submissions
| Dr. John – Big Chief Lyrics
| 4 years ago
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@[Moonmadness:32899] Please ignore the preceding comment. It's not "Burn down the Levee" by Elton John, It's "Burn down the Mission". Randy Newman has a song "Let's burn down the Cornfield". Anyway, I screwed up but I down see how to edit or delete comments. |
submissions
| Dr. John – Big Chief Lyrics
| 4 years ago
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It'd be nice is some Southerner could confirm the significance of "burning down the levee", since it comes up in several songs. In Elton John's "Burn Down the Levee", it has a very ominous tone, but here it seems to more fit the idea of the Louisiana tradition of lighting bonfires on the levee and partying through the night. Otherwise, I wonder why people would want to "burn the levee down". |
submissions
| Joni Mitchell – Furry Sings The Blues Lyrics
| 4 years ago
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It's certainly about Furry Lewis. Rick Danko of the band tells a story about sitting around at Furry's place jamming with him and the surrealistic scene it was. I suspect it was the same party Joni is singing about. |
submissions
| Neil Young – Horseshoe Man Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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As is often the case with Neil Young, it's a very abstract, impressionist picture he is painting and the meaning is often obscured. However, with a little insight into his personal life, it's easy to see that he and Pegi "took a vow to live with the heartbreak" of havingg a severly handicapped son. The song is all the more poignant from this perspective, but the horseshoe man represents the hope that keeps people going even though "there will always be heartbreak." "Love ain't looking for perfection" is as much a reference to the efforts of Neil and Pegi to make things work as it is to the fact that we don't people don't need to be perfect to be loved. |
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| ZZ Top – Stages Lyrics
| 7 years ago
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Listening to this song again in hindsight I have to say it's much different than most of their previous numbers. It almost doesn't sound like they wrote it. Neither idiosyncratic (like Sunglasses or TV Dinners), nor sexual innuendo (like Pearl Necklace and so many others), with the blues-based ZZ sound nowhere to be found. It rocks nicely though. A perfectly crafted tune. |
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| Cream – Tales Of Brave Ulysses Lyrics
| 7 years ago
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Some lines in this song remind me of Suzanne by Leonard Cohen. The way it repeats that "she will (do this and that), and especially the "And you want to take her with you"... |
submissions
| Neil Young – The Old Homestead Lyrics
| 7 years ago
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@[Moonmadness:14472] Forget my comment. On re-liste, it's the Shadow that asks "Why do you ride that Crazy Horse", not the first bird. So I'm not sure why the three birds would be CS&N. That supports the Shadow being Neil's "Harvest era" alter ego, though. As you say, pretty opaque lyrics. |
submissions
| Neil Young – The Old Homestead Lyrics
| 7 years ago
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Excellent analysis, although hard to know how much is accurate. Certainly the first "Byrd" was David Crosby, who has been quoted the most on his incredulousness as to Neil "riding the Crazy Horse". Your take on the Shadow is the most insightful - food for thought. The links with Thrasher are tantalizing. |
submissions
| Elton John – Levon Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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It's interesting that often very traditional types get wrapped up in consumerism, financial security, conservative and often intolerant viewpoints and consider themselves Christian. Levon would have tried to teach these restrictive values to his son, not realizing that despite Levon's professed Christianity, his son would grow up to realize that his father's values have nothing to do with what Jesus actually said and preached. The Jesus of the song identifies more with the real Jesus, and thus wants nothing to do with Levon's style of living. It's true that Taupin and John were The Band maniacs at that point in time, and that they could not have used the name "Levon" without it having been inspired in some way by Levon Helm, but it's curious that they hook the name to a negative character in the song. |
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| Elton John – Gone to Shiloh Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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This song is set during the Civil War in the US, and the elder son (probably) is going off to fight with the Union Army at what became known as the Battle of Shiloh, or Battle of Pittsburgh Landing, which took place in southwestern Tennessee in the Spring of 1862. The narrator of the song is probably the father of the family (unless it's the grandfather telling the story and Little Dan and Becky's father that is going to war).
I honestly never thought I'd hear three of my early 70s rock heroes harmonizing together as they do on this moving song. Neil Young adds a haunting quality to his verse and the choruses, along with Leon Russell and Elton John. It's also a refreshing change to hear a song with a hero that's fighting for the North in the Civil War, as there are so many cliché tunes featuring "rebel heroes". |
submissions
| Gordon Lightfoot – Home From The Forest Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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The forest is the city and the old man is lost in it. Really loving Gordon Lightfoot these days. Might be a premonition that we won't have him around much longer :-( |
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| Neil Young – The Painter Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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Whatever the rest of the song is about, the original inspiration (The Painter) is his daughter Amber Jean (now all grown up). She is a artist. |
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| Neil Young – Through My Sails Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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Maybe it's because it came after the harrowing "Ditch Trilogy" (Time Fades Away, Tonight's the Night and On The Beach), but I used to get an ethereal "imagining death" vibe from this song. Maybe I saw Neil "On the Beach" again, with all deathly imagery that conveys, but the spooky lightness of his voice singing "it feels like I'm gone" reminds of the Yes song "To Be Over".
Knowing what I know now about Neil's life at the time, he had just gotten into sailing (maybe through Crosby) and bought a place in Hawaïi. So the most serene and tranquil, relaxed interpretation is probably what it's about. Just getting away from it all on his boat in Hawaïi. "Paradise" is Hawaii. |
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| Neil Young – Trans Am Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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This can go in the "time travel" "dreamscape" category of Neil songs (along with Pocahontas and Lost in Space and maybe Last Trip to Tulsa). Love those. The image of the friend showing up at the door while the car is still tooling down the highway (the mileposts flying by) can only have come to him in a dream. The epoques are all superimposed as the ghost Trans Am is witness to the changes through the ages, none good. Love the spooky mood of this one. |
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| Neil Young – Walking to New Orleans Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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Until today I didn't know Neil had covered this, and I guess he hasn't "officially", but it's probably as much a tribute to Bobby Charles (the song's author) as to Fats Domino. Bobby Charles was a friend of Neil's that was in the Band's entourage and he's written a lot of well-known songs. Neil plays on some of Bobby Charles' recording, along with Willie Nelson. |
submissions
| Neil Young – Weight of the World Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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I wouldn't read to much into this song. I think the title just provided a good hookline and the rest of the lyrics are just banal "Since I met You Baby. type sentiments. I think the song is great though. "Landing On Water" has had such a bad rap - even from Neil himself. I think there are great songs on there. The only error was the drum mix being way to loud. |
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| Neil Young – Welfare Mothers Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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Your analysis is spot on. It's a classic example of what you could call "wry social commentary". In the 70s, I don't think it was hip to point out the down-sides of "Free Love" and Freedom in general. Didn't matter to Neil, though, and fit in well with the punk movement that was questioning the dogma of the "revolution" at that time.
Divorces were becoming commonplace, but don't forget that Neil came from one of the first "broken families" in his town, at a time when there was a real stigma attached to divorce. It was impossible for him to be indifferent to the phenomenon. |
submissions
| Neil Young – When God Made Me Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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Neil did not have a very religious upbringing. His parents were worldly liberal humanists, but he was eventually confronted with religion, as the Journey Through the Past film shows, where he exchanges with 70s Jesus Movement types. As in songs like The Bridge or Soldier, where religion is mentioned, he always sees the incoherence in religious discourse, and his songs ask questions that point out the parts of religious teachings that just don't add up to him. NY has said that the redwood forests are his cathedral (and probably Nature his faith).
Later in life, after coming face to face with the Grim Reaper (during his aneurysm scare, for example), he's willing to adopt the use of the word "God" and take for granted the existence of an overarching spirit and higher power in "When God Made Me". That doesn't mean his church has changed at all though. "God" has an infinite number of definitions, depending on who you talk to, and it's just the closest word in our vocabulary to express what NY has always reflected upon under the redwoods.
He's still asking pointed questions in WGMM, still exposing the hypocrisy of those on right right wing who call themselves Christians but take positions that are at total polar opposites of what Christ taught in the Bible. |
submissions
| Neil Young – Words (Between The Lines Of Age) Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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This is about Neil's frustration with his life with Carrie on the ranch. She invited all kinds of friends and relatives to practically live on the ranch and there was constant activity everywhere. Neil, being more of a '"Loner" couldn't get any peace. The words paint a picture of all the meaningless conversation and activity going on around him that was driving him nuts. He mentions it in his autobiography. |
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