Neil Young: Impeach the President

Earlier this year, Neil Young told Rolling Stone,"I'm always going from one extreme to another." True to form, just months after the release of his studio album Prairie Wind, the legendary singer-songwriter is returning with the incredibly politically charged Living With War. On the album, whipped up in just two angry weeks earlier this month, Young takes aim at the war in Iraq and President Bush -- through songs including the Bush-basher "Let's Impeach the President."

Living With War features what Young describes on his Web site as "metal folk protest" and "a metal version of Phil Ochs and Bob Dylan," recorded with "a power trio with trumpet and 100 voices." Other songs include "Lookin' for a Leader" and the title track, the lyrics of which are partly available on the site:

I'm living with war in my heart everyday/. . . and on the flat screen we kill and we're killed again/and when the night falls, I pray for peace.

While the war certainly remains a divisive topic, it's unlikely that Young is worried about alienating any fans. "There are things that I've done that have been hard for people to get into," Young told Rolling Stone. "They haven't liked everything. They want me to do the same thing over and over, and they think I'm inconsistent and erratic when I don't. That's a very narrow viewpoint, I think."

"I just try to stay open," he added. "I'm happy when I have a new idea, when my music turns a corner."

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Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

More Song Stories entries »

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