Countdown of my top 101 Neil Young songs. Now with entries 102-204, notable covers and other stuff (3 Viewers)

[jwb]

I found a 10-minute version of song #10 that has horns on it. And it's not a Bluenotes song/performance. YouTube is a hell of a thing. 

Yes it is. Never saw this until the other day - Buffalo Springfield gets together and rehearses in 1986

(apologies if you already posted this among the four million links you've found)

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Yes it is. Never saw this until the other day - Buffalo Springfield gets together and rehearses in 1986

(apologies if you already posted this among the four million links you've found)

I have not posted that in this thread, but I have watched it recently. 

The audio from that was circulating on bootlegs by the late '90s. 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Playlist updated. Another set of eyes to cross check would be good.

All good up to #15. 

 

[krista4]

12. Old Man (Harvest, 1972)
This is my favorite song on Neil's most popular album and always has been. It's perfectly constructed in every way, and performed expertly by the Stray Gators with harmonies from Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor (who also played banjo). It's about how we all share many needs regardless of age:

Old man take a look at my life, I'm a lot like you
I need someone to love me the whole day through
Ah, one look in my eyes and you can tell that's true.
&

Neil's vocal brims with emotion and is one of his finest singing performances.
Neil wrote this in 1970 for Louis Avila, the caretaker of his ranch that he had recently purchased. Neil told the story in the Heart of Gold documentary: "Louis took me for a ride in this blue Jeep. He gets me up there on the top side of the place, and there's this lake up there that fed all the pastures, and he says, "Well, tell me, how does a young man like yourself have enough money to buy a place like this?" And I said, "Well, just lucky, Louis, just real lucky." And he said, "Well, that's the darnedest thing I ever heard." And I wrote this song for him."  

Definitely a fantastic vocal performance.  Love that banjo.  One of my favorites here.  Maybe my favorite, if I thought much about it.

 

[krista4]

Excited for the start of the top ten tomorrow!   

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Welcome to Miami Beach the top 10, ladies and gentlemen! Everything is cheaper than it looks. 

10. Southern Man (After the Gold Rush, 1970)
This is an incredibly powerful song musically and lyrically that unfortunately still resonates today. Neil rattles off horrific images of slavery ("I heard screamin' and bullwhips crackin'") and warns that the culture that allowed it to happen will persist unless we do something about it.
All of this is set to a pounding piano line by a very young Nils Lofgren, who had never played piano before this session, and anguished,ferocious runs from Neil on guitar. Live, it reached titanic heights as it became a prime vehicle for guitar duels with Stephen Stills at CSNY's 1970 shows, as captured on Four Way Street.
It was also featured prominently on the 1973 Time Fades Away tour with the Stray Gators and the 1976 tour with Crazy Horse, but it has taken a back seat since then, usually coming out in solo acoustic sets or in the early parts of nostalgia-driven CSNY shows (but check out the 2005 link for something different). It's only been tackled a few times by Promise of the Real. Given today's climate, I wonder if it will return to its old place of late-set blowout should they ever tour together again.
People think this song inspired Sweet Home Alabama ("I hope Neil Young will remember/A southern man don't need him around anyhow") but, according to Neil in his autobiography, that was more Southern Man's successor, Alabama, which appears on Harvest and is kind of redundant; Neil couldn't convey his message any better than he did on Southern Man.

Studio version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5FCcDEA6mY

Four Way Street version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT4vDQeI0pA

Journey through the Past soundtrack version (same CSNY tour as Four Way Street, different night): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxSP5E5va-g 

Live acoustic version from 1970 with CSNY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjLcFQjq5G8 

Live version from 1973 with the Stray Gators (Time Fades Away tour): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ0Hx57x8wU 

Live version from 1976 with Crazy Horse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY6eGt66I_k 

Live acoustic version with CSNY from 1988: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNiGa7Qyl6c

Live version from 1993 with Booker T. and the MGs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFSxw9Kmk70 

Live version from 2000 with CSNY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHKzz-6s-9A 

Live version from Farm Aid 2005 with the Prairie Wind band and horns (!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETO3w3Ok1fM 

Live acoustic version from 2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHl7GHQYE7E

Live acoustic version from Bridge School Benefit 2014 with Florence Welch and Promise of the Real: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYf3RCmdDxo 

Live version from 2015 with Promise of the Real: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AGmlm_69mI 

Live acoustic version from Bridge School Benefit 2015 with Promise of the Real and Nils Lofgren: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBXc9hA3W4A 

Allman Brothers cover with Grace Potter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdKRyAyzH2c 

Robert Plant cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsJeJStiZR4 

U2 cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egDJT9Hk8kw 

Merry Clayton cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TarBTX06ec 

Gov't Mule / Blackberry Smoke cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFaREaL9tX4 

David Allan Coe cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0adD2eXh6Y8 

Dave Clark (The Dave Clark Five) and Friends cover (wait, what?): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOzg2uXxcVs 

John Illsley (Dire Straits) cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpwULk1lTtY 

Rebecca Loebe cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KWJGhkMEuY 

Sylvester and the Hot Band cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBkcZjtv-tU 

The Sheepdogs cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS4us5tgz3o 

Inter Arma cover (warning: yowly black metal vocals): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxQJUzUfmxU 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

I'm going to do a tangent about Alabama, the song from Harvest mentioned in the Southern Man post, because its history is tied to that song and it's not in my top 204.

Alabama is one of the few electric songs on Harvest (just like Southern Man is one of the few electric songs on After the Gold Rush) and it touches on the same themes. However, it does so in a very clunky way that comes off as Neil trying to write a sequel without putting much thought into it. It doesn't offer any new insights other than singling out Alabama and telling it that "you have the rest of the union to help you along." Huh? Like Mississippi was doing any better on the civil rights front? The main message seems to be that the state and its people are backward and in need of a re-education. That's not entirely wrong, but there are better ways to put it. It's a shame, because the rollicking midtempo arrangement is pretty good. 

This, not Southern Man, is the song that inspired Ronnie Van Zant to write Sweet Home Alabama for Lynyrd Skynyrd. Neil said as much in his Waging Heavy Peace autobiography, noting that Skynyrd found the lyrics condescending, and they were right. The popular conception is that Southern Man was the inspiration because of the line "I hope Neil Young will remember/A Southern man don't need him around anyhow" and because Southern Man is a much better-known song than Alabama. 

Neil and Skynyrd made peace quickly, though. He often praised them in interviews ("They play like they mean it," he said in 1976. "I'm proud to have my name in a song like theirs.") Van Zant sometimes wore a Neil T-shirt onstage, and Crazy Horse bassist Billy Talbot sometimes wore a Skynyrd T-shirt onstage. And shortly before their plane crash, Neil offered two songs to them that they turned down; both would eventually end up on Rust Never Sleeps.

Studio version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVG7U9UDi2E

At Neil's first show after Skynyrd's plane crash that killed Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and backup singer Cassie Gaines, he played a medley of Alabama and Sweet Home Alabama: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCd43ntfxB0

 

[skol asylum]

Playlist updated thru Southern Man.

 

[rockaction]

At Neil's first show after Skynyrd's plane crash that killed Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and backup singer Cassie Gaines, he played a medley of Alabama and Sweet Home Alabama: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCd43ntfxB0

Grace and class by both entities in this case, it seems. Great and memorable songs by both. 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

9. Cowgirl in the Sand (Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, 1969)
As he was making preparations for his second solo album, Neil was laid up in bed with the flu and a high fever. During this time, he composed this, as well as Cinnamon Girl, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and Down by the River. It has to have been the most productive fever ever contracted.
Rock and rollers had taken guitar noise to a different level starting in 1967, but Neil went even further afield on this song. His lead runs are angry and yet melodic. It wasn't much like what the blues-influenced guitar virtuosos were doing at the time, and it was a different approach to the sonic wallop from what Jimi Hendrix was doing, but it captured something innovative and magical. Some writers have compared Neil's guitar work on this and Down by the River to free jazz; I know not nearly enough about music theory to comment on that.
I actually first encountered this as an acoustic song. It appears on the acoustic disc of CSNY's Four Way Street, which I heard often when I was young, and I had no idea this was an extended electric jam until I sought out FM radio as a tween.
The lyrics make some interesting points about the dilemmas regarding sexual freedom that were hotly debated at the time, but some of the lines have dated badly, to say the least. That may be a reason why this song is here and its companion is where it is.  

Studio version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNl13t9ZtmA 

Crazy Horse at the Fillmore 1970 version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG7myAKHJBY 

Four Way Street version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIPcoy81xNY 

Live at Massey Hall 1971 version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0fMNHl_JP4 

Road Rock Vol. 1 version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGSchgvVSeY 

"Cowgirl Jam" from the Paradox soundtrack (as the label implies, no vocals): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKbefD69duY 

Live version from 1973 with the Santa Monica Flyers (Tonight's the Night tour; starts at 3:30): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XckuUYDUflM 

Live version from 1974 with CSNY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P97KGrOZDwA

Live version from 1976 with Crazy Horse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDChepnUc3w 

Live version from 1990 with Crazy Horse (soon to be an archival release): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRHu4PZiOgM 

Live version from Farm Aid 2000 with Friends & Relatives: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUpL2qamAZE 

Live acoustic version from Farm Aid 2004: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-tsuj_o20Y 

Live acoustic version from 2007 (just a few weeks before the show where I saw it for the first time): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAvDM4BNKuI  

Live version from 2008 with the Electric Band in Philly (woot!; just a few weeks before the show where I saw it electric for the first time): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odvluicMwBo 

Live version from 2016 with Promise of the Real (19 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CBCnaHDpwQ 

Byrds cover (from the 1973 reunion of the original lineup; the idea to cover this came from Gene Clark, not David Crosby): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxx18drSGEs 

Elvis Costello cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jINRPwBIjnQ 

Built to Spill cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBgjL9BXR2o 

Iron and Wine cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwjtmJimOYM 

City and Colour cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24BEnajC37w 

The Magic Numbers cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak6gDKSSvjo 

The Brookridge Boys (members of Ween) cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiwn1IB69j4 

Josie Cotton cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb3tD1d9iPs 

Mother Hips cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iklqwz0e6nY 

Mandolin Orange cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJjA8ehRgQI 

 

[Zegras11]

Three, maybe four of my top 5 are gone.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Three, maybe four of my top 5 are gone.

Are Like a Hurricane and After the Gold Rush in your top 5?

 

[Zegras11]

Are Like a Hurricane and After the Gold Rush in your top 5?

yes and maybe

 

[Pip's Invitation]

I posted #5 on Facebook today and a couple of guys are speculating on my top 4, but some of their guesses are pretty odd. And neither mentioned my #3.To me it would be obvious what the remaining 4 are, but one of the nice things about Neil is that he’s not obvious.

 

[fatguyinalittlecoat]

Haven't read every page of this thread, but has there been a lot of speculation about the top 5?  I just scanned through the first post and I can see a couple songs that seem like locks for the top 8, haven't looked closely enough to see if I can figure out all 8.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Haven't read every page of this thread, but has there been a lot of speculation about the top 5?  I just scanned through the first post and I can see a couple songs that seem like locks for the top 8, haven't looked closely enough to see if I can figure out all 8.

There has not. Speculate away!

 

[fatguyinalittlecoat]

There has not. Speculate away!

OK, well the two I noticed right off the bat are Down By the River and Cortez the Killer.  I'm going to spend a couple minutes to see if I can figure out some of the rest.

 

[fatguyinalittlecoat]

OK, well the two I noticed right off the bat are Down By the River and Cortez the Killer.  I'm going to spend a couple minutes to see if I can figure out some of the rest.

Here are my guesses for the top 8, in order:

8 -  Tonight's the Night

7 - Hey Hey My My (Into the Black) 

6 - Helpless

5 - Powderfinger

4 - Cortez the Killer

3 - Rockin' in the Free World

2 - Down By the River

1 - Ohio

ETA: I would be shocked if the top 6 listed aren't in there somewhere.  7 and 8 seem like they would be in a top 100 list but I could imagine someone leaving them off. 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Here are my guesses for the top 8, in order:

I’m not going to confirm or deny, obviously, but I will say that I have left clues at various points during the thread about some of the top 8.

 

[fatguyinalittlecoat]

I’m not going to confirm or deny, obviously, but I will say that I have left clues at various points during the thread about some of the top 8.

Yeah, that's how I knew what they all were. 

 

[lardonastick]

Love this thread - thanks so much Pip. Like Tim's Dylan thread, I think I'll be using this as a reference for a while, helping me revisit and reassess all my favorites.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Love this thread - thanks so much Pip. Like Tim's Dylan thread, I think I'll be using this as a reference for a while, helping me revisit and reassess all my favorites.

Next week you’ll have double the fun, because I made a 102-204 list that will be posted all at once.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

I didn't have time to spotlight this this morning, but if you're one of those people who enjoys hearing "how the hell did this happen?" kind of songs, I suggest you check out the Dave Clark and Friends cover in the Southern Man entry. It's less than 4 minutes long but it's completely bonkers. It's not at all what you'd expect from the guy behind "Bits and Pieces." Someone started doing drugs between 1965 and 1972. 

 

[krista4]

Welcome to Miami Beach the top 10, ladies and gentlemen! Everything is cheaper than it looks. 

10. Southern Man (After the Gold Rush, 1970)

All of this is set to a pounding piano line by a very young Nils Lofgren, who had never played piano before this session

Cool, interesting, kind of amazing tidbit.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

More strange things one can find on YouTube:

Neil Young gave Meryl Streep a guitar lesson

 

[simey]

Here are my guesses for the top 8, in order:

8 -  Tonight's the Night

7 - Hey Hey My My (Into the Black) 

6 - Helpless

5 - Powderfinger

4 - Cortez the Killer

3 - Rockin' in the Free World

2 - Down By the River

1 - Ohio

ETA: I would be shocked if the top 6 listed aren't in there somewhere.  7 and 8 seem like they would be in a top 100 list but I could imagine someone leaving them off. 

Sugar Mountain, Philadelphia, and A Man Needs A Maid haven't been taken yet, and could all fit into that top 8 too. I've missed most of this thread so I've missed clues. One day I'll read it all. 

 

[Zegras11]

Sugar Mountain,

 

[fatguyinalittlecoat]

Sugar Mountain, Philadelphia, and A Man Needs A Maid haven't been taken yet, and could all fit into that top 8 too. I've missed most of this thread so I've missed clues. One day I'll read it all. 

Hmmm, I'll admit that I totally forgot about Sugar Mountain when I made my list.  But I'll keep my predictions as is, because I can definitely imagine Pip disliking Sugar Mountain and leaving it off the top 101, even though it's a pretty prominent Neil song.  Not everyone goes for the high-pitched childlike vibe.*  In my opinion neither Philadelphia nor Man Needs a Maid should be anywhere near the top 8 but I'm looking forward to finding out.

*Oh crap, what about 'I Am a Child"?  Love that song.  Pip definitely left a few songs off the list that I would have expected to be fairly highly ranked.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Since today was @krista4’s day to talk about the music of the Beatles wives, I’ll just mention that I know almost nothing about the musical career of Pegi Young, other than it wouldn’t exist without Neil.

Her first public performances of note that I was aware of were on the 2000 tour with Friends and Relatives, which Neil named because that’s what they were; the other backup singer was his sister Astrid (who is a professional musician). This gave Neil an excuse to drag out Motorcycle Mama, one of his worst pre-1980 songs, for Pegi and Astrid to sing (it has a prominent solo female vocal part, performed by Nicolette Larson on the Comes a Time version.) This was the best tune with which to judge Pegi’s singing, which wasn’t terrible but wasn’t the caliber that would get you a backup singer gig on an amphitheater tour if your husband wasn’t the bandleader.

(I’m not linking Motorcycle Mama. YouTube it yourself if you must.)

She then appeared on his tours that weren’t solo or with Crazy Horse until their divorce. At my 2007 and 2008 shows, it was harder to discern what contribution she was making.

By 2007 she was recording and performing her own material. This too would not have happened without Neil. But I have never heard it (see the tangent on my live shows for my “missed opportunity” there.) 

My understanding is that Neil put a lot of effort into making her career a thing. I have no idea if that had anything to do with their divorce in 2014.

Pegi died of cancer in 2016.

 

[rockaction]

Like Tim's Dylan thread, I think I'll be using this as a reference for a while, helping me revisit and reassess all my favorites.

WHAT? Oh my my my my my my my my. My my my my...

JK. That's all about Eephus and Bosley, we were all just passengers. That dang thread and his reviews got a newly sober me through a trip to Europe without a sniff nor sip, which is a big, big deal when one cannot control his drinking.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

WHAT? Oh my my my my my my my my. My my my my...

JK. That's all about Eephus and Bosley, we were all just passengers. That dang thread and his reviews got a newly sober me through a trip to Europe without a sniff nor sip, which is a big, big deal when one cannot control his drinking.

Tim did a top 100 Dylan songs ranking thread. 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

I'll also add that no one in the general public saw the Neil/Pegi divorce coming. They had been together for 35-ish years and Neil had worn his devotion to her on his sleeve. Not only had he written songs for her, used her as a backup singer and shepherded her own career, they co-founded an entire school together (the Bridge School) and Neil never failed to mention how much he loved her and cared for her in interviews. 

I know some of the guys from Ween personally. When the Neil/Pegi split was announced, one of them posted on Facebook that he was taking it really hard, because he had always viewed their marriage as the ideal one a rock and roller could have. He said the rock and roll lifestyle is inherently unstable and not given to long relationships, but Neil and Pegi had shown everyone how to get around that, so their divorce was a total blindside. 

All I know about why the split happened is that Neil had fallen in love with actress/director Daryl Hannah, whom he had met at environmentalist rallies. They married in 2018. I don't believe Pegi's cancer was known about at the time of the split. 

For more despair, we now head into entry #8. 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

8. Tonight's the Night (Tonight's the Night, 1975; written and first performed in 1973)
The title track and best-known song of Neil's most successful concept album, Tonight's the Night tells the story of Bruce Berry, Neil's friend and roadie who died of a heroin overdose around the same time that Crazy Horse's Danny Whitten did. Those deaths prompted Neil to write this and a bunch of other songs about the dark side of 1960s and 1970s counterculture. Neil recorded two versions of this, opening the album with one and closing it with the other; this entry covers both as they are the same thing with slight differences in their arrangements.
Against a foreboding bass line, Neil hauntingly chants "Tonight's the Night" as if something evil lurks around the corner. The opener (identified as just "Tonight's the Night" on the studio album but labeled as "Tonight's the Night -- Part I" on Decade) with its slow buildup and piano noodling conveys the seediness and shadiness of the stories Neil is about to tell, while the closer (identified as "Tonight's the Night -- Part II" on the studio album) is harder rocking and its music cuts right to the point; I've always thought the arrangement and placement of this version was a way of telling us that if we band together and believe in what we're doing, we can beat these demons that haunt us. (Part I was released as a single, because aside from New Mama, there's absolutely nothing else on the album that's a logical candidate for that.) 
It can reach pretty spectacular heights live. Versions with Crazy Horse such as those that appear on Live Rust and Weld take after "Part II" even though they are just labeled as "Tonight's the Night" on the live albums. The version I saw in 2000 with Neil's Friends and Relatives Band featured Neil on piano and sounded more like "Part I", and was equally fantastic. A college friend, who saw a show on the Weld tour the night after my show, said Neil that night finished with a Tonight's the Night that lasted about 30 minutes; I've never heard it so I have no idea if that's true (this would have been 2/6/91 in Philly), but it certainly sounds like something Neil can do, as this is one of those songs where he can really get lost in the moment while playing.  

Studio version Part I: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTGjVvQPVWg&feature=youtu.be

Studio version Part II: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XCTnnDmCY4&feature=youtu.be

Roxy: Tonight's the Night Live version Part I:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7Kr4uqZhgs&list=PLpvztXgGzYSHLtYmNNUO2coCUMZQCidXV&index=1 

Roxy: Tonight's the Night Live version Part II: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er9m6JnxaBc&list=PLpvztXgGzYSHLtYmNNUO2coCUMZQCidXV&index=9  

Live Rust version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCnYF9ablWc 

Weld version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3HzlY69HJ0 

Bluenote Cafe version (19 minutes, with horns): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGSuMPtVTEM 

Live at Red Rocks 2000 DVD version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxBasXSUH1g 

Road Rock Vol. 1 version (this and Red Rocks are similar to the version I saw): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amwHsZQtPoM  

Live version with Crazy Horse from 1984: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-L11XskfsA 

Live version with The Restless from 1989: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRpeujbi4DE 

VH1 Center Stage TV appearance from 1992: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gChR_5FuOWU  

Live version with Crazy Horse from 1997: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prg8ccRWDrc   

Live version with Crazy Horse from 2001: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG4KEDNz8gQ
 
Live version with The Electric Band from 2009: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te7HqpXFV7E
  
Live version with Crazy Horse from 2012: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32wUBBubhQI 

Live version (solo piano) from 2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-lfDXccJeE  

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg1U4phAP2o 

Gov't Mule cover (segues into Cinnamon Girl and then back again at the very end): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2ZBtKyaOIg   

moe. cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TJKYIS2kYI 

Bottle Rockets cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4LQvvZEzwA  

J. Tillman (Fleet Foxes, Father John Misty) cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awA3zKChlic 

YouTube was a pain not only because it's a title track, but also because there's that damn Rod Stewart song. 

 

[Dr. Octopus]

For an embarrassingly long time I did not know an Econoline was a Ford Van (even though he clearly says the word "van" in the line "Bruce Berry was a working man, he used to love that econoline van." I thought it was a reference to being poor and shopping on economy lines in a supermarket or something.

Don't judge me!!! 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

For an embarrassingly long time I did not know an Econoline was a Ford Van (even though he clearly says the word "van" in the line "Bruce Berry was a working man, he used to love that econoline van." I thought it was a reference to being poor and shopping on economy lines in a supermarket or something.

Don't judge me!!! 

I think it's "load that econoline van." Because he was a roadie, you see. 

 

[Dr. Octopus]

I think it's "load that econoline van." Because he was a roadie, you see. 

Makes more sense.

 

[rockaction]

Tim did a top 100 Dylan songs ranking thread. 

My my my my my then. 

 

[simey]

Hmmm, I'll admit that I totally forgot about Sugar Mountain when I made my list.  But I'll keep my predictions as is, because I can definitely imagine Pip disliking Sugar Mountain and leaving it off the top 101, even though it's a pretty prominent Neil song.  Not everyone goes for the high-pitched childlike vibe.* 

I guess I'm the opposite. I can't imagine it being left off the top 101. I've never considered it high pitched. Anyway, whether it makes the top 101 or not, it is my favorite NY song.

 

[fatguyinalittlecoat]

Here are my guesses for the top 8, in order:

8 -  Tonight's the Night

8. Tonight's the Night (Tonight's the Night, 1975; written and first performed in 1973)

I probably should just leave now, nowhere to go from here but down.

 

[fatguyinalittlecoat]

I guess I'm the opposite. I can't imagine it being left off the top 101. 

The problem is that there are more than seven songs left that are hard to imagine being left off the list.  Maybe if Pip put a little more work into this project he wouldn't have forgotten about them. 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

I probably should just leave now, nowhere to go from here but down.

I did go  as soon as I saw your guess for that one. 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

The problem is that there are more than seven songs left that are hard to imagine being left off the list.  Maybe if Pip put a little more work into this project he wouldn't have forgotten about them. 

There's the 102-204 list! Which was actually a lot more work than this one! 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

This morning I posted #4 on Facebook. Someone commented, "No Living with War songs on your list?" I responded with the haha emoji.

Turns out he was serious. Oops. 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

We’re at the point where some people are starting to realize that some of their favorites won’t be in the top 101.

Just because something isn’t in the top 101 doesn’t mean I don’t like it! Everything on the 102-204 list, I like, just not quite as much as these.

Apologies if your favorite is Alabama or Motorcycle Mama.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

@lardonastick here is your boy 22. 

7. Powderfinger (Rust Never Sleeps, 1979; written in 1968 as "Big Waves")
An incredibly powerful tale of a family's property being invaded, this song is notable for many reasons, including the protagonist being killed in mid-song ("Then I saw black and my face splashed in the sky") and singing the final verse from beyond the grave.
It took Neil 10 years to release the song in the format that he wanted. The first version of this song was written in 1969. The album art for After the Gold Rush has names of songs that were being considered for an early version of the record, and one of them is Big Waves. In a fanzine interview from the early '00s, Neil confirmed what many die-hards suspected, that Big Waves was the first version of Powderfinger. Among the artwork in Archives Vol. 1 is a photo of the original lyric sheet for Big Waves, dated 1968. The first two verses are pretty much as we know them today. 
Neil cut a solo acoustic version of Powderfinger in 1975 and intended to put it on Chrome Dreams, but that album was abandoned. He then offered the song (and Sedan Delivery) to Lynyrd Skynyrd, who turned him down. The song made its live debut at a solo acoustic show in May 1978, but was reworked into a crackling electric arrangement with Crazy Horse for their tour that fall. One of those versions, with the audience noise stripped out, is what opens side 2 of Rust Never Sleeps.
The song combines the best elements of Neil's acoustic and electric work. The attention to detail in the protagonist's story is incredible. In just 5 minutes, we learn that he is 22, that his father is dead or has left the family, his brother is away and another male relative is an alcoholic, leaving him as the decision-maker, that he gains confidence from holding his father's rifle to defend his property, but that he gets killed by people who come up the river in a white boat who "don't look like they're here to deliver the mail."
The slamming Crazy Horse arrangement hits you in the face after the gentle acoustic styling of RNS side 1. The loud, somewhat twangy backing of Sampedro, Talbot and Molina serve as the base for Neil to launch into some stinging, visceral solos that are among the best of his career. Those with more grounding in music theory than I have said the chord structures in the solos are designed to convey heights that are cut short abruptly, mirroring the narrator's tale.
The story fits snugly with the lyrical themes of RNS, especially this passage from the final verse:

Just think of me as one you never figured
Would fade away so young
With so much left undone
Remember me to my love; I know I'll miss her

&

I remember audibly gasping when Neil closed his Live Aid set with this. It's just brilliant in every way. In 2014, Rolling Stone released a special issue devoted to Neil and ranked what they thought were his top 100 songs. This was #1. I have a number of problems with their rankings, but that is not one of them.  

RNS version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdPs5YXQTSw 

Live Rust version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXSVa5ltk-8

Chrome Dreams acoustic version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTV6QB3btQs
  
Hitchhiker version (may be the same as Chrome Dreams): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqPfhBMvtv0  

Weld version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScO-8P3cyFQ   

Live Aid (1985) version with the International Harvesters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw11jeUON1A

Live version with Crazy Horse from 1987: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4svZEcGA3r4  

Live solo version from 1989: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjGmyZJcZrg  

Live version with Booker T. and the MGs from 1993: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFGhCpD53SQ  

Live version with Pearl Jam from 1995: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQC9Pyp-NvU  

Live solo version from Farm Aid 1998 (this figures into a story in entry #3): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMBaeOma_D0  

Live version from Farm Aid 2000 with Friends and Relatives: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guj_yRIxes4   

Live version with Crazy Horse from 2001: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDOD7uofEQY  

Live version with Poncho and the MGs from 2002: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6xNft9MutQ 

Live solo version from 2003: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbBHDtxa1Sk  

Live version with The Electric Band from 2008: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iTDcQfSnG0  

Live version with Adam Sandler (!) from Bridge School Benefit 2009: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LepNc5SwAsI   

Live version with Crazy Horse from 2012 (from Philly, woot!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3p8DVgv6y4

Live version from Farm Aid 2016 with Promise of the Real: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3td3Q5Jr6A

Phish cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKYh7fh8TVo  

Cowboy Junkies cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPQcTs9w1ko 
 
Band of Horses cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuFM_5xRF2Q  

Car Seat Headrest cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZfLlVQNh6s
 
The Beat Farmers cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyXchV8QP4w 

Rusted Root cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2UDCB0V2Ac  

moe. / Michael Glibicki (Rusted Root) cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QMDMsGfAQ4 
 
Yung Wu (members of the Feelies) cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH9n64AN5Wk
  
Chris Knight cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQmupvf-Zzs 

The Watson Twins cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m63-ZHDmGs 

This is another Neil song that a band (not a Neil tribute band) was named after. 

 

[lardonastick]

@lardonastick here is your boy 22. 

7. Powderfinger (Rust Never Sleeps, 1979; written in 1968 as "Big Waves")
An incredibly powerful tale of a family's property being invaded, this song is notable for many reasons, including the protagonist being killed in mid-song ("Then I saw black and my face splashed in the sky") and singing the final verse from beyond the grave.
It took Neil 10 years to release the song in the format that he wanted. The first version of this song was written in 1969. The album art for After the Gold Rush has names of songs that were being considered for an early version of the record, and one of them is Big Waves. In a fanzine interview from the early '00s, Neil confirmed what many die-hards suspected, that Big Waves was the first version of Powderfinger. Among the artwork in Archives Vol. 1 is a photo of the original lyric sheet for Big Waves, dated 1968. The first two verses are pretty much as we know them today. 
Neil cut a solo acoustic version of Powderfinger in 1975 and intended to put it on Chrome Dreams, but that album was abandoned. He then offered the song (and Sedan Delivery) to Lynyrd Skynyrd, who turned him down. The song made its live debut at a solo acoustic show in May 1978, but was reworked into a crackling electric arrangement with Crazy Horse for their tour that fall. One of those versions, with the audience noise stripped out, is what opens side 2 of Rust Never Sleeps.
The song combines the best elements of Neil's acoustic and electric work. The attention to detail in the protagonist's story is incredible. In just 5 minutes, we learn that he is 22, that his father is dead or has left the family, his brother is away and another male relative is an alcoholic, leaving him as the decision-maker, that he gains confidence from holding his father's rifle to defend his property, but that he gets killed by people who come up the river in a white boat who "don't look like they're here to deliver the mail."
The slamming Crazy Horse arrangement hits you in the face after the gentle acoustic styling of RNS side 1. The loud, somewhat twangy backing of Sampedro, Talbot and Molina serve as the base for Neil to launch into some stinging, visceral solos that are among the best of his career. Those with more grounding in music theory than I have said the chord structures in the solos are designed to convey heights that are cut short abruptly, mirroring the narrator's tale.
The story fits snugly with the lyrical themes of RNS, especially this passage from the final verse:

Just think of me as one you never figured
Would fade away so young
With so much left undone
Remember me to my love; I know I'll miss her

&

I remember audibly gasping when Neil closed his Live Aid set with this. It's just brilliant in every way. In 2014, Rolling Stone released a special issue devoted to Neil and ranked what they thought were his top 100 songs. This was #1. I have a number of problems with their rankings, but that is not one of them.  

Thanks. Great writeup for what is my #1. Love everything about this song and how it fits on the album. Perfect marriage of lyrics and music, with my favorite Neil guitar solos. So much emotion...

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Thanks. Great writeup for what is my #1. Love everything about this song and how it fits on the album. Perfect marriage of lyrics and music, with my favorite Neil guitar solos. So much emotion...

Between everywhere I’m posting this, you’re the third person to say this is your #1.

 

[krista4]

+1 regarding this write-up.  Your best one yet; it brought the song completely alive to me.  (I suppose that's ironic.)

 

[krista4]

First YouTube comment on Powderfinger:  "I don't always listen to this song, but when I do, my neighbors do, too."   

 

[krista4]

Here are my guesses for the top 8, in order:

8 -  Tonight's the Night - #8

7 - Hey Hey My My (Into the Black) 

6 - Helpless

5 - Powderfinger - #7

4 - Cortez the Killer

3 - Rockin' in the Free World

2 - Down By the River

1 - Ohio

ETA: I would be shocked if the top 6 listed aren't in there somewhere.  7 and 8 seem like they would be in a top 100 list but I could imagine someone leaving them off. 

Doing awfully well here so far.