Living with War

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BonosSaint

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(Edited for length)

Critic's Notebook New York Times
Neil Young's 'Living With War' Shows He Doesn't Like It


By JON PARELES
Published: April 28, 2006
Neil Young unleashes a digital broadside today. His new album, "Living With War" (Reprise), was recorded and mostly written three to four weeks ago and as of Friday can be heard in its entirety free on his Web site, www.neilyoung.com, and on satellite radio networks.



Jack Plunkett/Associated Press
Mr. Young half-jokingly describes "Living With War" as his "metal folk protest" album. It's his blunt statement about the Iraq war; "History was a cruel judge of overconfidence/back in the days of shock and awe," he sings, strumming an electric guitar and leading a power trio with a sound that harks back to Young albums like "Rust Never Sleeps" and "Ragged Glory."

In a song whose title alone has already brought him the fury of right-wing blogs, he urges, "Let's Impeach the President." It ends with Mr. Young shouting, "Flip, flop," amid contradictory sound bites of President Bush. But Mr. Young insists the album is nonpartisan.

"If you impeach Bush, you're doing a huge favor for the Republicans," he argued, speaking by telephone from California. "They can run again with some pride."

Mr. Young is a Canadian citizen. But having lived in the United States since the 1960's, he sings as if he were an American. The title song of "Living With War" quotes "The Star-Spangled Banner," and the album ends with the choir singing "America the Beautiful."

"Even if it turns out that we can't sell it with the news in it, we won't sell it, we'll just stream it," he said. "We don't have to sell it. We can still get it out there. This has nothing to do with money as far as I'm concerned."

Mr. Young wants the album heard as a whole. The online streams play through from beginning to end; until the CD is ready, the downloadable copies will be available only as a bundle of the full album. "That first impression is so important," he said. "Instead of just going to 'Let's Impeach the President,' people will have to absorb the whole thing. To understand the songs, you need to understand where the whole album's coming from. It protects my right as an artist to have the work presented the way I created it."

Mr. Young has always been impatient with the time lag between writing a song and getting it to the world. When four student protesters were shot dead at Kent State University in 1970, he wrote "Ohio," recorded it with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and released it two and a half weeks later by sending acetates — preliminary pressings — to radio stations.

"We are the silent majority now, and we haven't done a damn thing," Mr. Young said. "We've stood by and watched this happen. But there's more of us than there is of them, and we have to do something. When people start talking and see they can get away with it, it's going to happen everywhere. It's going to be a landslide, it's going to be a tidal wave. This is just the tip of it."

Mr. Young said that he made "Living With War" not with a plan, but on an impulse. "I don't know what actually did it," he said. "It happened really fast, faster than I think I've ever experienced. There was just a kind of a wave."


I posted parts of the article in FYM because of political content and Fox News' having a bird about a Canadian (albeit one who has lived in US for about 40 years) singing a song about impeachment and I guess criticizing the president in general.
 
I will listen to it on his web site, I really want to hear the impeach song :evil:

Now the media is reporting that protest songs are "back in vogue" and they always mention his new album. Remember when the Dixie Chicks were demonized for what they said just a few years ago? Maybe the times are a changin.

Is the impeach song played on radio?
 
Maybe I am wrong but it seems that while some jerks condemned the Dixie Chicks with vigour just as many reacted by declaring a McCarthyist crusade against them, free speech remains intact.
 
There's no way in hell my radio station is going to play any of this. They play pretty cool music but they're a trifle on the conservative side. I'm glad Neil Young is doing this. Good for him.
 
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Ew, I always feel dirty when I go to the FOX News web site :D but this was there by that John Gibson guy. For your reading pleasure..

"Neil Young, the Canadian singer who has been living in the U.S. for the last 40 years, has released a new album taking a shot at President Bush and the war in Iraq.

It's called "Living With War."

The line that struck me was, "I never bow to the laws of the thought police."

Another song is called "Let's Impeach the President." Impeach him for lying, impeach him for misleading us into war, for spying on people inside their own homes.

Debates with musicians are always problematical. You may have reason on your side, but they've got the rhythm section and the lead guitar. Hard to beat that.

Then there's Pink. She's got a new song called "Mr. President" in which she imagines taking a walk with the president and discussing war, No Child Left Behind, and asks him how he can live with himself.

I'm all for artists speaking out. I lived through the '60s, too. In fact, I worked in the music business back then, and everybody was against war. That was because we started a war we didn't have to. Everybody knew that.

Things are different nowadays for me.

When I think of the war, I think of Flight 93. I wonder if Neil Young and Pink are going to go see that. I wonder if they would accept free tickets from me.

I also commend to them the recent tapes of bin Laden and Zarqawi and Zawahiri. They continue to promise to kill us, as many of us as possible.

In fact, Zarqawi promised just a day or two ago that the worst is yet to come.

Wonder if they listen to Neil Young and Pink? Doubt it.

Think they would spare Neil Young and Pink while they killed the rest of us because, after all, Neil Young and Pink are against war and want peace?

If Zarqawi and bin Laden are against Bush, they must be against war, right?

You might think so if all you listened to was Neil Young and Pink.

The last song on Young's "Living With War" is "America the Beautiful." Unlike the Reconquista crowd, Neil Young didn't change the words. He sings the words as they have always been sung, but you get the feeling that now — on his album "Living With War" — they are an indictment, an accusation.

"America the beautiful, purple mountain majesties. Amber waves of grain from sea to shining sea."

The idea is that in Iraq we have turned our backs on America's ideals.

Young and Pink are angry and sad. 9/11 is a distant memory. They don't feel threatened by anybody but our own president.

This is what it has come to. They are forgetful. They have amnesia. They blame the wrong leaders. They are proud of their opposition. And they couldn't be more wrong.

That's My Word."
 
MrsSpringsteen said:

When I think of the war, I think of Flight 93. I wonder if Neil Young and Pink are going to go see that. I wonder if they would accept free tickets from me.


Again I ask how stupid is this guy or
how stupid does he think his viewers are?

Who is not familiar with Neil's "Let's Roll" single? It was hugely popular?




— Bill O'Reilly, after being confronted on "Good Morning America" with videotape of him saying that if no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq, "I will apologize to the nation and I will not trust the Bush administration again." Feb. 10, 2004
 
MrsSpringsteen said:


When I think of the war, I think of Flight 93. I wonder if Neil Young and Pink are going to go see that. I wonder if they would accept free tickets from me.

I also commend to them the recent tapes of bin Laden and Zarqawi and Zawahiri. They continue to promise to kill us, as many of us as possible.


Apparently this guy thinks Bin Laden is in Iraq...

Who has amnesia?:rolleyes:
 
I don't recall Neil Young being the classic dove. Then again, I don't expect John Gibson to understand different shadings. Thanks for posting the article, Mrs. S.
 
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MrsSpringsteen said:
Ew, I always feel dirty when I go to the FOX News web site :D but this was there by that John Gibson guy. For your reading pleasure..

"Neil Young, the Canadian singer who has been living in the U.S. for the last 40 years, has released a new album taking a shot at President Bush and the war in Iraq.

It's called "Living With War."

The line that struck me was, "I never bow to the laws of the thought police."

Another song is called "Let's Impeach the President." Impeach him for lying, impeach him for misleading us into war, for spying on people inside their own homes.

Debates with musicians are always problematical. You may have reason on your side, but they've got the rhythm section and the lead guitar. Hard to beat that.

Then there's Pink. She's got a new song called "Mr. President" in which she imagines taking a walk with the president and discussing war, No Child Left Behind, and asks him how he can live with himself.

I'm all for artists speaking out. I lived through the '60s, too. In fact, I worked in the music business back then, and everybody was against war. That was because we started a war we didn't have to. Everybody knew that.

Things are different nowadays for me.

When I think of the war, I think of Flight 93. I wonder if Neil Young and Pink are going to go see that. I wonder if they would accept free tickets from me.

I also commend to them the recent tapes of bin Laden and Zarqawi and Zawahiri. They continue to promise to kill us, as many of us as possible.

In fact, Zarqawi promised just a day or two ago that the worst is yet to come.

Wonder if they listen to Neil Young and Pink? Doubt it.

Think they would spare Neil Young and Pink while they killed the rest of us because, after all, Neil Young and Pink are against war and want peace?

If Zarqawi and bin Laden are against Bush, they must be against war, right?

You might think so if all you listened to was Neil Young and Pink.

The last song on Young's "Living With War" is "America the Beautiful." Unlike the Reconquista crowd, Neil Young didn't change the words. He sings the words as they have always been sung, but you get the feeling that now — on his album "Living With War" — they are an indictment, an accusation.

"America the beautiful, purple mountain majesties. Amber waves of grain from sea to shining sea."

The idea is that in Iraq we have turned our backs on America's ideals.

Young and Pink are angry and sad. 9/11 is a distant memory. They don't feel threatened by anybody but our own president.

This is what it has come to. They are forgetful. They have amnesia. They blame the wrong leaders. They are proud of their opposition. And they couldn't be more wrong.

That's My Word."

BRAVO JOHN GIBSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*STANDING OVATION*

I wonder how many Neil Young fans are serving in Iraq and fighting for his right to put them down......

again........

BRAVO JOHN GIBSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Unfortunately I missed this, stupid damn IE/MSN and all you had to download to see it. I gave up.

By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP

"New Jersey's favorite son was adopted by New Orleans on Sunday, as Bruce Springsteen — through speeches and song — vocalized the anger, frustration, pain and resilience of this hurricane-battered city at the annual Jazz & Heritage Festival.

Decrying what he called "criminal ineptitude" in Hurricane Katrina's wake, Springsteen jabbed at the political powers he deemed responsible for New Orleans' slow recovery.

Perhaps the most pointed moment came as he prepared to sing an old song that he had rewritten lyrics to for New Orleans. Noting that he visited the city's ninth ward, perhaps the most devastated area in the city, Springsteen said: "I saw sights I never thought I'd see in an American city," and added: "The criminal ineptitude makes you furious."

With that, he launched into a song titled "How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?" and dedicated the song to "President Bystander." Its lyrics included the lines: "There's bodies floatin' on Canal and the levees gone to hell ... them who's got out of town, and them who ain't got left to drown, tell me, how can a poor man stand such times and live?"..

"It was Springsteen who may have provided the most poignant moments. Springsteen eschewed the big hits he's most identified with and instead performed classic folk and gospel songs epitomized by Pete Seeger that are featured on Springsteen's new album, "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions." Though they were decades old, many of the songs seemed particularly relevant to New Orleans struggles — "Mary Don't You Weep," "Jacob's Ladder," and particularly "My Oklahoma Home," which depicts a man's loss of his home and family after the devastating dust storms there in the 1930s.

But perhaps no song was as bittersweet as "We Shall Overcome." As Springsteen somberly performed the tune, some people embraced each other, others dabbed their eyes. Another emotional moment came as he dedicated one of his old tunes to New Orleans: "My City in Ruins." Though he wrote it for his favorite town of Asbury Park, N.J., its lyrics resonated with the crowd: "Young men on the corner, like scattered leaves, the boarded up windows, the hustlers and thieves, while my brother's down on his knees. My city of ruins."

By the time he sang the chorus, "Come on rise up!" the audience spontaneously rose their hands in their air, symbolizing the pain and the hope of the city."
 
AchtungBono said:


BRAVO JOHN GIBSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*STANDING OVATION*

I wonder how many Neil Young fans are serving in Iraq and fighting for his right to put them down......

again........

BRAVO JOHN GIBSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When is this John Gibson guy joining up? I wonder how many John Gibson fans are serving in Iraq?
 
9/11!!!!

9/11!!!!!

Why is it that whenever an artist, or anyone else, tries to point out the laws that the president has violated, the idiots on the right always start screaming "9/11!!!!"? Have they nothing else to say? Is there no debate that can't be settled by screaming "9/11!!!!"?
 
martha said:
Is there no debate that can't be settled by screaming "9/11!!!!"?

Not for some people I guess. Make people afraid and then they won't question your logic, I suppose that's the reasoning.

(AP) "Madonna radically altered her music to attack US President George W Bush during her appearance at California music festival Coachella, yesterday.

The Hung Up singer thrilled fans with a six-song set in the Sahara Dance Tent, and took a cheeky swipe at the US leader by changing her song lyrics.

During an energetic rendition of her song I Love New York, Madonna roared, "Just go to Texas and suck George Bush's dick." :eek:
 
AchtungBono said:


BRAVO JOHN GIBSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*STANDING OVATION*

I wonder how many Neil Young fans are serving in Iraq and fighting for his right to put them down......

again........

BRAVO JOHN GIBSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



quite a bit more than

the Neo-Cons and Chicken Hawks
you give standing ovations to.

and Neil cares a lot more for the soldiers serving than the above mentioned.
 
MrsSpringsteen said:


Debates with musicians are always problematical. You may have reason on your side, but they've got the rhythm section and the lead guitar. Hard to beat that.

Then there's Pink. She's got a new song called "Mr. President" in which she imagines taking a walk with the president and discussing war, No Child Left Behind, and asks him how he can live with himself.

I'm all for artists speaking out. I lived through the '60s, too. In fact, I worked in the music business back then, and everybody was against war. That was because we started a war we didn't have to. Everybody knew that.

Things are different nowadays for me.

When I think of the war, I think of Flight 93. I wonder if Neil Young and Pink are going to go see that. I wonder if they would accept free tickets from me.


In fact, Zarqawi promised just a day or two ago that the worst is yet to come.

Wonder if they listen to Neil Young and Pink? Doubt it.

Think they would spare Neil Young and Pink while they killed the rest of us because, after all, Neil Young and Pink are against war and want peace?

If Zarqawi and bin Laden are against Bush, they must be against war, right?

You might think so if all you listened to was Neil Young and Pink.

Young and Pink are angry and sad. 9/11 is a distant memory. They don't feel threatened by anybody but our own president.

This is what it has come to. They are forgetful. They have amnesia. They blame the wrong leaders. They are proud of their opposition. And they couldn't be more wrong.

That's My Word."


How is it possible that conservatives are still linking the Iraqi war with 9/11? We know that Cheney, Rumsfeld et al were pushing to go to war with Iraq before Bush even took office (Project for a New American Century).
We did not have to start this war against Iraq. The arguments that were used to defend the Vietnam war are the same ones used today, just substitute "terrorism" for "communism."
Does Gibson honestly believe that "doves" see bin Laden as anti-war? How insulting! I despise the bin Laden's of the world as much, if not more, as a "dove." I loathe any form of hatred, intolerance, aggressive combat.
Why shouldn't we feel threatened by our president? He has resurrected the Reganian world view. We are good, fighting evil. Our fearless leader is leading the way against evil. We can do no wrong.
Nothing could be further than the truth. If America is to be great, it must be willing to examine our weaknesses. True strength lies in the ability to continue to better oneself.
 
This song live was quite powerful. He said some Bush stuff too, I wish I could remember all of it. He said that he hated to kick a guy when he was down though :D He talked about being in New Orleans and how you have no idea what it's like until you go there.

"This song was written by Blind Alfred Reed and recorded a month after the crash of '29 that heralded the Great Depression. I first heard it on Ry Cooder's self - titled debut album (1970). To his arrangement we owe a debt. I kept the "doctor" first verse by Reed then wrote three others with a mind to the great trials the people of New Orleans have faced this year.

Here are the full lyrics:
Well, the doctor comes 'round here with his face all bright
And he says "in a little while you'll be alright"
All he gives is a humbug pill, a dose of dope and a great big bill
Tell me, how can a poor man stand such times and live?
He says "me and my old school pals had some might high times down here
And what happened to you poor black folks, well it just ain't fair"
He took a look around gave a little pep talk, said "I'm with you" then he took a little walk
Tell me, how can a poor man stand such times and live?
There's bodies floatin' on Canal and the levees gone to Hell
Martha, get me my sixteen gauge and some dry shells
Them who's got got out of town
And them who ain't got left to drown
Tell me, how can a poor man stand such times and live?
I got family scattered from Texas all the way to Baltimore
And I ain't got no home in this world no more
Gonna be a judgment that's a fact, a righteous train rollin' down this track
Tell me, how can a poor man stand such times and live? "

He also did the Seeger song Bring Them Home for Memorial Day

http://www.motherjones.com/news/dispatch/2004/09/08_400.html

I have to find the lyrics for that one
 
I still remember when Reagan used "Born in the USA" for his campaign.:huh:
 
USA Today June 7th

"I want to remember and yet forge ahead and find out what's over the next hill," he says. "A lot of this music was written so long ago, but I felt I could make it feel essential right now. I've always got an eye toward the future and an eye to the past. That's how you know where you've come from and where you want to go. If you look at our recent history, it seems there's been so much disregard of past experience in the way the country has conducted itself."

Though the album's politics are restrained, Springsteen has been increasingly vocal in his criticism of the Bush administration since joining 2004's Vote for Change tour. His solution to domestic ills?

"Obviously, get rid of the president," he says. "When you see the devastation (in New Orleans) and realize the kind of support the city will need to get back on its feet, there's no way to make sense of someone pushing for more tax cuts for the 1% of the 1% of the population. It's insanity and a subversion of everything America is supposed to be about. You can't travel around the city and not wonder what in the world is going on."
 
Just got back from the CSNY Freedom of Speech concert in Hershey. Except for a scattered songs, almost the entire setlist songs were their protest/political songs from Buffalo Springfield days up to Neil Young's Living With War songs.

One of the joys of the concert for me was the mostly enthusiastic audience singalong of "Let's Impeach the President" with the lyrics scrolling on the screen.:evil:

With various poignant backdrops and backscreens.

Nothing subtle about this concert. :wink:
 
I think he walked out about the time he discovered it wasn't Neil Diamond and Bing Crosby--which was about halfway through the second set.
 
blueyedpoet said:



How is it possible that conservatives are still linking the Iraqi war with 9/11? We know that Cheney, Rumsfeld et al were pushing to go to war with Iraq before Bush even took office (Project for a New American Century).
We did not have to start this war against Iraq. The arguments that were used to defend the Vietnam war are the same ones used today, just substitute "terrorism" for "communism."
Does Gibson honestly believe that "doves" see bin Laden as anti-war? How insulting! I despise the bin Laden's of the world as much, if not more, as a "dove." I loathe any form of hatred, intolerance, aggressive combat.
Why shouldn't we feel threatened by our president? He has resurrected the Reganian world view. We are good, fighting evil. Our fearless leader is leading the way against evil. We can do no wrong.
Nothing could be further than the truth. If America is to be great, it must be willing to examine our weaknesses. True strength lies in the ability to continue to better oneself.

I take it that you did not see communism as a threat to the entire free world. Like the forces of Marxism, militant Islamicists are looking to spread their ideology across the globe. In this case, however, it is the implementation of Islamic law rather than communist doctrine that the revolutionaries hope to achieve.

In this sense, the United States (and the rest of the free world, whether or not it wants to admit it) is engaged in a worldwide conflict against a formidable enemy that would kill millions to achieve its goals. America is far from perfect, as evidenced by some of its ill-advised and misbegotten domestic and foreign policy decisions, but to imply that its cause is unjust and immoral is a bit hard for me to swallow.

There is a threat, as evidenced with 9/11, Madrid, London, Bombay, Bali, etc., to destroy democracy and replace it with this current retread of medieval Islamicism. It may not be an obvious threat like Soviet Russia or Nazi Germany with their huge armies and military stockpiles, but in a nuclear age who really needs them. One nuclear weapon can do more damage than any society would willing to bear, so inaction cannot be an option.

One thing that kept the Soviets at bay for the duration of the Cold War was their desire for self-preservation, even above the advancement of their ideology. It is obvious from the sheer number of suicide attacks, however, that this is of little concern to militant Islamicists.

The enemy has the will to destroy entire societies to advance its agenda, must we also wait until it has the means?
 
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