Neil Young - This is Why We Love this Guy

Neil Young is coming to town next week. I've been waiting for this concert since I was 17 and quite frankly never thought it would happen. Yer in London, man. Everybody knows This is Nowhere. La-la-la. La la la-la. Everybody, Everybody knows.

For those who like to sit, the best of the reserved seating is obscenely priced. But for those who like to rock, on this tour, Neil insists that the floor section be General Admission, standing and affordable. He's doing that for us kids. He's one of the people, you know.

That's just one reason we love this guy. Here are a few others.

He's got one of those cute 'pug' noses that the ladies are so crazy about. Just like mine. In fact, almost every male at a Neil Young concert looks like me. Same thing at a Lou Reed show for that matter. Only on those nights they wear black instead of plaid.

He knows our priorities and feels sorry for any kid "That'll never go to school, never get to fall in love, never get to be cool."

When he tried to find a suitable toy for his son born with cerebral palsy, Neil remembered his own childhood and tried to buy him an electric train set. Demand for such things has decreased over the past few decades (what with video games and those hand-held mini-pinball machines,) and Lionel Trains was about to go out of business. Neil bought the company.

There is a town in North Ontario where Neil spent his childhood. In Omemee, local legend has it that young Neil accidently burned down a small patch of bush. Probably smoking. You know kids.

When he was a young boy, he and his mama packed their bags and moved out to Winnipeg. Learned how to play guitar, started a band and met the likes of Randy Bachman and Joni Mitchell. Moved to Toronto, worked briefly as a folkie and book-shelf stocker. Got fired from Coles Books after two weeks.

He's been to Hollywood. He's been to Redwood. Prefers Redwood and has lived on a ranch near that central-California town for the past few decades.

Saw Carrie Snodgrass in a movie on late-night television. "She was playing a part that I could understand." So he went out and married her. The movie? 'Diary of a Mad Housewife.'

Chicks dig him for his sensitive lyrics and melodic song-stylings. Guys just like the fact that he knows how to rock.

In a 1975 interview, Lou Reed mentioned that he was listening to Neil's new LP, 'Zuma.' "His lyrics can be so West Coast-dumb," said Lou. "But on this record, his guitar-playing has moments of greatness that bring tears to my eyes."

Sample lyrics from 'Barstool Blues' from that same record - "And I saw you in my nightmares/But I'll see you in my dreams/And I may live a thousand years/Before I know what that means."

Well, *I* know what that means. I also know *exactly* what he means with "Think I'll pack it in and buy a pick-up/Take it down to L.A." which kicks off 'Out on the Weekend,' the opening track on 'Harvest,' the mega-selling 1972 album that made Neil a superstar.

Was sued by his own record company for following up 'Harvest' with 'Time Fades Away,' a concert album of previously-unrecorded songs - which the record label described as "deliberately uncommercial."

'After the Goldrush,' is the ideal Sunday morning hangover music when you are young and in the mood to feel sorry for yourself. Even though "only love can break your heart," it don't matter if you've never been in love or have even had a girlfriend.

'Down By the River,' from his first record with electric cowboys Crazy Horse, is the perfect musical accompaniment for a nice easy-volleying game of ping-pong.

'Lotta Love,' from the 1980s 'Comes a Time' LP, was covered by Canada's easy-listening vocal group, The Laurie Bower Singers. Also becomes a huge hit for Nicolette Larson.

Apparently, he ain't agin' getting fucked-up on occassion. See The Band's concert film, 'The Last Waltz.'

After Lynyrd Skynard slagged him in 'Sweet Home Alabama,' with "I hope Neil Young will remember/A Southern Man don't need him around anyhow," Neil becomes friends with the band and often joined them onstage just for that song.

Was one of the few of his musical generation who didn't immediately dismiss Punk. Instead he wrote a tribute to Johnny Rotten and noted that "Rock and Roll will never die."

Was a musical, fashion and suicide-note inspiration for the '90s Grunge movement. Feedback, flannel shirts and shotguns.

His response to corporate sponsorship of concerts in the later part of the last millenium - "Ain't singin' for Pepsi, ain't singin' for Coke/Ain't singin' for nobody makes me look like a joke - This note's for you."

Even though he's a pioneer of country-rock and at least one-third of his life's work could be labeled 'C&W,' he'll never be played on Country Music Television or played on New Country Radio. Just like Johnny Cash.

In the video to 'Fork in the Road,' from the just-released album of the same name, Neil (also a film-maker,) sets the camera up in a fixed position in his backyard and dressed in a T-shirt and Barney Fife white-straw hat, stands in front of the camera and sings with a big red apple in his hand.

And he does that for FIVE MINUTES! Even does some air-guitar. In the persona of a middle-aged truck driver, he lectures, "There's a bail-out comin'/ But it's not for YOU."

Ever current and ever out of step with fashion, the video is inspired dorkness. As a promotional video for his new CD, it's also about as "deliberately uncommercial" as you can get.

And for that reason alone, that's why we love Neil Young.

"Keep on a-bloggin'/'Twist & Shout' on the radio ..."

"I'm a big rock star/My sales have tanked/But I still got YOU/Thanks."