'Ambulance Blues' is the song of the night

In the car tonight I listened to all of Neil Young's On the Beach, one of my favorite albums since I first bought it on vinyl in 1974.

These last lines from the last track are stuck in my head. I want them stuck in yours too.

I never knew a man

could tell so many lies

He had a different story

for every set of eyes

How can he remember

who he's talking to?

Cause I know it ain't me,

and hope it isn't you.

46 Years Ago Today.

The music behind this video of Kent State still photos is Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young's 45rpm single of Neil Young's 'Ohio,' which hit the stores in June 1970 backed by Stephen Stills' 'Find the Cost of Freedom' in this printed lyric sleeve:

Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12939311

I don't know if people who grew up with digital music can imagine how fast that recording and distribution seemed to us at the time; this was all over the radio and many of us went out to buy this to listen to it on our turntables. It definitely played a part in expanding the antiwar movement beyond the major cities and college campuses.

Happy Birthday to Neil Young.

Even as he turns 70 today, it's great to know that music, with the help of his analog time machine, allows Neil Young to travel in time.

Time for Neil Young to Write a Cease and Desist Letter

I've asked this before about Paul Ryan and RATM and Chris Christie and Springsteen, but don't Republicans realize that songs have lyrics?

In the middle of this morning's meandering speech at Trump Tower, Donald Trump finished the sentence "I am officially running for President of the United States and we are going to make our country great again" and immediately looked up toward someone in the ceiling and gestured for music. The recognizable guitar riff from Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World" played for a few seconds before the Donald went back to scapegoating Mexico, Mexicans, and Obamacare.

We got a thousand points of light

For the homeless man

We got a kinder, gentler,

Machine gun hand

We got department stores

and toilet paper

Got styrofoam boxes

for the ozone layer

Got a man of the people,

says keep hope alive

Got fuel to burn,

got roads to drive.

Keep on rockin' in the free world...

Does he know the song has words other than those in the chorus? These kinds of misunderstandings have a long GOP history going back at least as far as Reagan praising Springsteen's "Born in the USA," but maybe Trump really is as smart as he thinks he is; maybe he is using Neil's lyrics to indirectly attack yesterday's new candidate, Jeb!, by going after his father's kinder and gentler thousand points of light?

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UPDATE @ 8pm EDT: Not only has Neil Young's manager Elliot Roberts confirmed that The Donald didn't have permission to misuse Neil's anthem this morning, but that Neil Young has endorsed the anti-Trump, Bernie Sanders.
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Here's the moment he points at the unseen minion in the ceiling to play Neil's riff:

"Tin Soldiers and Nixon Coming..."

Today is the 43rd anniversary of the shooting of four antiwar protesters by the Ohio National Guard on the campus of Kent State University.

There are a lot of candidates for the official marker between The Sixties and The Seventies, and May 4, 1970 may be mine. In recent years, I've placed the Altamont Speedway Free Festival of December 6, 1969 high on that list, but personally, I don't think the events there were on my radar until Gimme Shelter hit the theaters at the end of 1970.  Kent State's effect was immediate for all of us then in high school. I remember being immediately shocked by the shooting of unarmed 19 and 20-year-old men and women, engrossed by the photos in Life, and buying the Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young single of "Ohio" backed with "Find the Cost of Freedom" on the day it hit the local record store a month after the shootings. I then dedicated the years 1971 and 1972 to going to as many anti-war protests as I could in DC, Philadelphia, and New York.

Rockin' in the Free World in Central Park Yesterday

I realize that there are probably people in suits on television this morning speaking about important matters of politics and football, but I'm still on a high from spending all day and night on my feet on the Great Lawn in Central Park in the greatest city in the world watching Neil Young, the Foo Fighters, Black Keys, Band of Horses, and K'naan, so I'm reliving yesterday's Global Citizen Festival with videos.
There are professional videos on the internets already, but I like the way that this amateur video from the crowd brings back the feeling of being there for the closing "Rockin' in the Free World" with Dave Grohl and Dan Auerbach strapping on guitars to join Crazy Horse, and all of the musicians on stage together singing the chorus (along with tens of thousands of others on the lawn):

We got a thousand points of light for the homeless man
We got a kindler, gentler, machine gun hand
We've got department stores and toilet paper
Got styrofoam garbage for the ozone layer
Got a man of the people says keep hope alive
Got fuel to burn, got roads to drive

Keep on rockin in the free world

"Walk Like A Giant" from Neil Young and Crazy Horse

Here's the first official video from the next album from Neil Young and Crazy Horse coming out on October 30 on 2 CDs or 3 LPs, "Psychedelic Pill" (a title full of possibilities for an old Deadhead like me). The song is "Walk Like a Giant" and this kaleidoscopic 4'30" video is only part of an album track listed at over 16 minutes.



I hope they play this when we see them in Central Park on Saturday!


And since posting this a few minutes ago, I found this live version from Red Rocks in August: