Neil Young: 'Living With War'

When I wrote the other day about the current cultural climate seeming just right for a topical album from Bruce Springsteen, I clearly should have been writing about Neil Young.

Young wrote and recorded "Living With War" in just two weeks earlier this year, and it's a scathing, poignant and overwhelmingly passionate anti-war statement. These 10 songs (streaming here and available through digital retailers Tuesday) rock harder than anything he's done in ages — it's loud, lean and visceral rock 'n' roll, with growly guitars all tangled up in Young's twangy, nasal vocals.

His pointed lyrics land with the force of kidney punches, but he avoids the strident monotony of 2003's "Greendale" concept album, even when he rips Bush for "hijacking our religion and using it to get elected" on "Let's Impeach the President." He sounds angry at times, but mostly he sounds sad. "I live with war every day," Young sings mournfully on the title track.

Whether you support the war in Iraq or not, there's been a sense over the past few years that questioning what we're doing there, and especially how we got there, is unpatriotic. That's a load of tepid dog vomit, of course, and "Living With War" shows why: Young, a Canadian by birth, shows here it's possible to love the notion of America and the things this nation stands for without buying into the propaganda put forth by its leaders. Sure, he advocates impeaching Bush, but he sounds almost awed on "Flags of Freedom" when he sings about families crying at the sight of their brave children in uniform on their way to battle. As he watches the "flags of freedom flyin'," though, he can't help but wonder about the people for whom we are ostensibly building democracy, asking: "Do you think that you believe in yours more than they do theirs somehow?"

That's not seditious. On the contrary, it's thoughtful and realistic — two traits our leaders haven't always shown during the Iraqi expedition. Young's album won't be easy for everyone to hear, but it's a vital addition to what should be an ongoing discussion about what we're doing where, and why.

Comments

[Bruce]

All I have to say is this:

Neil Young (Have you Forgotten)
words and music by Dr. BLT (c)2006
http://www.drblt.com/music/
neilyoung.mp3

Perhaps this will jog your memory:

United 93
words and music by Dr. BLT (c)2006
http://www.drblt.com/music/united
ninetythree.mp3

or this:
Let's Roll (written, recorded and air prior to Neil Young's Let's Roll)
words and music by Dr. BLT (c)2006
http://www.drblt.com/music/LetsRoll.mp3

and for those of you who think I lack sympathy for old Neil, I wrote this for him after his father passed away:

Fathers Day Song of Sympathy for Neil Young
words and music by Dr. BLT (c)2006
http://www.drblt.com/music/Fathers
DayYoung.mp3

No hard feelings, Neil, as Dave Mason once said in a song: "There ain't no good guy, there ain't no bad guy. It's only you and me and we just disagree."
http://www.drblt.com