cognoscenti will whisper about "Rust Never Sleeps". And "Tonight's The Night". And maybe even "Ragged Glory". And those records all have moments. But they're artifacts, they're not transcendent, they don't define the genre.
All these years later "The Loner" has been elevated to a recurrent. Deservedly. Occasionally you'll hear "I've Been Waiting For You", almost as magical and more heartfelt than the follow-up album's opener, "Cinnamon Girl". But I've never heard "Emperor Of Wyoming" on the radio. And "The Last Trip To Tulsa" has been forgotten. Maybe the twentysomethings who don't get Neil would if they just heard this almost nonsensical album closer. Maybe they'd understand 1969. When optimism died and pessimism set in.
But only fans seem to know the debut.
"Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" survives because of the aforementioned "Cinnamon Girl". And "Down By The River". And, even "Cowgirl In The Sand" is now well-known. But the big breakthrough was "After The Gold Rush".
People just started paying attention. Having been alerted to Neil as a result of his addition to Crosby, Stills & Nash. They'd grown accustomed to his high-pitched nasal whine. They were ready for him. And he delivered. I'm not going to put down "Southern Man". But I'll tell you that "Don't Let It Bring Me Down" is my favorite. That guitar downbeat. God does it set a mood. And "When You Dance I Can Really Love"... Is that rock and roll abandon or what. And next I'll go to "Cripple Creek Ferry" and "Till The Morning Comes". Just trifles, but their inclusion draws you to the overall record. It wasn't in your face only. This was a three dimensional artist. With a sense of humor.
Music fans noticed Neil. He was part of the firmament.
And then he released "Harvest". Was it luck? Or did he know it would turn him into a superstar. That it would break through from hard core fans to casual fans. It all started with "Heart Of Gold".
You heard "Heart Of Gold" on the radio so much you hated it. You're not going to find a hard core Neil Young fan who says "Harvest" is his favorite album. That's the opinion of those not in the know. But all these years later, you hear tracks from that record and they feel so right. What are we to make of an album that wasn't commercial that turned out to be? It was a moment in time. When the left field was embraced. Something like "Harvest" couldn't dominate the chart today.
The laconical "Out On The Weekend" draws you in. With those lyrics you want to disown, because they're you.
"See the lonely boy out on the weekend Trying to make it pay"
College is one of the loneliest experiences of one's life. You've left your cocoon behind. You're still discovering who you are. You've got all new friends, but can you truly COUNT ON THEM?
Turns out you can, but you're not sure of that.
All you know is you're hot for love, sex and highs. In whatever order. You go to the bar. Take a pull from your beer as you hold up the wall. You drink with your buddies while eyeing the woman across the room you can never get up the nerve to talk to.
"Can't relate to joy, he tries to speak and Can't begin to say"
Maybe the true loneliness kicks in during the latter half of your sophomore year. When you realize this is it. This is life. It may not get better than this. And you can't tell your parents, because they're paying. And nobody else cares. Because life sucks. Everybody would rather just get fucked-up and ignore it.
And that's why "Out On The Weekend" struck such a chord. It was tired. Just like we were in 1972. The sixties were over. We were no longer in it together, we were individuals. Could we find our way?
How Neil got away with "A Man Needs A Maid" at the height of feminism I'll never know. There wasn't a shred of backlash.
"Alabama" has a tiredness lacking in "Southern Man", but it seems a sequel. And we always respect the original more.
"Needle And The Damage Done" is almost too heavy.
"Are You Ready For The Country" is the "Cripple Creek Ferry" and "Till The Morning Comes" of "Harvest". A trifle. But longer than the snippet length of the preceding two.
"Words" works. The same way the opener, the aforementioned "Out On The Weekend", does. That exasperation, that represented our state of mind.
But all these years later the reason you can't dismiss "Harvest" is that song right in the middle, "Old Man".
It seemed poignant then. A conversation between us and our elders.
But, suddenly, WE'RE the elders.
"When I'm Sixty-Four" is a joke. Everybody keeps concentrating on that as evidence of our aging. Hearing "Old Man" creeps us out more. Because it's life. OUR life.
"Old man look at my life
I'm a lot like you were"
You've got to understand. We'd just lived through the generation gap. The generations couldn't have been more different. To have a cultural icon say we were similar was heretical. And you could not ignore the lyric, the music wasn't loud enough. You caught every word. And debated. Was it true?
"Old man look at my life
Twenty four and there's so much more
Live alone in a paradise
That makes me think of two"
Can it be a paradise if you're there alone?
Why don't we ask those old buddies of ours. You know, the ones who lost their loves and couldn't handle being alone and ended their lives. They couldn't see going on.
We were bred for achievement. Women didn't get married, for fear of fucking up their careers. What if it was all bullshit. And life never changed.
Now we know life never changes. Our kids get married young. Women want to take time off to have babies.
Still, what is shocking is the age of the protagonist. Twenty four sounds like a baby. Shocking as it seems, you were once twenty four, and you thought it was OLD! You were sophisticated, you knew EVERYTHING! Only as you got older did you realize you didn't know shit.
"Old Man" is laden with reflection and truth. Aphorisms like "Give me things that won't get lost". But what eats us alive is that one couplet:
"Old man take a look at my life I'm a lot like you I need someone to love me the whole day through"
It's sung not with resignation, but a low key ELATION! Like the singer has finally discovered his goal, and is on a mission to find companionship and love.
All these years later, Neil Young seems to have found this.
As for us, I'm not so sure. So, every time we hear this song, we're reminded of who we were and must take stock of who we now are. Did we follow the path delineated by our parents or forge our own. Did we waste decades pursuing worthless goals. Is this really all there is, you live, love and die?
Great music sounds good. This is the defining criterion. "Old Man" scores on this basis. But it's the way the words are sung, world-weary, with recent discovery providing enlightenment, that infects us. You see we're looking for truth.
You don't find truth in entertainment today. It's a commodity. Made to be consumed and discarded. It's not made to stick with you, it's fodder for corporations to sell their wares. Truth sells purely on its merits. To think that you'd have to sell a record solely on the music, not the image, not the marketing campaign, that's too scary. But that's the way it used to be.
Neil Young still plays by these rules. "Harvest" was made when Neil was at the peak of his powers. It was so good that despite it being inherently left field, it was mainstream.
Disillusioned with its success, Neil went on a tour where he played almost only new music. And put out a live album of these raucous rock tunes as his follow-up to "Harvest". We love this. That he could reject success, get close to the flame and steer away. But, in the process "Harvest" itself has become tarnished. By its success.
If "Harvest" had not broken through, it would eclipse all the alt.country icons. It would be the lost album that everybody talked about. The Gram Parsons and Son Volt of its day. But, neither of those acts, as good as they were, were as good as Neil Young. And the public recognized this. And turned him into a star.
We don't need a thirty fifth anniversary celebration. "Harvest" needs no new accolades. But, go back and play it. Although not Neil's best work, it was great. Its mix of disillusionment and optimism was emblematic of our generation.
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