12 May 2006

Young again

Just checked my mailbox. Guess what was there, waiting for me among the bills and junk mail?

Neil Young's new release, "Living with War."

Been waiting for this one. I brought it in, ripped open the box and slapped that puppy into the CD player. Hit "play."

First impression: Sounds like an amateur 70s garage band, recorded on a home reel-to-reel deck. The kind where the louder you play it, the better it sounds.

Second impression: Ol' Neil STILL can't sing worth a damn.

That said, he's one damn fine songwriter, particularly when he catches his stride. And he does it with "Let's Impeach the President." By the time the song was over, I was laughing and whooping and wishing to hell my old car had big ol' speakers so I could blast that song far and wide.

The rest? Great lyrics, music so-so. But it's really the lyrics you want from a Neil Young tune after all, isn't it.

Let's impeach the President for lyin'
And misleading our country into war
Abusing all the power that we gave him
And shipping all our money out the door

Who's the man who hired all the criminals
The White House shadows who hide behind closed doors
They bend the facts to fit with their new story
Of why he had to send our men to war

Let's impeach the President for spyin'
On citizens inside their own homes
Breaking every law in the country
Tapping our computers and telephones

What if Al-Qaeda blew up the levees
Would New Orleans have been safer that way
Sheltered by our government's protection
Or was someone just not home that day?

Flip ... Flop
Flip ... Flop
Flip ... Flop
Flip ... Flop
Flip ... Flop
Flip ... Flop
Flip ... Flop
Flip ... Flop

Let's impeach the President for hijacking
Our religion and using it to get elected
Dividing our country into colors
And still leaving black people neglected

Thank God he's cracking down on steroids
Since he sold his old baseball team
There's lots of people looking at big trouble
But of course the President is clean

Thank God

Rock out, Neil. And thanks.

1 comment:

roxtar said...

I don't remember the last time I bought a CD, but I'll be "voting with mt wallet" this week to get this one. And by the by, IFC or Sundance or one of those arty-farty angry liberal movie channels has been showing Neil's "Greendale", which is a long-form video/short form movie.

I guess it would also be available from Netflix. He can't sing on that one, either, but it's very good, and the imagery is oddly compelling. Highly recommended.