Tuesday, November 2, 2021

The Best of Neil Young: Top 20

 

I am an old man with a heart of gold, so Neil is one of my favorite artists of all time. We used to call him "The King of Distortion" in college jokingly for his electric guitar work, but most of his best songs - in my opinion - have been done acoustically. The guy is a legend and his library is so deep that it was difficult to rate them, especially from 13-30.


Neil Young

Top 20


1. Harvest Moon - A simple and beautiful love song that I could listen to over and over.

2. Heart of Gold - Neil's only No. 1 song on the Billboard charts hit the radio in 1972.

3. Old Man - Made it to No. 4 as the follow up to Heart of Gold and No. 6 on this list was the B-side.

4. Unknown Legend - An exquisitely-written song that just flows beautifully. "She used to work at a diner. Never saw a woman look finer. I used to order just to watch her float across the floor."

5. Like a Hurricane - Hard rocking tune. "You are like a hurricane, there's calm in your eyes."

6. Needle and the Damage Done - Neil wrote this sad, gripping song about heroin addiction among musicians he knew.

7. Rockin' in the Free World - Rolling Stone magazine ranked it the 216th greatest song of all time.

8. Sugar Mountain - Neil wrote this when he was a teenager in the mid 60s, mostly about his youth.

9. Hey, Hey My My (Out of the Blue and Black) - The song actually developed out of his work with the punk-art band Devo. "It's better to burn out than to fade away."

10. Comes a Time - Easy listening song. "Comes a time, when you're drifting. Comes a time, when you settle down." From the album by the same name in 1978, that includes No. 14 on this list.


11. From Hank to Hendrix

12. Southern Man

13. Prime of Life

14. Four Strong Winds

15. Cinnamon Girl

16. Long May You Run

17. Out on the Weekend

18. Walk On

19. Cortez the Killer

20. Transformer Man (unplugged)


Joe Lunardi's first six out

Lotta Love 

Powderfinger

After the Gold Rush

Down by the River

Pocahontas

Change your mind


A dozen others considered

Philadelphia

Sleeps with Angels

One of these Days

Helpless

Mr. Soul

It's a Dream

This Note's for You

Downtown

Walk Like a Giant

Cowgirl in the Sand

Tonight's the Night

Only Love Can Break Your Heart




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