(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
Tue 5 August 2025 17:00, UK
The art of songwriting shouldn’t always be about someone finding the best chords anyone has ever conceived.
All musical scholars might be looking to geek out about the intricacies of what music could sound like, but the reason why Bob Dylan succeeded by only using three chords was that people related to what he was singing beyond the traditional musical structure. Anyone can embrace a catchy tune, but Neil Young was always aware that it was much better to connect with the person singing the songs.
And looking through his discography, ‘Uncle Neil’ has never been afraid to show people how he was feeling. Sometimes it’s beautiful on Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere, sometimes it’s heartbreaking on Tonight’s the Night, and there are moments where it’s downright funny on Everybody’s Rockin’, but there’s never any doubt that he’s doing everything that he wants to do across every phase of his career.
That’s because no songwriter should ever be boxed into a corner. The whole point of any great album is hearing someone’s take on life, so it’s better for an artist to be honest with their songs rather than give the audience what they think they want. At that point, you become a salesman, and Young would have been buried six feet underground rather than have to sacrifice what he was saying in his songs.
But when the public is not responding, it’s never easy for someone to keep trying to make new music. There are only so many times anyone can try their luck before they feel like they’re shouting into a void, but as time has shone, Young has been more than willing to take chances that fans have looked up to, whether that’s the return to his glory days on Freedom or making an entire album with Pearl Jam on Mirror Ball.
Right as the new millennium began, though, Young felt that he needed to get back to his roots. Are You Passionate was a decent attempt at writing something a little more soulful, but once he had Crazy Horse kick out the jams a little bit more on the album Greendale, the Canadian icon knew that there was some room left for him to say how he felt outside of being a relic of his time.
According to Young, Greendale was when he felt his luck turned around, saying, “Greendale is what gave me enough belief in myself to continue and to sing the old songs. If it wasn’t for things like Greendale, I’d just be replicating myself, travelling round the world doing things I’d already done. Which would be very depressing and probably life-threatening.” And with that new confidence, Young figured that he would turn his voice up a little more as America went to war.
Young never claimed to tiptoe around any political issues, and by the time that Living With War came out, he had a target in mind in President George Bush, even throwing in songs like ‘Let’s Impeach the President’. Not everything landed the way that he wanted to, but Greendale was a good enough start to the next phase of his career.
There were still bound to be some rules around where he could go in the future, but Young had learned an important lesson going into the 2000s. Most artists think there’s only a limited window for them to work in after a while, but as long as you sing what’s in your heart, there’s bound to be a few people out there who will recognise that honesty.
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