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Few artists have paved as independent and resolute a path as Neil Young. For fifty years he has consistently released music, much of which is among the most revered and cherished of the folk and rock music canons, not to mention of the Canadian music fraternity. My relationship with him is probably like most others. I loved the early stuff, have had an endearing, enduring respect for his tenacity, talent, and individuality, yet have struggled to stick with him through all his turns. I have only loosely kept up with his relentless output – not because there has been anything wrong with his later work, it has just been hard to keep up with how much there has been, especially amongst the broader volume of new music today to absorb.

Therefore, given we can refer to his career in decades without covering all of it, and given his pre-eminent stature in music, let’s take the ‘deep dive’ approach for this playlist. We will ignore the hits and the songs we have heard many times and instead explore Young’s career via the album cuts and deeper tracks. These lesser known gems still reveal his talent as well as the depth and quality of his work.

Neil Young is an enigmatic artist whose legendary stature may not seem logical to today’s music fans. Listening to his nasal-tinged, sometimes frail and cracking voice, the rambling, feedback laden guitar work or simple, delicate acoustic songs, it’s not immediately clear why this artist became an immense presence in the folk and rock music worlds. Certainly, if you can’t get past his voice or his meandering, fuzz-laden guitar work, then you’ll probably never care for his music.

If his music doesn’t get you, it’s not likely his appearance would either. His looks and clothing were never going to set fashion trends unless plaid shirts, ripped jeans, and unkempt hair are ‘a thing’ for you (and I’m not talking about the ‘60s, he looks that way today). In this regard he is quintessentially Canadian – certainly for those of his vintage as opposed to the recent run of Canadian music stars. He has been humble yet firm in his convictions, focused on art over the artifice, and both individualistic while aligning with the greater needs of people and the environment, lending his voice when and as needed for just causes.

But once past all those details, once you just listen to his songs and let the melodies, lyrics, and earnestness of his performances seep into you, the infectiousness of his songs takes over. Suddenly that unvarnished voice is beloved when you can sing along and feel like you’re as good as him. And if you can play guitar, Neil himself acknowledges that his songs are usually the first that novice players choose to learn. It is easy to get close to Young’s music, to make a personal connection to him and his music. It often just brings a smile to your face like hearing from an old, beloved friend.

The Playlist - song \ album \ performer(s) (year)

Out of My Mind \ Buffalo Springfield \ Buffalo Springfield (1966)
On the Way Home \ Last Time Around \ Buffalo Springfield (1968)
I’ve Been Waiting for You \ Neil Young \ Neil Young (1969)
The Losing End (When You’re On) \ Everybody Knows this is Nowhere \ Neil Young & Crazy Horse (1969)
Country Girl (Whiskey Boot Hill, Down Down Down, Country Girl (I Think You're Pretty)) \ Déjà Vu \ Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (1970)
Don’t Let It Bring You Down \ After the Gold Rush \ Neil Young & Crazy Horse (1970)
Alabama \ Harvest \ Neil Young & The Stray Gators (1972)
See the Sky About to Rain \ On the Beach \ Neil Young (1974)
Don’t Cry No Tears \ Zuma \ Neil Young & Crazy Horse (1975)
Fontainebleau \ Long May You Run \ Stills-Young Band (1976)
Goin’ Back \ Comes A Time \ Neil Young (1978)
Powderfinger \ Rust Never Sleeps \ Neil Young & Crazy Horse (1979)
Shots \ Re-ac-tor \ Neil Young & Crazy Horse (1981)
Hold on to Your Love \ Trans \ Neil Young (1982)
Hippie Dream \ Landing on Water \ Neil Young (1986)
Sunny Inside \ This Note’s for You \ Neil Young & The Bluenotes (1988)
Eldorado \ Freedom \ Neil Young (1989)
White Line \ Ragged Glory \ Neil Young & Crazy Horse (1990)
You and Me \ Harvest Moon \ Neil Young & The Stray Gators (1992)
Throw Your Hatred Down \ Mirror Ball \ Neil Young & Pearl Jam (1995)

Born in Toronto in 1945, Neil was conceived in a house on Soudan Ave when his parents crashed at a friend’s during a snowstorm. I know this tidbit of info from the book, Neil and Me, the wonderful biography Scott Young wrote about his son. It has also stuck with me because I grew up two blocks from Soudan and am tickled to know this auspicious event happened so close to where I grew up. Scott was a journalist, sportswriter, and novelist. His novel, A Boy at the Leafs’ Camp, a fictional story about young Bill Spunska’s attempt to earn a spot on the Maple Leafs, was a beloved book of my adolescence.

The Young family moved to a farm near Omemee, Ontario (just west of Peterborough) and lived near famed Canadian historian Pierre Berton. Neil spent his childhood there and it undoubtedly sowed the seeds for his love of folk and country music, not to mention his down-to-earth demeanour. During this time Neil fought off Polio during what was the last outbreak in Canada before the vaccine was found, which was developed with significant contributions from Canadians. The family then spent a year in Winnipeg before returning to Toronto. In 1960, Neil’s parents divorced and he went back to Winnipeg with his mother, Edna. It was in the windswept prairies he first started playing music and joined his first band, The Squires, which played in bars around Winnipeg and Thunder Bay. He then started playing solo folk music around the Prairies and decided to drop out of school to focus on a music career.

Neil’s reputation began to grow, and his writing grew stronger as songs that would soon become famous were developed. He had his first taste of success when fellow Winnipeggers The Guess Who charted with one of his songs, “Flying on the Ground is Wrong.” After a solo tour across Canada he settled in Toronto and joined up in an unlikely pairing with Rick James and his band, The Mynah Birds. James of course would be best known many years later for the disco hit Super Freak, but in 1966 he was a Buffalo-born draft dodger playing rock and R&B in Toronto clubs. Young’s stint with the band was short, and then he settled into the more comfortable climes of the Yorkville hippie-folk scene, where he and others such as Joni Mitchell were establishing the heyday of Canadian folk-rock. Similar to the experience of Expo ’67 the next year, Canada was finding its modern musical voice and moving away from the likes of Guy Lombardo and Paul Anka. Yet, as has often been the case, Canadian artists needed to seek opportunity in the US in order to take their careers beyond the clubs.

Buffalo Springfield

When Young was playing out of Winnipeg, he befriended American singer Stephen Stills who was touring with his folk-rock group, The Company. Young decided to make a move to Los Angeles, driving there in a beaten-up old hearse with the Mynah Birds’ bassist, Bruce Palmer (the band had disbanded when Rick James was tracked down by the US authorities). In LA, Neil reconnected with Stills who had come to LA based on a promise of a recording contract if he could assemble a band. Stills already had Richie Furay with him from a prior band, and with the addition of journeyman drummer Dewey Martin, The Buffalo Springfield was born (named after a brand of Steamroller). As a sign of the times, Young didn’t have a Green Card and wouldn’t until 1970, essentially working as an illegal alien during those years.

The Buffalo Springfield would be relatively short-lived but achieved an impressive stature of output. The ‘60s was rife with bands like this composed of fantastic musicians and multiple song writers. The first album, self-titled and released in December 1966, was a mix of songs penned by Young and Stills, with vocals contributed on many by Furay. To Neil’s chagrin, the band limited his vocal contributions on the LP, feeling his voice was a tough sell to audiences. The album included his song done by The Guess Who, “Flying on the Ground is Wrong,” and the first song of distinction from Young, “Burned.” “Out of My Mind” was another song penned and sung by Neil, catching the psychedelic-folk-rock feel of the band’s sound.

In response to a local riot that broke out after a protest, Stills wrote, “For What It’s Worth,” which was recorded the day their album was released and quickly issued as a single. The album was re-released early in the new year with the song added. It was a success and became one of best-known protest songs of the era, putting Buffalo Springfield in the pantheon of ‘60s legends. It’s ironic that the song wasn’t written as a war protest song despite it becoming known as such. It was penned out of concern for the culture clashes happening on the streets in America. It gave the band their first and only top ten hit in the US.

The second album, with the plain title Buffalo Springfield Again, issued several more notable songs with “Mr. Soul,” “Broken Arrow,” and “Expecting to Fly” (written back in his Winnipeg days) coming from Neil. These tracks, and especially “Expecting to Fly,” emerged as standout tracks for the time, with “Broken Arrow” playing out like a disjointed, carnival opera. On this LP, Neil insisted on singing his songs. The album was another classic of the era and further established the band as a force in the rich music scene of that era. However, there were difficulties as Neil showed his independent streak by choosing to spend less and less time with the band. Not for the first time, Young and Stills would clash over their music, with Neil wanting more rock with his folk. The band was also struggling with line-up changes due to drug arrests and the deportation of Bruce Palmer.

From the recordings for the second album the band cobbled together a final album, Last Time Around, which was only issued due to contractual obligations. Not surprising, it was a less complete product, though nonetheless held many gems from both Young and Stills. “I Am a Child” had long been part of Young’s folk repertoire and became another of his renowned songs. “On the Way Home” was the LP’s first track, one of only three written by Neil, and was jointly sung with Richie Furay. It offered more melodious, soulful take on the band’s sound.

Despite the pedigree of the musicians, at the time they weren’t yet known, and while Buffalo Springfield has become one of the many esteemed acts of the time, commercially they didn’t get to the lofty heights one might have expected. None of the three LPs cracked the top forty in the US but charted solidly within the top 100. Frustration over the band’s undeserved, limited success led to its demise.

Flying Solo

Having established a reputation with his contributions to Buffalo Springfield and enmeshed in the hippie-folk culture of Laurel Canyon in the L.A. hills (though he had moved to nearby Topanga Canyon, keeping to himself as usual), Young quickly joined compatriot Joni Mitchell’s label (they also shared a manager), Reprise Records, and early in the next year released his first solo, self-titled album. It was a very good album, showing his years of experience in Winnipeg and Toronto and with Buffalo Springfield had prepared him for a confident solo effort. The album featured many contributions to the list of classics Young has written, such as “The Loner,” “The Old Laughing Lady,” and “The Emperor of Wyoming.” “I’ve Been Waiting for You” has been covered by the likes of The Pixies and David Bowie, no less, showing even his album cuts gained respect. The album didn’t chart and neither did “The Loner” as a single. The single’s B-side did introduce another gem, “Sugar Mountain.”

Young’s ability for copious and prolific productivity were immediately evident in his next solo album, released the same year as his debut. Largely overlooked due to the two following albums, this was an amazing album and established him moreso as a notable songwriter of his time. The album was the first US top forty in his career and featured two epic tunes, “Down by the River” and “Cowgirl in the Sand.” They were joined by the melodic, wonderful title-track and the fuzzier, brilliant, “Cinnamon Girl.” Years later when Young would be celebrated as a godfather of grunge, it would be songs like “Cinnamon Girl” that would be held up as evidence. “The Losing End (When You’re On)” was typical of the album’s melodic blend of folk, country, and rock.

Neither of the first two singles, the title track and then “Down by the River,” charted, revealing that Neil was a tough sell for radio and as a singles artist, despite the quality of his albums. His penchant for longer, journey-like tracks was already being established with the songs on this LP. He then issued a new song as a single, “Oh Lonesome Me,” which would appear on his next LP. In the spring of 1970, “Cinnamon Girl” was issued as a single backed by “Sugar Mountain,” and its shorter duration and immediate hooks gave Neil his first singles chart success, reaching #55 in the US and, as Canadians starting embracing him as one of their own, a #25 spot in his native land.

This album was also significant since Young called upon a band that he’d worked with during his final days with Buffalo Springfield, The Rockets. They agreed to back him on this album and tour and, due to the rigorous schedule Young maintained, the band found themselves essentially taken over and re-purposed as his backing band. With Danny Whitten on guitar and vocals, Billy Talbot on bass, and Ralph Molina on drums, the band was re-branded as Crazy Horse and became Neil’s band off and on for the rest of his career.

Superstardom: CSNY

After the dissolution of Buffalo Springfield, Stephen Stills had joined with David Crosby, ex-member of The Byrds, who had also sat in with Buffalo Springfield during their many line-up changes in their final year. They were soon joined by Brit, Graham Nash, who had just split with British Invasion hitmakers, The Hollies. Together they formed Crosby, Stills and Nash and were dubbed a ‘supergroup.’ They released a debut album in 1969 that was a hit, led by songs like “Marrakesh Express,” “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” and “Wooden Ships.”

Due to a vacancy in their backing band the trio was looking for a replacement keyboard player, and Neil was suggested since he was a capable piano player. Stephen was hesitant due to the recent acrimony over the breakup of Buffalo Springfield and Graham was also uncertain simply because he didn’t know Neil. Crosby was dating Joni Mitchell and knew Neil through that connection, plus as fellow regulars of Laurel Canyon. One day Neil drove by and saw David outside Joni’s house. He stopped and sat with Crosby, singling newly written songs like “Country Girl” and “Helpless.” With songs like that to offer, it was clear to David that Neil should join their trio.

The idea behind CSN was as a platform for the singers to explore their careers and be able to go off and do different things, relying on the income and stature of their work as a trio. When Young joined this same dynamic applied. The new quartert quickly embarked on a lengthy tour, the second show of which was the Woodstock Festival, making for an exceptionally large coming out party. They also played the Altamont Festival that tour, placing them at two notably historical music events.

The addition of Young made them an even bigger supergroup, and the result was instant and magical. Keeping primarily to the CSN format as a folk-rock act, the highly anticipated album from CSNY, Déjà Vu, went to the top of the charts and became an instant classic. Stephen Stills covered Joni Mitchell’s song, “Woodstock,” Nash contributed, “Teach Your Children” and “Our House” (written about Joni’s house where they first came together), and Young provided the song, “Helpless,” all of which today are staples of the classic rock and folk canon. The album was impeccable and should be in the possession of any serious record collector (the concept of which is, I lamentably acknowledge, a dying concept). “Country Girl” was one of three tracks on the LP written by Neil, and as its parenthetical references indicate, was a song in three parts. It combined three separate songs he had discarded from previous solo and Buffalo Springfield albums.

If there is any song to be given special mention, it is “Helpless.” There are few songs as definitively Canadian as this. The opening line, “There is a town in North Ontario,” is generally assumed to be Omemee, though it is decidedly not in the north of the province. Young acknowledged Omemee was an inspiration for the lyric since he grew up there, but that the line was more generally meant to invoke the memory of any Ontario small town. However, when you take the lines, “And in my mind I still need a place to go / All my changes were there,” it’s hard not to think of the place where Young spent his childhood. Regardless, it’s a song that fits perfectly at any cottage, sitting on a dock or drifting in a canoe staring at the vast Canadian sky.

On May 4, 1970, there was a shocking incident in which the Ohio National Guard opened fire on students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University, killing four students. Neil wrote the song, “Ohio,” in response and CSNY quickly recorded it and issued it as a single, even though it diverted attention from Déjà Vu and the current single, “Teach Your Children.” “Ohio” would become another leading anthem of the anti-Vietnam War protest. Neil would later lament making money on the death of the students, though stood behind the song as a way to bring attention to the event’s travesty. It was also one of his tightest, most compelling songs written to date, and it was fortunate it had all the talent of CSNY to deliver it. More rock ‘n’ roll than the typical CSNY sound, the guitar work was fantastic (as with any CSNY song) and rode the balance between a grander, emotive sound and the tight, rock-driven melody that together carried the immensity of anger and anguish in the lyrics (David Crosby was said to have begun crying at the end of one of the recordings as he sings the Why? fade out lyric – the band recorded their music in full live takes in those days).

Déjà Vu achieved two US top twenty singles with “Woodstock” and “Teach Your Children,” “Ohio” did the same, and “Our House” cracked the top forty. The album was the first in Neil’s career to reach #1 and further burnished his credentials.

A Career in Two Albums

According to plan, Neil parted with CSNY to return his focus on solo work. Though not credited as a work with Crazy Horse, the band appeared on most of the next album’s songs along with additional musicians, most notably a very young guitarist, Nils Lofgren. After the Gold Rush may be my favourite album of Neil’s, which isn’t saying much since that’s likely the case for many of his fans. The album was Neil’s breakthrough as a solo artist, reaching the top ten in the US. “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” reached the US top forty while, and over time most of the songs on the LP have become fan favourites and well known.

“Don’t Let It Bring You Down” was the second song on the album’s second side and was one of the many tracks that captured Young’s sublime melodies and perfectly crafted, simply built, songs. The title track and “Southern Man” would become highlights of Young’s shows and prominent contributions to his legacy. In particular, “Southern Man,” with its condemnation of the American South’s racist history, prompted a response from the band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, in its 1974 ode to the South, “Sweet Home Alabama.” Later, Young acknowledge the strength of the Skynyrd song and that his lyrics in “Southern Man” could have been chosen better.

In 1971, CSNY released 4 Way Street, a live album assembled from their recent tour. It was a mix of CSN and CSNY songs, solo songs from each member, and four previously unreleased tracks, two each from Nash and Crosby. It was yet another success for the band, going to number one and ranking as one of the top live albums in rock music.

As Young toured for After the Gold Rush he lost Crazy Horse due to them signing their own record deal. They would go on to release eight albums of their own with Talbot and Molina as the only mainstays while other artists would come and go, including Lofgren. Also, Danny Whitten was ill due to heroin usage, eventually dying later that year. The song from the new LP, “Needle and the Damage Done,” was a lament for the damage inflicted by heroin on the music industry. Against the plaintive lyrics was one of the prettiest acoustic songs ever written, I just love the guitar work. The recording on the album was from a solo performance at UCLA in early 1971.

Convinced by producer Elliot Mazer to record in Nashville, he and Young developed a more country sound for the next LP, recorded with a group of supporting musicians that Neil would dub, The Stray Gators. The broader songs like, “A Man Needs A Maid,” were recorded with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and produced by Jack Nitzsche, who had worked with Phil Spector in the days of his ‘wall of sound’ style. The resulting album was Harvest, which gave Young both his first #1 album and song and was the top selling LP in the US for that year. He was no longer just critically acclaimed, now he was an A-list star, having issued two consecutive iconic albums and riding the immense success of CSNY.

“Heart of Gold” was the #1 hit from the LP and became the biggest song of Young’s career. Again, a simple structure and impeccable melody drew the listener to Neil’s plaintive lyrics and one of his best vocal performances. In addition that huge success, “Old Man” also became a top track of his repertoire and was a top ten hit. It was written about an aging groundskeeper that worked on his ranch in California and not about his father, to the venerable writer’s disappointment. “A Man Needs a Maid” was one of Neil’s grandest compositions, including backing strings from the London Symphony Orchestra. “Alabama” was another solid, quintessentially mid-tempo rocking Neil Young song, and returned to the topic of the South’s fraught history.

Harvest also featured guest contributors such as CSN, James Taylor, and Linda Ronstadt. The album is found near or at the top of most lists of great Canadian albums and more generally of best albums of all-time. It is also worth noting that while Young is naturally noted as a Canadian artist, once he moved to LA in 1966 he never came back. However, he has never lost his quintessential ‘Canadianness,’ never stopped coming back to Canada or singing about it, nor fighting for causes and expressing his opinions about goings on in his native country. After Harvest he was a favourite of many, regardless his origins or residence, and this success caused a crisis for Young that shaped the future direction of his career.

Into the Ditch

Neil Young has always been a wry, sarcastic, sardonic, and understated individual. As a songwriter and singer, he has been more assertive, expressive, and focused on telling stories of value. After Harvest, he was dismayed by its success, struggling to reconcile his person, his work, and the image of him as a rock star. He realized he had gone “middle of the road” and was dissatisfied with having arrived there. The progression of his work was evident across his four solo albums, with Harvest being considerably more polished, consistent in tone and style, and mostly acoustic, without the rawer edges of his electric guitar. Indeed, it was suited to a mass audience with little to offend or scare away milquetoast listeners.

One of his first efforts post-Harvest though was a single with Graham Nash and backed by Stray Gators, “War Song,” that was issued in support of the 1972 Democratic candidate for president, George McGovern. Young was keen to see the end of Richard Nixon and made his political views known, not for first time nor the last.

Otherwise, he headed back to the studio with a mind to regain his experimental and individualistic mojo – or as he stated on the liner notes for his 1977 compilation album, Decade, to drive his career from the middle of the road “into the ditch” which would be “a rougher ride but I saw more interesting people there.” Before that, however, he recorded his first live album of original material with his touring band, which included David Crosby and Graham Nash. The album, Time Fades Away, was all original material but recorded live during the tour shows. It was released in 1973. The album held no songs of distinction from his catalogue and didn’t equal the success of his prior albums.

In the studio, Neil started recording darker, less melodic songs that were reflective of his state of mind about his career as well as the grief over the recent loss of Danny Whitten and a tour roadie who also died from heroin use. He used a band he dubbed The Santa Monica Flyers that included Crazy Horse members, including Nils Lofgren. The resulting album would be Tonight’s the Night, and his label was understandably surprised and reticent about following up the let down of Time Fades Away with this music. It was instead more interested in putting out something akin to Harvest. Tonight’s the Night was shelved.

Young returned to the studio and produced another album, On the Beach, released in July 1974 that was more consistent with his albums prior to Harvest, mixing melodies with his folk-rock sounds such as on the single, “Walk On,” and “See the Sky About to Rain,” though there were still some elements of what he’d done for Tonight’s the Night, such as “For the Turnstiles.” Like Time Fades Away it got onto the charts but nowhere near the top.

Teaming with Elliot Mazer again, Neil recorded another acoustic album, Homegrown. While I’m sure the label hoped for a return to the form of his breakthrough album, the result was another dark turn reflecting on the recent break-up of his relationship with actress Carrie Snodgress. Both the label and Young were concerned with the content and tone of the album (but for different reasons, one commercial and the other personal) and chose not to release it. Young then used that leverage to get the label to agree in releasing the album that was also ready to go, Tonight’s the Night.

Issued the summer of ’75, the album was critically acclaimed but not surprisingly didn’t catch on with audiences. The songs were challenging to the ear and were far from the average fan’s pop sensibilities. Especially coming from an artist with Young’s broad fanbase, there was limited patience for such music. The title track, offered in two versions to start and end the LP, and “Tired Eyes” were quality songs though still hard with which to get cozy.

After the rising trends of his first four albums, Neil had released three consecutive albums that had underwhelmed both his label and fans. His stature meant he sold okay, still getting onto the charts, but there were no top ten rankings. He had succeeded in, if not entirely driving his career into the ditching, at least careened it onto the shoulder.

Cementing his status

Ironically, while Young was writing the darkest and most non-commercial music of his career, he also returned to CSNY to participate in a stadium tour. Shows of this size were relatively new. Led Zeppelin and others were paving the way to what would become normal in just a short time. In 1974, CSNY was one of the first rock bands to embark on such a tour. So for Young, while trying to grapple with the circumstance of having become one of the world’s leading rock stars and trying to manage his career away from that, incongruously performed in one of the biggest rock tours ever held.

In November 1975, just five months after Tonight’s the Night, Neil released his next LP, Zuma. It was his eighth as a solo artist (including the live album) in just six years. He was back with Crazy Horse, now with Frank Sampedro on guitar, replacing Whitten, and with Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina still together as the rhythm section. The song of note on the album was “Cortez the Killer,” another fantastic, long, journey-like guitar ballad that harkened back to songs like “Down by the River” and “Cowgirl in the Sand.” The subject matter was about the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs, told from the perspective of the conquered. Historical views into past injustices would become a theme over the next period of his work. The album wasn’t as dark and inaccessible as his prior two, but the lyrics still weren’t light. “Don’t Cry No Tears” led off the album and indicated a return to a more accessible, straightforward rock sound with Young’s signature guitar sounds and melodic turns.

After the CSNY stadium tour the band was unable to complete a new album, and Nash and Crosby broke off as a duo while Stills and Young did their solo work. In 1976, Stephen and Neil decided to work together and put out an album under the name Stills-Young Band. Briefly it looked like it was going to be another CSNY album when Nash and Crosby looked ready to join up, but the reunion fell through. The Stills-Young album, Long May You Run, added the title track to Young’s impressive repertoire. The song has become a go-to for Neil when called upon for send-offs, having played it at both Conan O’Brien’s last hosting of The Tonight Show and then again at the Closing Ceremonies of the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010. The song was actually about a car that Neil drove in the ‘60s. It charted but didn’t reach the top forty. The album alternated between songs written by Stills and Young. “Fontainebleau” was a great song by Neil that featured a typically meandering guitar solo along with the great harmonies of the duo.

Whether it was the reunion with Stills or simply having had a few years away from the spotlight, there was no question Neil’s music was returning to more fan-friendly fare, though not quite as friendly as, “Heart of Gold.” The next album, 1977’s American Stars ‘n’ Bars, saw Neil rocking more than he had in quite some time. He reached for his electric guitar for tracks like, “Bite the Bullet.” It also had plenty of his country sound such as on the album’s first single, “Hey Babe,” and there were still lovely, quiet moments such as, “Star of Bethlehem.” Despite the revolutionary dynamics of the music scene with disco and punk driving towards the opposite ends of the spectrum and corporate rock looming huge in between, Neil stayed consistent with his sound, image, and forceful personality, and was able to conquer again.

The album featured one of Young’s greatest songs, “Like A Hurricane.” It became his signature song, which was a tough call for an artist with so many well-known tunes; but the performances of “Hurricane,” always with a big fan blowing his long hair into his face, become a highlight of his shows. Few guitarists get as physically involved with their guitar-playing as Neil, but during his long solos he would get his whole body into it. This song had one of his longest, most distinctive solos – in fact, the track was practically just one long solo. He had a very identifiable playing style with his electric, tending to pick more than strum, and alternating between high notes and low-down, fuzz-laden chords. Like all his music, there could easily be a negative or positive perspective on it based on what you like. One could listen to this song and only hear a long, rambling guitar solo seemingly without purpose, structure, or virtuosity, just a man flailing on the instrument and repeating notes. Or one could hear a passionate player lost in his world of music, at one with his guitar, pulling every note he could out of it and propelling the song to higher and higher heights, making the song a celebration of rock that sounded ‘like a hurricane’ and captured all that was great about rock music. And there was no question the wider response to this song among rock fans, it was a classic. After five years coming to terms with his identity as a musician, he was now embracing it with reckless abandon. “Like A Hurricane” was a coming out party.

Commercially, however, not so much. Young remained a solid album artist, with the LP reaching the top forty same as his prior three, but not reaching the top twenty as the three before. His singles though, remained off the chart. He hadn’t had a top forty hit since “Old Man” five years prior.

In 1977, a triple LP compilation was released, Decade. This was the album I grew up with and it shaped my introduction to his discography. As far as greatest hits albums went, it was a whopper. It served to remind audiences of how great his output had been over the ten years since he’d started out with Buffalo Springfield, having participated in an amazing fourteen albums over that time that included nine studio recordings, a live album, three with Buffalo Springfield, and one with CSNY.

That same year he also recorded an album, Chrome Dreams, but decided not to release it. Many of the songs would subsequently be released over the next few albums in the same or restructured versions.

The next album, Comes A Time, indeed was a return to the sound that had made him most successful, the country-folk of Harvest. Released in the fall of ’78, this album would be heavier on the country vibe and not resonate as strongly with the rock audiences, but regardless was the first of his albums in several years to have many gems sprinkled throughout. There was his perfect rendition of fellow Canadians, Ian and Sylvia Tyson’s song, “Four Strong Winds.” Similar to that were the lovely tunes, “Goin’ Back” and the title track, and then there was, “Lotta Love.” Nicolette Larson was a young singing protégé of Young’s and performed backing vocals on several tracks on both American Stars ’n’ Bars and Comes A Time. She released her own version of “Lotta Love” the same month as Comes A Time and it was a top ten hit in the US. Ironically, she did not sing on Neil’s version, with Crazy Horse providing the harmonies (they only played on two songs on the LP, this one and “Look Out for My Love”). Comes A Time was Young’s first top ten album since Harvest. “Four Strong Winds” was his highest charting single in the US since “Old Man.” It seemed his fans were coming back to him.

Neil also seemed ready to come to his fans, probably satisfied that those still with him were more dedicated than those he’d won over with Harvest. As the decade closed out and the rock music universe was exploding in multiple directions Neil put together one of his greatest albums, Rust Never Sleeps – a stupendous work from start to finish. He returned to working with Crazy Horse, who backed him for the fourth time on an entire LP. The album was his second original live album, same as Time Fades Away, recorded over the course of a 1978 tour and released in 1979. The shows had been an acoustic set followed by an electric set and the album followed the same format, with side one being acoustic and side two electric. There was also a unique stage set-up with two huge speakers flanking the band and the roadies were small, hooded figures that moved surreptitiously around the stage. This had to be an inspiration for Spinal Tap.

The album was bookended by acoustic and electric versions of the same song – the acoustic was, My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue), and the electric was, “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black).” In between was a collection of great songs, whether another historical perspective song in “Pocahontas” or the feedback laden exuberance of “Powderfinger” or “Sedan Delivery.”

There is a reason the profiles at Ceremony focus on certain eras since they not only produced great music but were also turning points in launching new sounds. There was something about the end of decades that seemed to spur these periods, and like the end of the ‘60s the end of the ‘70s did the same. It was no coincidence that Neil Young produced his strongest album in many years in this period. The sublime, acoustic brilliance of side one looked to the past. The tough guitar and shrieking assaults on side two fit with the rise of punk music and spoke to the future. The album’s title and the famous lyrics of “My My, Hey Hey” indicated an artist shaking off the rust of the previous era, reflecting on Elvis Presley who had died the year prior to the tour, and embracing the new creative direction brought about by Johnny Rotten and The Sex Pistols, who had already flared out by early 1978.

The Rust Never Sleep tour, with the small, hooded stage hands — The *Rust Never Sleep* tour, with the small, hooded stage hands

My my, hey hey
Rock and roll is here to stay
It's better to burn out
Than to fade away
My my, hey hey
Out of the blue and into the black
They give you this but you pay for that
And once you're gone, you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black
The king is gone but he's not forgotten
This is the story of Johnny Rotten
It's better to burn out than it is to rust
The king is gone but he's not forgotten

The fuzzy guitar riffs of the electronic version, “Hey Hey, My My,” would again be the inspiration for many a hard or punk rocker and the future tributes to Young by grunge artists, just ten years away from their arrival. Rust Never Sleeps was his second consecutive top ten LP, and like he did after his pair of top tens earlier in the decade, Young used them to launch a new phase of his career as the new decade arrived.

Experimentin’

There was another tour and highly received live album, Live Rust, before Young returned to the studio to provide the music to Bill Murray’s biopic of author and journalist, Hunter S. Thompson. The movie was Where the Buffalo Roam and Young provided a lovely rendition of the titular song.

Young then embarked on the most curious phase of his career. His next five albums were each in a different style, none bearing any resemblance to the other. If it had been hard to follow Neil’s career through the ‘70s it was going to be no easier in the ‘80s. In many respects these albums, regardless their success or given styles, cemented his image as an irascible, independent, free spirit, making his own unique path through the musical landscape. During a period in which music was broadening its sounds, Young likewise broadened his, but of course not necessarily in the styles of the times.

The next LP was Hawks and Doves, a mix of songs he’d recorded over the past decade as well as new songs. “Little Wing” was originally recorded for the abandoned Homegrown album. It was a short, acoustic, country-flavoured LP that lacked drama or memorable songs and deflated the momentum built with the Rust albums.

It was followed by a bizarre rock album with Crazy Horse called Re-ac-tor. There was one standout track, another long-form epic called, “Shots.” The album was mostly rock-based but had stranger, almost goofy tendencies compared to his other music, such as the stuttered lyrics of “Rapid Transit” or singing about steak on “T-Bone.” Young was spending a lot of time doing therapy with his young son, Ben, who suffered from cerebral palsy, and it is suggested the repetitive tendencies of his albums in these periods are a result of the therapies he was doing while at home.

The five albums that were nothing alike: Hawks & Doves, Re-ac-tor, Trans, Everybody’s Rockin’, and Old Ways

Next was Trans, which was really a superb album and Neil’s experimentation with new wave, using a synclavier and a vocoder, devices he’d started using on Re-ac-tor but that now flavoured much of this new album. Originally starting the LP with Crazy Horse as a continuation of Re-ac-tor, he decided to remove their parts and replace them with the electronics. The album was great, though many a fan may not have thought so given its different sound. It was as pop as he’d sounded since the early ‘70s, and included a synth re-working of his Buffalo Springfield song, “Mr. Soul,” a nifty electro-pop song called, “Sample and Hold,” and two songs that offered a modern take on his traditional acoustic-pop music in, “Little Thing Called Love” and “Like an Inca,” the latter of which was yet another of his long-form songs. “Hold on to Your Love” was another example of the LP’s electro-pop vibe.

Trans was also the first album Young recorded for Geffen Records after leaving his long-time label, Reprise Records. David Geffen offered Neil $1 million per album to woo him away. None of Trans’ singles charted but the LP cracked the top twenty in the US. It was also his fifteenth consecutive top forty LP in the US (oddly, only the compilation, Decade, missed, coming in at #43), and it was this track record that Geffen undoubtedly felt was worth the investment.

Of course, Young would illogically follow his synth-new wave album with a ‘60s throwback, rockabilly album, Everybody’s Rockin’. It was only twenty-five minutes of covers and originals recorded with a band put together for the recordings, The Shocking Pinks – and given the rest of the album’s titles, I’m surprised they weren’t called the Shockin’ Pinks. It also saw Young venture into videos as MTV was now making such output a requirement. It was pure Neil, heavy on humour, not taking himself seriously, and managing to capture attention by simply doing his own thing. I remember seeing the video for “Wonderin’” often when watching videos after school.

Everybody’s Rockin’ ended the streak of top forty LPs, peaking at #46. David Geffen, having now spent $2 million to Neil for a couple albums that were decidedly unlike anything he’d done before and now weren’t selling as well, was unhappy. He tried to sue Young for breach of contract, to which Neil replied that he’d been given full creative control over his music, which he had, so Geffen could stuff it. The lawyers probably put it more eloquently. This was pure Neil. The suit was settled out of court and Neil went back into the studio and came out with a pure country album in 1985, Old Ways, which he recorded and toured with a band he called The International Harvesters. My brother saw him on this tour and, not being a country fan, said it was a pretty tough show to sit through. Young continued to keep his fans off-balance.

Due to the legal battles and Geffen’s resistance to letting Neil release his planned albums, 1984 was the first year Young did not release an LP since his first with the Buffalo Springfield in 1966. That was eighteen consecutive years in which he released individually, or with others, twenty original albums, two compilations, three live albums, two soundtracks, and 32 singles – not all of it was great, but much of it was. It was simply an incredible velocity of output when compared to today’s norms, and Neil wasn’t about to slow down.

Revered Elder

1986 saw Neil return mostly to his straight-ahead rock sound with the album, Landing on Water, and thus ended the run of wildly differing album sounds. I am very fond of this album. It was a blend of his ‘70s rock sound with ‘80s touches, using the electronics from Re-ac-tor and Trans. “Touch the Night” was the lead single and was solid, and once again came with an oddity of a video. “Weight of the World,” “Hippie Dream,” and “People on the Street” were are all interesting, modern takes on Young’s traditional rock and acoustic sounds. It has been an overlooked album in his discography.

In 1986, I was sixteen and had just changed schools, leaving an all-boys, Catholic school to attend the local public high school. It was quite the change in environment as I swapped a uniform to wear whatever I wanted. To then, I had been a new wave loving, prep. At the new school I quickly found no one was listening to modern music due to a revival in the ‘60s and psychedelic music. I fell in with a crowd that dressed like hippies (though nothing like the originals), listened to classic rock, and smoked a lot of pot. It was fine by me since the new wave era was dying and nothing good was replacing it. The old music was great and, although I’d fought my brother, ten years my elder, trying to get me to listen to it my whole life, I finally came around and was appreciating all it had to offer.

Yes, despite my brother’s efforts and Neil’s popularity I had not paid a lot of attention to Young and his brethren. I thought Neil was a folkie and to a young teen into The Psychedelic Furs and New Order, he didn’t hold much allure. My recent awareness was the goofy video for, “Wanderin’,” and that didn’t win me over. But now smitten with his early era, Young quickly became a favourite as I embraced his back catalogue, picking up the Decade album and listening to it endlessly. I also picked up Rust Never Sleeps and Trans and taped Re-ac-tor off my brother’s copy. Landing on Water was the first new release since my increased interest, and I was all over it upon release.

In October of 1986 I saw Neil Young and Crazy Horse at Maple Leaf Gardens with my brother and his friends. It is the only time I’ve seen him. As a relatively new concert goer, it was also the first time I attended a show with my brother and, though I wouldn’t dare show it, I thought it was cool to go to a show with him. We both wore our black and red plaid shirts – what we called our ‘Neil’ shirts. Young delivered in every way I hoped, playing the classics and featuring an acoustic and piano set in the middle. I still remember the show quite well. It was an odd time for me and shows, as the two I saw on either side of this one were New Order’s ‘85 and ‘86 shows, followed by a Jethro Tull show at the Gardens in February of ‘87. It was a transitional period for me in many respects, as it often is at sixteen.

Although Landing on Water wasn’t recorded with Crazy Horse, he reunited with the band for the following tour and recorded all but two of the songs for his next album, Life, during those shows. It was typical Neil and Crazy Horse, going back to the standard guitar-blues that had driven much of his career. Perhaps foreseeing the upcoming increase in conflict for his adopted home of the US, the lyrics returned to matters of war, lamenting with the plight of soldiers in, “Long Walk Home” and “Mideast Vacation.” Life was also his last album on Geffen, returning to Reprise for the rest of his career.

For his next album, he recorded his first soul and blues album, incorporating horns for the first time (though we can’t forget the lovely French horn in, “After the Gold Rush”). It was surprising given his start with The Mynah Birds in the ‘60s that he wouldn’t have dipped into this style more often during his career. Perhaps it was his time in rural Ontario and Manitoba that kept him more folk and country oriented than pure blues? “Sunny Inside” was a great example of the album’s soul-blues styles. His assembled band for the album and tour was dubbed, The Bluenotes.

The interesting thing about This Note’s for You was that Young, never short of opinions, focused on commercialism and materialism and especially their influence on music and art. Today, in which music is featured in commercials and artists collaborate on projects to cross-promote or even embed product into their art, it’s a bit quaint to recall the anxiety that ‘selling out’ could cause in artists. The award-winning and memorable video for “This Note’s for You” was a parody of commercials on TV at the time, particularly beer and perfume commercials. The title was a parody on the Budweiser beer campaign, ‘This Bud’s for you,’ and the video included likenesses of the dog from those ads, Spuds Mackenzie, and a re-enactment of Michael Jackson catching his hair on fire while filming a Pepsi commercial. It was a bit ironic that on an album in which Neil approached their music more than he had before, he would then make fun of the likes of Jackson, Whitney Houston, Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood. Michael Jackson threatened to sue MTV for playing the video, which worked in getting it off the air until MTV saw how successful the video was on MuchMusic in Canada and decided to play it anyway, eventually giving the video its top award.

This Note’s for You started yet another resurgence for Neil Young, once again at the end of a decade spent in the hinterlands of mainstream music. It brought Young into awareness for another generation of music fans, who were pushing a broader resurgence of rock music and embraced him as a founding elder for their new sounds.

While defending the artistic freedom of musicians from the marauding advertisers, Neil Young also agreed to rejoin CSNY. He had pledged to David Crosby to do so if Crosby got clean, which he did after a stint in jail. The band issued just their second studio album together as a quartet after 1970’s Déjà Vu (the CSN trio had released three others in between). American Dream was instigated in response to the Republican politics of the 1980s and was released just days before George Bush Sr. was elected to succeed Ronald Reagan as President. The title track satirized the many political and sexual scandals of the recent years of politicians and televangelists.

Despite the high anticipation of the reunion, the album and singles didn’t sell well, though the related tour brought out large audiences. The band, even with messages to convey, couldn’t seem to capture the spirit of their original collaboration – a common challenge for artists late in their career. It was also a statement on how musical protest had lost effectiveness and artists were not able to influence social views the way it had in the prior decades.

Godfather of Grunge

After the attention of the video for “This Note’s for You” and the CSNY reunion, a renewed audience was ready for a Neil Young solo album and he delivered, once again marking the end of a decade with a notable, career-defining album. 1989’s Freedom had an energy and passion lacking since the second side of the Rust Never Sleeps album exactly ten years prior. Coincidentally, the album was bookended by acoustic and electric versions of the same song, just as Rust had. That song was “Rockin’ in the Free World,” which continued his criticism of Republican America and its unwillingness to care for the disadvantaged. The song’s anthemic nature and title lent itself to a variety of political uses and was especially timely being released only five days after the fall of Berlin Wall.

It was Young’s best received album in years, charting higher than any album since Trans. “Rockin’ in the Free World” was his best charting song in years too, reaching #2 on the US Rock chart. The album was full of quality tunes that mixed his acoustic and electric sounds. “Don’t Cry” was a crashing ballad, “Hangin’ on A Limb” another of his haunting acoustic songs, and “Eldorado” found the sweet spot in between. There was also a fuzzy, live take of the classic ‘60s song, “On Broadway.”

Working with Crazy Horse once again, Young continued to produce quality rock and folk music with another strong album that exceeded the success of Freedom. It was Ragged Glory and, as the title suggested, more ragged, raw and heavier a rock sound than had been heard from the band since their Rust days. A song like, “White Line,” sounded like it would have fit on that album. Ragged Glory was recorded from live sessions done at Neil’s farm. It was a hit with fans and critics and was, rare for an aging rocker, compared favourably with the career defining work of his early years.

Part of Young’s resurgence was due to the rise in grunge music. The heavy rock sounds coming out of the Northwest of the US harkened back to the rock of the 70s, and many of the grunge artists cited Neil Young as an influence. Neil was deemed the ‘Godfather of Grunge’ for being one of the main progenitors of the fuzz-laden, feedback strewn guitar rock that grunge artists championed – not to mention being someone who had been rocking the plaid shirts long before Kurt Cobain or Eddie Vedder came along. This created a new generation of fans that heralded Neil Young as the respected and venerable artist that he was.

Cementing his status was a tour with Crazy Horse to promote Ragged Glory that resulted in two distinct live albums as only Neil Young could produce. Titled Arc-Weld the two separate albums would be released on the same day in October 1991. Weld was a 2-disc live album of classic songs from throughout his career, while Arc was an experimental album made entirely of feedback and vocal samples. I’m not sure how many people listened to that album, but needless to say it didn’t shoot up the charts, which I’m sure made no difference to Neil. Regardless, Freedom and Ragged Glory had both reached the top forty in the US, starting a new run for Neil that would see nineteen consecutive albums over twenty-seven years cross that threshold.

The early ‘90s was the peak of that run, following the prior two with three more in which one reached the top twenty and two hit the top ten. True to character, Young continued to do things his way. With bands and fans paying tribute to his heavier rock sounds, he next came out with a country-acoustic album that revisited the spirit his landmark LP, Harvest. Featuring artists from that LP such as The Stray Gators, Nicolette Larson, James Taylor, and Linda Ronstadt, Harvest Moon was a great album. It appealed far more to his own generation than youngsters, which was fine since it was his best selling and charting LP since Comes A Time. The attention and sales were deserved, it was his best written and most palatable album for a broad audience in ages, with a strength of songs not seen in some time. “You and Me” was a sample of the LP’s vibe and one of its many quality tracks.

True to form, Neil trucked on, releasing songs and albums at a steady rate. By 1996 he had released an album every year since 1966 save for one year. In 1993 he, like so many other artists of the time, made an appearance on MTV’s Unplugged show, producing a stellar performance and recording that continued his charting success. Much like Eric Clapton, who rejuvenated his career with his Unplugged appearance, Young was perfectly suited for such a show and delivered his beautiful songs in his impeccable acoustic delivery.

In 1994, he first received accolades and an Academy Award nomination for his single, the title track to the movie Philadelphia, and then later for his next album with Crazy Horse, Sleeps with Angels. His ties to the new generation of rockers was also cemented when he toured with Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. Also of note was that legendary soul performers, Booker T. and the MG’s, were also on that tour, who like Pearl Jam would record with Young in the coming years. Many of the shows would conclude with an all-artist jam of “Rockin’ in the Free World.”

The song, “Sleeps with Angels,” was a lament for Kurt Cobain who had committed suicide that year. Cobain had quoted Neil’s lyric “it’s better to burn out than to fade away” in his suicide note. The album was darker than his recent work and was reminiscent of his mid-70s output. As there often would be, there was another long guitar-jam song, “Change Your Mind,” that fit with his many predecessors.

Young and Crazy Horse reunited again for the album Broken Arrow, and again under mournful circumstances after the passing of David Briggs, a long-time friend and producer of eighteen of Neil’s albums. However, between the two Crazy Horse albums Neil first provided an instrumental soundtrack to a Jim Jarmusch movie, Dead Man, and then took on a different backing band unlike any he’d had before, Pearl Jam. He culminated the several years of grunge affiliation with a direct collaboration with one of the genre’s leading acts, recording with them the album, Mirror Ball. As he had with many songs and albums, Young recorded the album live in the studio, working with Pearl Jam and co-writing the song “Peace and Love” with Eddie Vedder. “Throw Your Hatred Down” was a great example of the combination of Pearl Jam’s forceful energy with Young’s distinctive vocals and guitar.

Young and Pearl Jam went on tour together and Eddie Vedder served as the nominator when Young was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. After a decade out of the spotlight in the 1980s, it was a fitting tribute to the return of Neil Young to the upper echelons of the rock world – to have one of the most respected individuals from the one of the most popular and esteemed bands of the 90s pay him tribute.

Since Mirror Ball, Neil Young has released seventeen more albums bringing him to a total of forty over his career, which doesn’t include the three he’s done with CSNY (there was a third issued in 1999), the one with Stills-Young Band, or the eight live albums and four soundtrack LPs he’s released. Neil Young has one of the most prolific recording careers of any artist of almost any genre. There may be others that have equalled or surpassed his output, but very few that have matched the quality. His LPs still routinely chart highly, though in the modern streaming world don’t sell the same, and he continues to garner attention with both his music and his opinions.

In 2005 as he was preparing his twenty-seventh album, Prairie Wind, he suffered a brain aneurysm and was knocked out of commission for several months. Undaunted, he returned to perform at the Live8 concert in Barrie, Ontario in July that year and then released the album, which understandably reflected somewhat on his mortality – there was a song called “When God Made Me.” Perhaps inspired by this experience, Neil set out on a more purposeful and transparent course of social commentary over his ensuing albums.

Musically, his albums of the past twenty-five years have travelled on well-worn roads in the land of Neil Young. Folk, country, rock, and lots and lots of guitar (almost exclusively on 2010’s Le Noise), the music has been invariably well-written but not particularly distinctive for those familiar with this career. He has also continued to occasionally draw on the past by releasing in 2007 a sequel to his 1977 unreleased album, Chrome Dreams, and by returning to psychedelia for the Crazy Horse supported album, 2012’s Psychedelic Pill. He has also issued a series of archival recordings that have culminated in a website, Neil Young Archives. His voice has seemed to move along unchanged with age (though it’s not like he’s ever pushed it), and it is never short of things to say. He remains outspoken, taking on President Bush and the Iraq War, Monsanto, the Oil Sands, and peace advocacy. If one can accuse baby boomers of selling out, this aging hippie definitely hasn’t fit in that cast. To this day Neil remains true to the person he was when he started his career in the 1960s.

In his personal life Young ended his 36-year marriage with his second wife, Pegi, and since settled into a relationship with fellow activist, actress Darryl Hannah. Musically he has also continued to work with the artists that have collaborated and supported him throughout his career. In 2012, he released not one but two albums with Crazy Horse, the first since Greendale almost ten years prior. In recent years, he has been backed by Promise of the Real, the band of Willie Nelson’s son, Lukas (Nelson’s son Micah also participated in The Monsanto Years). He also worked with an orchestra and a big band for two versions of the album, Storytone. In 2006 he toured with CSNY for a ‘Freedom of Speech’ tour and played many of his protest songs from his album that year, Living with War (I love the video on YouTube showing the Republican fans upset at the anti-Bush songs but love CSNY – yet do they forget that CSNY, and Young especially, have always been a protest band against the politics these fans now support?). This tour led to a live album, Déjà vu Live.

Few artists have been as consistent in character and artistic integrity as Neil Young. What makes this all the more remarkable is that it’s a career spanning six decades… and is showing no signs of slowing down. In 2020, he will turn 75 years-old and, if the pandemic will let him, is as likely to tour again as not. Clearly motivated by a desire to blend musical expression with lyrical content that brings meaning and context to the world around him, and to maintain a purity to that expression unadorned by artifice, corporate influence, nor the validation of the music industry, fans, or the media, he is as singular a presence in rock history as there’s ever been.

And of course. Neil Young is Canadian. Although he has lived in California for his entire recording career his songs and character speak to a particularly down-to-earth persona that comes from a Canadian perspective. He is motivated by a desire to help and protect those who cannot do so for themselves, and to oppose the powers that take advantage of the many for the benefit of the few. Canada rightly celebrate him as one of our own and as one of our most iconic and accomplished artists. Like Gordon Lightfoot, Stompin’ Tom, and The Tragically Hip, he has provided some of the best musical expressions of Canada in both place and experience. He is essential cottage listening and nothing works better while floating in a canoe or watching a sunset from a dock while listening to “Helpless” or “Expecting to Fly.”

Of course, Neil captured it best in his 2012 song “Born in Ontario”:

It don't really matter where I am
It's what I do, it's what I can
This old world has been good to me
So I try to give back and I want to be free
I still like to sing a happy song
Once in a while and things go wrong
I pick up a pen, scribble on a page
Try to make sense of my inner rage
I was born in Ontario
Where the black fly bites
And the green grass grows
That's where I learned most of what I know
Cause you don't learn much
When you start to get old
I was born in Ontario