There are several videos of Neil Young performing, "Old Man," on YouTube. But this one is especially poignant, taken from his performance at the Grand Ole Opry in 2006. At the time, he was 61 years old. That makes him now 68 and makes this song 7 years more poignant. Many of us remember Neil at 24 and aged right along with him. I always think he is singing this song for me.
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I interviewed Neil Young and he said in his band someone said to him: ‘The band’s really great, but honestly you shouldn’t be the singer.’ If Neil Young had listened to that person then we wouldn’t have had any Neil Young.” Dave Grohl
I'll be 70 on my next birthday. This song is a grabber.
The song I most associate with Neil Young is Teach Your Children Well...even though he was just a member of the group. I was a cop when I first heard it, with a front row seat to a generation gap that was more like a black hole. Out of all the turbulence and searching of that era, this song was like a literal bridge over troubled water. It deserves a special place in our minds and hearts.
The music culture of that era was like a powerful search engine, mining the times for meaning and struggling to put it into words. Some of it was just noise. Some of it beautiful poetry. Always searching for that elusive "something more." Neil Young's entire career has been that kind of search. I always appreciated his honesty even when I found myself in conflict with his politics and conclusions.
Teach Your Children Well endures the test of time. It still grabs me. It is a special kind of love song.
Roger,
I pay Arizona extra for a license plate, "Honoring Our Fallen Heroes." The extra fee goes into a trust to benefit the families of officers who are killed in the line of duty. I can't help but think of them every time I walk up to my car from behind.
A
PS: Only one speeding ticket since I have had the plate.
Thanks, A. I lost a best friend in a line of duty death when he was 38...same age as me. He left a wife and four kids. Trust money from "others" put all his kids through college. After she had raised them, she remarried. All are doing well and I stay in touch.
None of us are strangers in time of need. We are all "others."
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