The NEXT Top 100 (or so) Songs I Absolutely Must Have With Me on 1/48/50 (cont...)

#156) "Old Man" by Neil Young - Maybe I'm speaking out of turn, but I always thought there was something about Neil Young to suggest he might kick your ass if you didn't pay attention. He seemed to walk that fine line between 'hippie' and 'cowboy' in days when it was still possible to do so, when we weren't so polarized we couldn't or wouldn't listen to or care about the other side - political, emotional or otherwise. When common ground, rather than civil war, was the goal.

Old Man is Neil Young at his best - haunting yet moving melody, introspective yet universally felt lyrics, deceptively bare bones arrangement, and his voice - sorrowful, vulnerable, but possessing an unmistakable tint of rage toward a largely indiscernible enemy.

The song is iconic to the times, in the sense that they just don't write 'em like this much anymore...or they don't chart on Billboard's Hot 100 anyway, as Old Man did in the spring of 1972. This video, from a BBC performance, is visually iconic as well, I'd say. For my money, it was the best time in popular music. Not the only time, mind you, but the best. Before image became everything: when it was okay to look like this, as long as you could sing like this. Nowadays, if you don't have a face worthy of product endorsement, and for that matter if your music isn't all that worthy of product endorsement, your options in the industry are going to be limited.




"Old man take a look at my life, I'm a lot like you / I need someone to love me the whole day through..."

#157) "Please Come to Boston" by Dave Loggins - One of those songs that people shouldn't be too quick to lump in with other easy listening ditties, Please Come to Boston digs a little deeper and warrants a little more attention. It was good enough for David Allan Coe (who just MIGHT kick your ass if you don't pay attention...;-) to cover. It speaks in a soft but potent voice of the restless and ultimately helpless spirit of the artist, the creative soul, but also, I'd say, to the restlessness (and helplessness) most people (creative or otherwise) feel as time passes, the nagging impulse to accomplish something, before they give up and settle down, before they cross some threshold (perhaps the indiscernible enemy Neil Young sings of...?) and put their dreams away.

Also a song that wouldn't get a lot of airplay today, Please Come to Boston is an especially moving narrative to me, as I get older and the resignation of 'Tennessee' becomes not only more unavoidable, but more alluring than I ever imagined.

"Please come to L.A. to live forever..."