Neil Young Gives It Away for Free

Young is but one of many artists who have recently felt compelled to confront the war and the Bush administration (see our list below). Pearl Jam's "World Wide Suicide" deals directly with Iraq and has topped rock radio playlists around the country, and the Dixie Chicks' new single "Not Ready to Make Nice" continues the Texas trio's 2003 feud with the Bush regime. But Young is the first rocker to create an entire album protesting the war, and his is the most explicit and incendiary. "I was waiting for someone to come along, some young singer eighteen to twenty-two years old, to write these songs and stand up," Young told The Los Angeles Times. "I waited a long time. Then I decided that maybe the generation that has to do this is still the Sixties generation."

Predictably, Bush loyalists immediately lashed out at the singer: Syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin, author of In Defense of Internment, labeled Young a "moonbat musician." And Fox News host Mike Gallagher declared, "Neil Young is rich and famous because the country he's trashing made him so."

Retailers are optimistic about the disc's prospects. "The fact that Living With War was recorded so quickly and will be surrounded by controversy can only help in the promotion of the album," says Mike Jansta, vice president of marketing for Tower Records. "We anticipate that the timeliness and politically charged theme will result in quite a buzz among customers."

But Young is hoping for more than a hit record. On "Looking for a Leader," he suggests, "Maybe it's a woman/Or a black man after all," and then name-checks Barack Obama. Young met the junior senator from Illinois at Farm Aid this year. "A good feeling," Young says when asked about what he took away from his conversation with Obama. "But I didn't talk with him for long. The band was rehearsing 'Southern Man' with the Fisk Jubilee singers and Wayne Jackson, of the Memphis Horns. He [Obama] wanted to hear that. I did not get a good chance to feel him out about his views, so I can not give you any real feedback other than that."

Young is clear on one thing though. "We need a new leader," he says. "One we feel has been fairly elected and represents the wishes of the people instead of dividing the people. Register now. Vote in November. Look for a real leader."

Listen Now: Hear Neil Young's "Living With War" for free!

New protest tracks by other artists:

Pearl Jam, "World Wide Suicide"

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The first single from Pearl Jam's new disc is a burst of anger about a world going to hell in a Humvee: Over a torrent of guitars, Eddie Vedder scans the morning paper and reads about a friend killed in Iraq.

Pink, "Dear Mr. President"

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Pink drafts an open letter to the Prez, dissing his positions on gay rights and abortion before tossing in a sarcastic personal swipe: "You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine."

The Coup, "Head (of State)"

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America's funkiest conspiracy theorist -- Bay Area rapper Boots Riley --lambastes a quarter-century of U.S. malfeasance in Iraq, beginning with the C.I.A.'s covert aid to Saddam Hussein.

Bruce Springsteen, "Mrs. McGrath"

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Springsteen's big arrangement of this nineteenth-century Irish ballad, off his new tribute album to Pete Seeger, has a timeless sound but a timely message: "All foreign wars, I do proclaim/Live on blood and a mother's pain."

Paul Simon, "Wartime"

Simon never specifically refers to Bush, the war on terror or Iraq on this mournful tune, but the message couldn't be clearer: "Gone like a memory from the day before the fires," he sings, "People hungry for the voice of God hear lunatics and liars."