"I raise my hand in peace ...
I never bow to the laws of the thought police ...
I take a holy vow ...
to never kill again ...
"In the big hotels ...
in the mosques and the doors of the old museum ...
I take a holy vow ...
to never kill again."
- Neil Young, "Living with War"
These lyrics come from an upcoming album in which Neil makes his feelings about Iraq and our nation's Pinhead in Chief as clear as - well, as clear as Neil can make himself. Interesting change of pace from a Canadian who once came out in favor of the Patriot Act. Shortly after September 11, 2001, he recorded the song "Let's Roll," a tribute to passengers who apparently fought back against hijackers on doomed United Airlines Flight 93 over Pennsylvania.
Neil's fondness for George Dubya has lessened to the point that he is now releasing an album that includes a track titled "Let's Impeach the President" (and not the guy who got an intern's blue dress all dirty - the guy after him).
Neil Young is no stranger to the protest song. In 1970, Young wrote and recorded "Ohio," a song about the four Kent State University students killed by National Guard troops during an anti-Vietnam war rally. "Tin soldiers and Nixon coming, We're finally on our own. This summer I hear the drumming, Four dead in Ohio." It's not a stretch to imagine this guy won't be voting Republican in the next election.
Neil is also the guy who helps me refuel my teacher batteries. Aside from being an avid model train collector and twenty per cent owner of the Lionel Train Company, he is the guy who wrote these words for "Rockin' in the Free World": "That's one more kid that’ll never go to school/Never get to fall in love, never get to be cool." That's why I'm out there, fighting what I believe to be the good fight.
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