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Rating: 1978: the long wave of punk is devastating, it is about to forever change the musical landscape by merging into the new wave, and almost all rock stars now appear bombastic and jurassic. Except, of course, for Neil Young. He was one of the putative fathers of punk, and in the magma created by the revolution of '77, he happily swims, ready to let his inimitable style shine.
Said and done. Young hits the road again with the faithful Crazy Horse and stages one of the most legendary tours ever, extracting nine unreleased tracks from that series of concerts, which will be released on this record. "Rust Never Sleeps" is probably the Canadian's most significant work. Divided into an acoustic and an electric side, it perfectly encodes the two quintessential musical sides of Neil, between ghostly ballads and electrifying assaults. Conceived precisely in an unrepeatable period, it is the right opportunity to bring out the knots of Young's aesthetics, formally rearrange them into authentic and uncompromising music and finally render them as Art in its purest form.
"La ruggine non dorme mai": already the title perfectly encapsulates one of Neil's obsessions: success and decline, and the ability to exorcise even physical decay through music. "It’s easy to get buried in the past / when you try to make a good thing last," Neil had warned in one of the most significant verses of the masterpiece "On The Beach".
The first side of "Rust Never Sleeps" lucidly takes up and expands on this theme. The first track is "My My, Hey Hey (Into The Black)". Mythologized by Kurt Cobain, who quoted the verse "It’s better to burn out than to fade away" in his farewell message, it brilliantly synthesizes the vicious cycle of show business. Almost blasphemous in juxtaposing Elvis and the Sex Pistols ("The King is gone but he’s not forgotten / Is this the story of Johnny Rotten?"), Neil recognizes in punk the vital force that will carry the rock and roll script forward. The logical next step is "Thrasher". Over a crystal-clear melody, the man from Ontario forges his most intense text and describes in a poetic crescendo that gives chills the birth of artistic inspiration and its journey amidst the ruins of the Woodstock generation's dreams, synonymous with creative death ("where the vultures glides descending"). He pays homage to the fallen ("I searched out my companions / Who were lost in crystal canyons / When the aimless blade of science / slashed the pearly gates" or "I burned my credit card for fuel / heading out to where the pavement turns to sand / with a one-way ticket to the land of truth and a suitcase in my hand / how I lost my friends I still don’t understand"), he bitterly satires the now swollen protagonists of that epic ("They were lost in rock formations or became park bench mutations", dedicated to his former comrades Crosby, Stills, and Nash) to finally find salvation in music ("When the thrasher comes I’ll be stuck in the sun / like the dinosaurs in shrines / But I’ll know that time has come to give what’s mine").
"Ride My Llama" and "Pocahontas" then reprise another famous Young archetype, that of Native Americans. Especially "Pocahontas" touches almost literary shores, and it is perhaps the quintessential ballad in Neil's repertoire. A poignant and vivid portrait of an authentic and betrayed America, it confirms that the key to fighting the ghosts evoked by the album lies in imagination and its translation into Art. After the delightful "Sail Away", a crazy splinter from the world of "Harvest", comes the impetuous second side.
There are only 4 tracks, but so devastating as to justify the co-dedication of the album to Ralph Molina and his associates. The cover of "Rust Never Sleeps" is indeed eloquent, with those enormous amplifiers in the background. With the punk revolution underway, there could only be a feedback frenzy. It opens with "Powderfinger", and here Neil succeeds in surpassing his master Dylan, creating an epic more memorable than "Like a rolling stone". Sublime lyricism lays down the law, painting a scenario of youth violently torn away in a hysterical and sick society. Excellent are also "Welfare Mothers" and "Sedan Delivery", hallucinated and corrosive portraits of post-Vietnam America.
The closing is the infernal electric reprise of "Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)".
It is probably the most influential track - via Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr - on the grunge generation. Molina and Talbot's rhythm section pounds as it is accustomed to, while Sampedro and Young's guitars relentlessly barrage to the cry of "Rock and Roll will never die".
Epochal is still today the right word to define "Rust never sleeps".
Tracklist and Lyrics
02 Thrasher (05:40)
They were hiding behind hay bales,
They were planting in the full moon
They had given all they had for something new
But the light of day was on them,
They could see the thrashers coming
And the water shone like diamonds in the dew.
And I was just getting up, hit the road before it's light
Trying to catch an hour on the sun
When I saw those thrashers rolling by,
Looking more than two lanes wide
I was feelin' like my day had just begun.
Where the eagle glides descending
There's an ancient river bending
Through the timeless gorge of changes
Where sleeplessness awaits
I searched out my companions,
Who were lost in crystal canyons
When the aimless blade of science
Slashed the pearly gates.
It was then I knew I'd had enough,
Burned my credit card for fuel
Headed out to where the pavement turns to sand
With a one-way ticket to the land of truth
And my suitcase in my hand
How I lost my friends I still don't understand.
They had the best selection,
They were poisoned with protection
There was nothing that they needed,
Nothing left to find
They were lost in rock formations
Or became park bench mutations
On the sidewalks and in the stations
They were waiting, waiting.
So I got bored and left them there,
They were just deadweight to me
Better down the road without that load
Brings back the time when I was eight or nine
I was watchin' my mama's T.V.,
It was that great Grand Canyon rescue episode.
Where the vulture glides descending
On an asphalt highway bending
Thru libraries and museums, galaxies and stars
Down the windy halls of friendship
To the rose clipped by the bullwhip
The motel of lost companions
Waits with heated pool and bar.
But me I'm not stopping there,
Got my own row left to hoe
Just another line in the field of time
When the thrasher comes, I'll be stuck in the sun
Like the dinosaurs in shrines
But I'll know the time has come
To give what's mine.
07 Welfare Mothers (03:49)
People, pick up
on what I'm puttin' down now
Welfare mothers
make better lovers
Down at every
Laundromat in town now
Welfare mothers
make better lovers
While they're washin'
you can hear this sound now
Welfare mothers
make better lovers
Divorcee!
Hard to believe
that love is free now
Welfare mothers
make better lovers
Out on the street
with the whole family now
Welfare mothers
make better lovers
Hard to believe
that love is free now
Welfare mothers
make better lovers
Divorcee!
People, pick up
on what I'm puttin' down now
Welfare mothers
make better lovers
Down in every
Laundromat in town now
Welfare mothers
make better lovers
While they're washin'
you can hear this sound now
Welfare mothers
make better lovers
Divorcee!
08 Sedan Delivery (04:39)
Last night I was cool at the pool hall
Held the table for eleven games
Nothing was easier than the first seven
I beat a woman with varicose veins.
She stopped to see herself in the mirror
Fix her hair and hide heir veins
And she lost the game.
Next day I went to the dentist
He pulled some teeth and I lost some blood
We'd like to thank you for the cards you sent us
My wives and I were all choked up.
I recall how Caesar and Cleo
Made love in the Milky Way
They needed boats and armies to get there
I know there's a better way.
I saw the movie and I read the book
But when it happened to me
I sure was glad I had what it took
To get away.
Gotta get away, gotta get away
Gotta get away, gotta get away
I'm making another delivery
Of chemicals and sacred roots
I'll hold what you have to give me
But I'll use what I have to use.
The lasers are in the lab
The old man is dressed in white clothes
Everybody says he's mad
No one knows the things that he knows.
No one knows, no one knows
No one knows, no one knows
I'm sleepin' in every hallway
I just can't accept the stares
I'm using too many covers
I'm warm now so I don't care.
I'm thinkin' of no one in my mind
Sedan delivery is a job I know I'll keep
It sure was hard to find.
Hard to find. hard to find
Hard to find. hard to find
09 Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black) (05:12)
Hey hey, my my
Rock and roll can never die
There's more to the picture
Than meets the eye.
Hey hey, my my.
Out of the blue and into the black
You pay for this, but they give you that
And once you're gone, you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black.
The king is gone but he's not forgotten
Is this the story of Johnny Rotten?
It's better to burn out 'cause rust never sleeps
The king is gone but he's not forgotten.
Hey hey, my my
Rock and roll can never die
There's more to the picture
Than meets the eye.
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