{"id":838509,"date":"2026-09-06T14:30:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T14:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/838509\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T14:30:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T14:30:12","slug":"4-neil-young-lyrics-that-still-stop-us-in-our-tracks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/838509\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Neil Young Lyrics That Still Stop Us in Our Tracks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/americansongwriter.com\/how-neil-young-poached-some-musicians-and-ended-up-with-his-greatest-collaborators-we-didnt-climb-as-we-thought-we-would\/\" id=\"https:\/\/americansongwriter.com\/how-neil-young-poached-some-musicians-and-ended-up-with-his-greatest-collaborators-we-didnt-climb-as-we-thought-we-would\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Neil Young<\/a> is, without a doubt, one of the most prolific songwriters of our time. Here are some lyrics of his that might convince you to listen to his music, if you haven\u2019t already.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOld Man\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788705010_232_hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"Play\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cDoesn\u2019t mean that much to me \/To mean that much to you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tVideos by American Songwriter\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There\u2019s something about \u201cOld Man\u201d that is just so haunting. Maybe it\u2019s the lyrics, or maybe it\u2019s the harmonies that James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt sang.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019d listened to the Buffalo Springfield harmonies and I knew how to get that 7th they always used,\u201d Ronstadt told Mojo about this song, per <a href=\"https:\/\/www.songfacts.com\/facts\/neil-young\/old-man\" id=\"https:\/\/www.songfacts.com\/facts\/neil-young\/old-man\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Songfacts<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t think we started until midnight and it was dawn when we came out, and it was snowing \u2013 we came out to this beautiful snow storm in the rising sun. It was really exciting. I just thought I\u2019ve been part of something really wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnknown Legend\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788705010_90_hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"Play\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cShe used to work in a diner \/Never saw a woman look finer \/ I used to order just to watch her float across the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I mean, talk about details. \u201cUnknown Legend\u201d, off of Young\u2019s Harvest Moon album, already presents the listener with a fascinating concept. However, I\u2019d argue that the way he describes the character in this song is what really reels you in.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCowgirl In The Sand\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788705011_930_hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"Play\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOld enough now to change your name \/ When so many love you, is it the same?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even though this one is ten minutes long, I still find it hard to get enough of \u201cCowgirl In The Sand\u201d. Part of what makes this song so great is that it\u2019s open to interpretation, but that\u2019s also part of its curse. Who is the cowgirl in the sand? We may never really know.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRockin\u2019 In The Free World\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788705012_847_hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"Play\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere\u2019s one more kid that\u2019ll never go to school \/ Never get to fall in love, never get to be cool.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Young was inspired by something his guitarist, Frank, said when he wrote this song in 1989. Apparently, Young was on tour and was supposed to go to the Soviet Union until those shows were canceled. Frank said, \u201cWe\u2019ll have to keep rockin\u2019 in the free world,\u201d and naturally, that led to this song. This song is a bit of a political rant, and you honestly can\u2019t help but love the gutsy statements Young makes, like this lyric.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Photo by: Tom Copi\/Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Neil Young is, without a doubt, one of the most prolific songwriters of our time. Here are some&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":838510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[12013,88,216,41987,2156],"class_list":["post-838509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-country-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-neil-young","tag-rock-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=838509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/838510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=838509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=838509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=838509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}