Neil Young's Biggest Fan Speaks: "His Voice Is Haunting," Says Donald Trump

Two years ago we noticed the bizarre trio of Patti Smith, Salman Rushdie and Donald Trump rocking out to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in the first two rows of Madison Square Garden. Last year, the Donald was sitting upfront for Young's solo show at the United Palace Theater and on Monday Trump was again grooving to Neil at the Garden. We gave Trump a call yesterday to discuss.

"He's got something very special," Trump says. "I've listened to his music for years and I've seen him before that, but I went to the concert where they were honoring Bob Dylan years ago at Madison Square Garden [Bob Fest 10/16/92] and Neil got up and totally brought the house down. There was nobody close. He's performed for me at my casinos over the years and he just brings it down. I've met him on occasions and he's a terrific guy."

Does Trump have a favorite Neil Young song or album? "It's sort of all favorite," he says. "I like the older stuff better, which is typical with a lot of artists — hence the famous Ricky Nelson song 'Garden Party.' I like all his songs, you know, 'Rock and Roll' — just great stuff. His voice is perfect and haunting. He's 63 and I don't think it's changed. It's more important than his playing, 'cause you have so many great players — but there's just one voice like that. Whatever the hell 'it' is, he's got it."

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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