Neil Young’s Living With War

Neil Young has released his latest album online for free.

Yes, Living With War is a protest album and on it Neil is highly critical of President Bush.

Let’s impeach the president for lying
And leading our country into war
Abusing all the power that we gave him
And shipping all our money out the door
He’s the man who hired all the criminals
The White House shadows who hide behind closed doors
And bend the facts to fit with their new stories
Of why we have to send our men to war
Let’s impeach the president for spying
On citizens inside their own homes
Breaking every law in the country
By tapping our computers and telephones
What if Al Qaeda blew up the levees
Would New Orleans have been safer that way
Sheltered by our government’s protection
Or was someone just not home that day?
Let’s impeach the president
For hijacking our religion and using it to get elected
Dividing our country into colors
And still leaving black people neglected
Thank god he’s racking down on steroids
Since he sold his old baseball team
There’s lot of people looking at big trouble
But of course the president is clean
Thank God

The irascible Young obviously has his dander up. The entire album shares his outrage with the war in Iraq and the “supposed” lies of the Bush Administration. Young and I differ on our politics here, that is certain.

But I applaud Neil. One of the things that I have always loved about him is that he is irreverent. He speaks his mind and is entitled to his opinion.

I applaud him for releasing the album online as manufactures scramble to prepare CDs. Young recorded this album over the course of a week recently and is trying to get the music out quickly a la Ohio way back in 1970.

In conjunction, Neil has launched a blog and has a MySpace site. It really is something. Neil is 60 and is as hip as ever. Could you imagine the money machine Rolling Stones doing this? Say what you want about Neil, he defines himself rather than others doing it for him.

I am still not certain, however, if I am going to join him on tour this summer with Crosby Stills and Nash. Sometimes you don’t mess with perfection.

Also blogged on this date . . .

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2 Responses to “Neil Young’s Living With War”

  1. By Bob on May 3, 2006

    Perhaps I will pass on the tour.

    Graham Nash is confident the new tunes will fit right in. “The people that love this band know that peace is better than war, that love is better than hate,” he says. “There will be screens on either side of the stage with the lyrics playing. Neil wants people to be able to see the lyrics, to feel free to join in, so that our voices rise together.”

  2. By Bob on Feb 8, 2008

    I did pass on this tour. Neil recorded it and is showing at film festivals. Interestingly, Neil made this observation about this tour:

    I don’t think the tour had any impact on voters.

    It’s not that Neil has reversed his feelings about Pres. Bush. Hardly. But he seems resigned to the fact that musicians can’t make a difference.

    I like Neil. I like Neil a lot. I prefer that he stuck to entertainment rather than politics. Just last night I listened to his Jones Beach show from ‘89 when Springsteen joined him for a rousing acoustic version of Down By the River.

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