Thrasher

This has to be one of the greatest songs of the 20th century.

This song has always haunted me with it's timeless criticism of capitalistic values, human nature and the means people will sacrifice to reach an end, or possibly just a luddite's lament.

The valuable contributions in this thread about his breakup with CSN are very keen or at least his relationship with the producers that pushed the band into a corner, likely solves the "rose clipped by the bullwhip" lyric which has always troubled me, never really fit in with the rest of the scornful theme.

Then again the entire song may be a criticism of technology of which agriculture was the first incarnation. Humans stopped hunting and gathering the moment they figured out how to use the earth as a tool and not a gift. Thrashers two lanes wide conjures images of International Harvester combines in Kansas.

Basic overtones of the grim reaper also consume this song from beginning to end an inevitable death everyone faces, even if they catch an hour on the sun.

Neil makes it clear that even though adoption of this technology was not his choice he will eventually succumb to the same consequences as everyone else.

Neil Young's best song. And, even though it might have been inspired by the CSN&Y break-up, sure, there's obviously more to it.

I have two very good friends I didn't have to leave like Neil Diamond, because I am very ill and they are very important for me, but in my youth I learned the chords and played the song on my guitar. I lost the ability long ago but I came back a few weeks ago and I will never forget it. It has always been one of my best loved song I could play.

While some of the wording may lead us otherwise, the thrashers that Young is referring to may be the family of birds similar to the hummingbird. There is even a Pearly-eyed Thrasher. The fact that much of the song creates a scene on farmland, you can support this interpretation with the other bird references of eagle and vulture. His contrasts of ascending and descending connected by glide vs the thrashers rolling by does lead me to believe that the ambiguity left by the 3 references to thrashers shows the evolution in his perspective from the natural to the more influenced by experienced perspective.

The first reference to thrashers coming was in a peaceful scene through a night in the fields, where they awoke perhaps in a figurative sense to these peaceful birds who will dig for the seeds that were sowed. The tone is still "light" at this point. It seems he observed these people, as he described them with " they ". The hiding behind hay bales supports the youth and innocence point, and then the "giving all they had for something new" is the stepping out into the unknown. He then moves into more personal experience.

The next reference to the " thrashers rolling by ", as I mentioned before, shows his change in perspective. He has now moved from observing the innocent farmers or youth to modern realities, but the continual references to nature shows his struggles with the changes.. As he watches these new thrashers, likely large transport trucks and the uneasy feeling you would get hiking or driving down a highway with their speed, noise, and appearance to disrupt your thoughts. I trust my thoughts on this one because he does indeed say he hit the road before it's light.

After some of the negative aspects of his experiences with friendship and political struggles, he comes to the conclusion that he is " better off down the road without that load " and he even states " he's got his own row left to hoe. " This demonstrates after his enlightenment that he has come to grips with many of the sad realities, or tragedies, from his perspective. His last reference to thrashers does leave things open for debate. Him being " stuck in the sun, like the dinosaurs in shrines " is a clear reference to inevitable death, and stuck is a feeling of entrapment to the perspective of future light he may never see. This clearly is the reaper perspective. However, he does return to belief in nature with the dinosaur reference after having stated that the pearly gates were chopped. Were they destroyed is a valid question that deserves attention. He is comparing himself to the dinosaurs, so has returned to his youthful beliefs in things like the existence of pre-historic reptile life. He is still open to finding out the answers that extend beyond the security of motels with heated pools and bars. Through learned experience and an overload of times where he questioned his faith, he returns to it to move on. Much of the song is just poetic filler and beautiful lines about society, so I chose to focus my interpretation on the thrashers, real and imaginary.

Ok, this song brings TEARS TO MY EYES every time I hear it. Which can be quite inconvenient in the middle of a workday. But seriously, this song brings back this whole part of me. The part of me that went to rainbow gatherings and saw hippie dreams die. It reminds me of that one scene from Easy Rider where they visit the failing commune.

Although he has gone on record as saying that this song was about his departure from CSNY, I can't help but think that its about something larger and more metaphorical.

It is all about Csny and the hippies, and an whole generation! His songs is always like that, they cover alot of ground. Like Powderfinger, Its about a whole genaration. He is simply the best.

So much... I get things out of Neil Young songs that i doubt he meant to put there, but isn't that what makes great artists great?? My favorite line... "Me I'm not stopping there [hotel of lost companions] got my own row left to hoe... Just another line in the field of time.." ...awesome!

Neil leaving CSN and the hippie generation as it descended into hopeless depravity, because the ideals had been shattered and there were still plenty of drugs left. While the hippies lost sight of the goal and turned toward their addictions to get them through, Neil searched for the deeper truths by seeking a simpler, more honest life.

"I searched out my companions, they were lost in crystal canyons," sounds like a reference to CSN's cocaine habits. The line "They were lost in rock formations," furthers the sentiment.

Throughout the song, there are endless references to an earlier return to nature and a more simple life. This song was written long before Rust Never Sleeps, so perhaps he was foreshadowing his future return into the past (ie. Comes A Time as a reprise to Harvest).

The line, "When the thrashers come and I'm stuck in the sun like dinosaurs in shrines/Then I'll know the time has come to give what's mine," is loaded with meaning. It sounds like Neil stating he'd rather live an honest, simpler life rather than deal with the huge rock star excess he experienced during the early-mid 70s. He would rather choose a life outside the limelight and articulate his own personal vision (no matter how unpopular), rather than be written down in history books as a faded rock god whose only work will be remembered as an artifact from the 60s/70s ("dinosaurs in shrines"... a huge theme regarding Rust Never Sleeps). And he succeeded in doing his own thing rather than pleasing the critics (see his discography throughout the 80s). Ironically, by rebelling against the norm and never selling out, he became a rock god.

Sorry this is long, but this is one of the most loaded songs ever written.

What a fantastic song! You can listen to it and discover new meanings, images and feelings as your life goes by and you grow up with it. Neil's songs often have more than one layer of meaning, so I think it can be both about his breaking up with CSN and about one's personal growth achieved by leaving your yesterday's world in search of your place in the world and your meaning to life. Can't say with worlds how much this song touches me and how much it means to me.

"It was then that I knew I've had enough Burned my credit cards for fuel Headed out to where the pavements turn to sand With a one way ticket to the land of truth and my suitcase in my hand How I lost my friends I still don't understand" And the "timeless gorge of changes thing"...how great is that?