WEBVTT - Neil Young, Part One 0:00:15.436 --> 0:00:22.916 Pushkin. Hey, y'all, it's justin Richmond. We have a really 0:00:22.996 --> 0:00:26.356 special episode for you today. When Rick Rubin and I 0:00:26.436 --> 0:00:29.076 first talked about making Broken Record, we had a short 0:00:29.156 --> 0:00:32.956 list of absolute dream guests for the podcast. Neil Young 0:00:33.236 --> 0:00:35.836 was at the top of that list. We tried by 0:00:35.916 --> 0:00:38.436 various means over the years to make it happen. Neil 0:00:38.476 --> 0:00:40.476 had even been around the studio while we were taping 0:00:40.476 --> 0:00:43.516 episodes with other guests, but we just couldn't make it work. 0:00:43.836 --> 0:00:45.996 So when Neil's new record was announced and we were 0:00:46.036 --> 0:00:48.276 told he wanted to speak with Rick about it, we 0:00:48.276 --> 0:00:52.436 were beyond ecstatic. Neil's won a very few popular artists 0:00:52.516 --> 0:00:55.916 who seems to be singularly focused on creating. Wherever the 0:00:55.996 --> 0:00:59.756 muse goes, he goes. As a teenager, it led him 0:00:59.756 --> 0:01:02.436 to the folk clubs of Canada. We first met Joni 0:01:02.516 --> 0:01:05.876 Mitchell in the late sixties. It led him to Los Angeles. 0:01:06.116 --> 0:01:10.196 We started Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills. Later, it led 0:01:10.276 --> 0:01:13.476 him to a long solo career with intermittent stints with Crosby, 0:01:13.556 --> 0:01:16.156 Stills and Nash in other groups he's put together over 0:01:16.196 --> 0:01:19.476 the years. It's also led him, at various points to 0:01:19.516 --> 0:01:25.836 spurn fans, journalists, executives, labels, collaborators, or anyone who gets 0:01:25.836 --> 0:01:30.076 in the way of his vision. Neil's an iconoclast, a renegade, 0:01:30.356 --> 0:01:33.756 someone who makes music vibrant and exciting, and we're lucky 0:01:33.836 --> 0:01:37.036 to still have him around four gene, relentlessly ahead, as 0:01:37.156 --> 0:01:41.076 vital as ever, depending on how you count. Neil's newest 0:01:41.116 --> 0:01:44.956 release is his fiftieth solo album, not counting the dozens 0:01:44.996 --> 0:01:48.476 of other archival and miscellaneous releases from decades past, or 0:01:48.556 --> 0:01:50.836 the dozen or so archive releases to come in the 0:01:50.836 --> 0:01:53.596 new year. The newest one was recorded in a barn 0:01:53.796 --> 0:01:55.956 up in the mountains of Colorado with his on and 0:01:55.956 --> 0:02:00.076 off again band since nineteen sixty eight, Crazy Horse Thubam's 0:02:00.116 --> 0:02:02.316 called Barn. Let's listen to a bit of a song 0:02:02.356 --> 0:02:25.276 from it, called Human Race. Today, no one cares Tomorrow, 0:02:25.436 --> 0:02:30.996 No one shares, because they all will be gone. But 0:02:31.196 --> 0:02:44.236 the children's children of the bars and floods. Who's gonna 0:02:44.436 --> 0:02:54.076 say the human Race? The children gonna run it hid 0:02:54.476 --> 0:03:01.196 the fire, the fires and floods to these people have 0:03:01.476 --> 0:03:10.716 left behind the people. Today's episode, Rick and Neil talk 0:03:10.756 --> 0:03:13.756 about his new album, all of the archival projects he 0:03:13.756 --> 0:03:16.796 plans I'm releasing in the coming year, The time they 0:03:16.836 --> 0:03:20.236 spent working together on some abandoned songs in nineteen ninety 0:03:20.276 --> 0:03:23.436 seven that may soon see the latter day, Neil's time 0:03:23.436 --> 0:03:26.476 at a Rick James fronted band that was signed to Motown, 0:03:27.276 --> 0:03:30.876 Driving to la from Canada, and a hearse. They talked 0:03:30.916 --> 0:03:33.156 for so long we decided to make this the first 0:03:33.316 --> 0:03:40.516 of two episodes with Neil Young. This is broken record 0:03:40.716 --> 0:03:48.596 liner notes for the Digital Age. I'm justin Richmond. Here's 0:03:48.596 --> 0:03:52.276 part one of Rick Rubin's conversation with Neil Young. Hey, 0:03:52.636 --> 0:03:55.396 what is that in Maine? How's it going? Pretty good? 0:03:55.436 --> 0:03:58.876 How you feeling? You're good? Good to see you, great 0:03:58.916 --> 0:04:01.276 to see you. Oh my god. So how are you 0:04:01.316 --> 0:04:04.556 being I've been great. I haven't seen you in a minute. Yeah, 0:04:04.596 --> 0:04:09.436 it's been maybe a minute and a half. Jeez, all 0:04:09.476 --> 0:04:13.516 good everything. Well, if you're feeling good, I feel healthy. Yeah, 0:04:13.516 --> 0:04:16.996 I feel good. Great, You're looking great, man, Thank you sir. 0:04:17.356 --> 0:04:20.516 Trying my best. Yeah, so tell me where. First of all, 0:04:20.516 --> 0:04:22.156 where's the barn? What part of the world is the 0:04:22.196 --> 0:04:26.636 barn in? It's in Colorado? Beautiful. Yeah. The filming of 0:04:26.676 --> 0:04:30.996 the sessions is beautiful and shed a lot of light 0:04:31.076 --> 0:04:34.316 on the music. The album's beautiful, but seeing the images 0:04:34.916 --> 0:04:38.596 and seeing the tranquility of the nature while listening to 0:04:38.636 --> 0:04:42.876 the music really is a moving experience. Yeah, Daryl did 0:04:42.876 --> 0:04:45.996 a great job. It is quite interesting to watch it 0:04:46.196 --> 0:04:48.916 stop at you every seven seconds, it takes a picture, 0:04:49.156 --> 0:04:53.036 and so the music has this timeless aura to it 0:04:53.836 --> 0:04:56.716 because things are happening out of time. So when you're 0:04:56.756 --> 0:04:59.196 looking at it, it doesn't distract you from the music. 0:04:59.636 --> 0:05:02.516 The music stays with you while it's happening, which is really, 0:05:02.996 --> 0:05:05.876 you know, very rare. Most videos are a distraction, and 0:05:06.716 --> 0:05:10.716 you know, they don't help you get way into the music. Yeah, 0:05:10.836 --> 0:05:13.476 they support the music, but they don't help the music. 0:05:13.676 --> 0:05:16.316 It's interesting when when you listen to music, do you 0:05:16.396 --> 0:05:18.396 close your eyes or do you keep your eyes open 0:05:18.396 --> 0:05:22.676 when you're listening. You know, I'm really not sure when 0:05:22.676 --> 0:05:26.156 I'm listening to music, I'm gone, i don't know where 0:05:26.156 --> 0:05:28.196 i am, i don't know what I'm doing. If I'm 0:05:28.196 --> 0:05:31.156 really into the music, Yeah, it just takes me away, 0:05:31.236 --> 0:05:34.116 transports me. That's that's actually one of the things I 0:05:34.156 --> 0:05:37.076 wanted to talk about is I've seen you play a 0:05:37.116 --> 0:05:39.716 lot of times. I've seen a lot a lot of times, 0:05:40.236 --> 0:05:42.836 and I can't think of a case where it didn't 0:05:42.836 --> 0:05:46.636 feel like you were being transported by the music. Always 0:05:46.676 --> 0:05:50.196 it was always you were gone in it. Are there 0:05:50.196 --> 0:05:55.316 ever bad shows? Can you ever not get into that place? Sometimes, 0:05:55.356 --> 0:05:59.996 but rarely, I'll take any kind of abuse of circumstance 0:06:00.076 --> 0:06:03.036 to the music and try to use it. You know, 0:06:03.116 --> 0:06:05.796 whatever it is, I try to turn around and throw 0:06:05.796 --> 0:06:08.356 it back at the music. Yeah, it's like I try 0:06:08.396 --> 0:06:10.676 to make the best set it and I use it. 0:06:10.956 --> 0:06:13.876 A lot of times. Things go wrong in life, as 0:06:13.916 --> 0:06:16.716 we all know, and you don't know what the hell 0:06:16.796 --> 0:06:19.876 is going on? Why did that happen? I try to 0:06:19.916 --> 0:06:24.036 take that anger or sadness and put it into music, 0:06:24.756 --> 0:06:27.156 and the same thing happens in real time. If I'm 0:06:27.196 --> 0:06:30.996 playing and there's a lot of distractions or something, if 0:06:31.036 --> 0:06:34.676 they're severe distractions, I'll freak out. But if they're not, 0:06:35.316 --> 0:06:38.396 I will use it in the music. Might the distractions 0:06:38.476 --> 0:06:41.996 actually make it better? Based on what you're saying? In 0:06:42.036 --> 0:06:45.636 some cases they might ye for me. I don't know 0:06:45.716 --> 0:06:51.156 about other musicians. Only asking for you, I know, I 0:06:51.636 --> 0:06:54.196 thank god. Yeah, it's only everything we're going to talk about. 0:06:54.196 --> 0:06:56.636 It's very personal. It's just like, how does it hit you? 0:06:58.556 --> 0:07:00.436 What was it like being back in the room with 0:07:01.156 --> 0:07:04.236 the horse. It was wonderful. It's always great to be 0:07:04.276 --> 0:07:06.636 in the room with the horse. And now that we 0:07:06.676 --> 0:07:10.556 have nos in Pancho's retire you know, Pancho got some 0:07:10.716 --> 0:07:14.756 arthritis and the hand injury at the same time, so 0:07:14.796 --> 0:07:18.076 that he did do another tour after that, but he 0:07:18.116 --> 0:07:21.876 wasn't enjoying it as much because it really hurt, so 0:07:21.956 --> 0:07:24.316 he decided to give it a rest. Mills was in 0:07:24.476 --> 0:07:27.076 early two though, wasn't he. Yeah, he was with He 0:07:27.196 --> 0:07:30.716 was with us for after the gold Rush. Tonight's tonight 0:07:31.436 --> 0:07:35.436 trans So during my first ten years, he was around 0:07:35.436 --> 0:07:37.636 a lot. Do you remember the very first time you 0:07:37.796 --> 0:07:40.636 jammed with Crazy Horse? Yeah, it was in my living room. 0:07:41.076 --> 0:07:43.236 You know. I hung out with the Rockets a lot 0:07:43.956 --> 0:07:47.076 at their house in Laurel Canyon, which was right on 0:07:47.196 --> 0:07:50.956 Loyal Canyon Boulevard. Someday we're in Loyal Canyon together, I 0:07:50.996 --> 0:07:53.756 will show you the house still there. Great, one of 0:07:53.796 --> 0:07:57.916 those funky wooden houses. Yeah, three years, four stories tall 0:07:57.996 --> 0:08:00.676 with the garage under it that opens right onto Laurel 0:08:00.716 --> 0:08:06.676 Canyon Corner. It's dangerous, very dangerous. But we used to 0:08:06.756 --> 0:08:09.396 get high there and party and have a great I'm 0:08:09.436 --> 0:08:12.836 playing music and listening to music and talking. There was 0:08:13.236 --> 0:08:17.876 you know, Annie Whitten and Robin Lane and Billion Ralph 0:08:17.476 --> 0:08:22.436 and George Witzel and Bobby knock Coff from the Rockets. 0:08:22.996 --> 0:08:26.076 You know, I just liked it. They were they. I 0:08:26.116 --> 0:08:28.996 think I met them through Buffalo Springfield somehow at some gig, 0:08:29.996 --> 0:08:32.956 maybe the Whiskey of Go Go, and I think that's 0:08:32.956 --> 0:08:34.676 where I met them. And then they asked me to 0:08:34.796 --> 0:08:38.436 over and hang out. They started talking, and so we 0:08:38.556 --> 0:08:41.516 talked and we hung out and listening to music, had 0:08:41.516 --> 0:08:43.476 a great time just hanging out. It was a good 0:08:43.476 --> 0:08:46.116 place to go. I went there more than anywhere else 0:08:46.636 --> 0:08:50.076 because I had a good time and we were jab 0:08:50.116 --> 0:08:52.516 and play. It was always always felt good to me 0:08:52.796 --> 0:08:57.796 because they weren't really you know, that accomplished, although Knotcuff 0:08:57.996 --> 0:09:01.476 on the violin was amazing and George Witzel was a 0:09:01.516 --> 0:09:06.476 great musician still is I believe. Then there was Billion Ralph, 0:09:06.556 --> 0:09:10.876 and Robin was Danny's girlfriend, and Dan was great. They're 0:09:10.876 --> 0:09:13.676 just nice people, just a good group of people. I 0:09:13.756 --> 0:09:16.756 enjoyed being with them. And from the first time you played, 0:09:16.796 --> 0:09:20.036 did it feel good. It always felt good playing with 0:09:20.076 --> 0:09:23.436 the Rockets then, but there were a lot of Rockets, 0:09:23.956 --> 0:09:26.236 but it wasn't really good for making a record for me. 0:09:26.996 --> 0:09:30.076 So that's when I decided maybe I could just borrow 0:09:30.116 --> 0:09:32.916 a few people from the Rockets and make a record. 0:09:33.516 --> 0:09:35.756 And when that happened, I asked them to come up 0:09:35.796 --> 0:09:39.276 to my house. My house was into Panga Canyon and 0:09:39.716 --> 0:09:44.396 OHI way up on one of those roads and overlooking 0:09:44.756 --> 0:09:48.996 the shopping center and the corners and everything. And we 0:09:48.996 --> 0:09:51.596 were up there playing in my living room and that 0:09:51.676 --> 0:09:56.596 was great. We sounded great right away, instantaneous by playing 0:09:56.596 --> 0:09:58.876 with different people. How does it affect you the way 0:09:58.916 --> 0:10:04.076 you play or what happens, Well, there's nothing like crazy Horse, 0:10:04.756 --> 0:10:08.716 and I always loved playing with Skills the same way. 0:10:09.196 --> 0:10:12.716 Still is just like a real musician. He's very open 0:10:12.836 --> 0:10:18.836 and shares everything and loves to play. But the Horse 0:10:19.836 --> 0:10:23.476 is like a group that's like that. So you know, 0:10:23.516 --> 0:10:25.116 the more I played with the Horse and then we 0:10:25.156 --> 0:10:28.996 start jamming and just playing, and it's just always was easy. 0:10:29.116 --> 0:10:31.796 As long as the chords were right, it was good. 0:10:32.796 --> 0:10:36.916 Nothing complex, because that wasn't that's not what the horse does. 0:10:36.996 --> 0:10:41.036 The horse does it groove, and if it's simple enough, 0:10:41.636 --> 0:10:44.076 we can all get into and get lost and not 0:10:44.196 --> 0:10:50.036 worry about remembering anything or an arrangement. The window into 0:10:50.076 --> 0:10:52.516 the instrumental has got to be the window into the verse, 0:10:53.516 --> 0:10:55.556 so we can play for as long as we want, 0:10:55.596 --> 0:10:57.716 and then we're in the verse whenever we want to go. 0:10:58.756 --> 0:11:01.276 And that's how we do it. There's really no there's 0:11:01.276 --> 0:11:04.716 no rules about it. When you write the songs, do 0:11:04.756 --> 0:11:07.516 you think of a structure or does it happen more 0:11:08.196 --> 0:11:11.236 you're looking at the on the page and you're feeling 0:11:11.276 --> 0:11:14.876 the jam, and the shape of it evolves naturally. The 0:11:14.956 --> 0:11:19.196 best ones just naturally evolved. The best ones happened kind 0:11:19.236 --> 0:11:22.396 of by mistake, if you can say that they happened 0:11:22.516 --> 0:11:25.716 so naturally. You don't even know how that happened. It's 0:11:25.756 --> 0:11:30.196 a real deal, and we have it and we respect it, 0:11:30.276 --> 0:11:34.236 and we love it. You honor it. I'm glad to 0:11:34.236 --> 0:11:37.556 be together all the time. When we together, you appreciate 0:11:37.716 --> 0:11:41.036 the whole thing. It's like a gift. Beautiful. There's one. 0:11:41.116 --> 0:11:43.036 There's one on the new album. I don't know. I 0:11:43.036 --> 0:11:44.916 don't know titles. I don't know titles on anything. I 0:11:44.956 --> 0:11:46.796 don't know titles on any songs I work on either, 0:11:47.036 --> 0:11:50.916 But you sing about stars in the sky. Oh yeah, 0:11:50.996 --> 0:11:54.076 let's welcome back, welcome back, welcome back. It's not the same, 0:11:55.356 --> 0:12:01.516 don't you love all those commercials Welcome back, Applebee's, welcome back. 0:12:01.796 --> 0:12:04.996 Are you kidding? I'm not going in there. I mean, 0:12:05.036 --> 0:12:07.836 I got nothing against Applebee's. Good luck to Applebe's, and 0:12:08.116 --> 0:12:11.516 I'm sorry see EO, whoever you are. But so many 0:12:11.556 --> 0:12:15.796 people started saying welcome back. I was thinking myself, I 0:12:15.836 --> 0:12:18.956 don't think we're any farther away from this pandemic than 0:12:18.996 --> 0:12:21.836 we were the first day we discovered it. Yeah, I 0:12:21.836 --> 0:12:26.116 think we've made much progress, so I feel that we're 0:12:26.156 --> 0:12:28.796 still there. So I don't go out and play. I 0:12:28.916 --> 0:12:32.236 hardly go anywhere. I just stay at home because, lucky 0:12:32.276 --> 0:12:34.716 for me, I've got a lot to do. Yeah. Same here, 0:12:34.716 --> 0:12:36.876 we don't leave the house because there's a lot to 0:12:36.876 --> 0:12:39.236 do right here. Look at all the stuff you've gotten 0:12:39.276 --> 0:12:41.236 your vault. I mean, you've got so much stuff that 0:12:41.276 --> 0:12:44.716 you wish that you'd finished, or you wish that somebody 0:12:44.716 --> 0:12:46.876 else had come along and help you finish it, or 0:12:46.916 --> 0:12:49.996 whatever happened. What happened to that? That was great? How 0:12:49.996 --> 0:12:54.036 come we stop? I understand all of that time is weird, 0:12:54.476 --> 0:12:58.276 because see, you keep going, and that's the way. That's 0:12:58.316 --> 0:13:01.156 the way I've lived my musical life. I just go 0:13:01.276 --> 0:13:04.996 from one thing to another. And coincidentally, I just was 0:13:05.156 --> 0:13:09.356 visiting one of our sessions, one of our few sessions. 0:13:09.716 --> 0:13:12.756 We were actually in a studio. We were playing yeah 0:13:12.996 --> 0:13:16.076 and some of that stuff, and there's some radical stuff 0:13:16.116 --> 0:13:19.996 in there. There's one thing called hard Luck Stories that 0:13:20.436 --> 0:13:23.276 you should give a listen to sometime just to refresh 0:13:23.356 --> 0:13:26.356 your memory. I haven't heard anything since that day, so 0:13:26.516 --> 0:13:31.716 I know it's ridiculous. It is, yes, and that's not 0:13:31.756 --> 0:13:34.236 the one. That's the best one real. The other two 0:13:34.236 --> 0:13:39.796 are better, but hard Luck Stories it's ridiculous. Back and 0:13:40.316 --> 0:13:45.116 I think somewhere in the previous decade, Yeah, I did 0:13:45.156 --> 0:13:48.436 a bunch of demos. It's when I got the synclaviar 0:13:48.676 --> 0:13:51.116 and the Lynn drum and whenever they all that started, 0:13:51.596 --> 0:13:55.956 the seton drums, the sink system with the synclaviar and 0:13:56.396 --> 0:13:58.676 all this stuff. I got all that stuff, and I 0:13:58.676 --> 0:14:01.436 started laying down tracks and doing all kinds of stuff 0:14:01.476 --> 0:14:04.476 by myself and my ranch. And then I did a 0:14:04.476 --> 0:14:07.556 bunch of songs like that and recorded them next them, 0:14:07.596 --> 0:14:10.956 and but there's no real guitar player or anything on them. 0:14:11.116 --> 0:14:13.956 And they were all on multi tracks, and that's what 0:14:13.996 --> 0:14:16.196 we had when we went in the studio together. We 0:14:16.236 --> 0:14:19.556 had we had one of those that I brought in 0:14:19.676 --> 0:14:21.436 and I said, let's just try to play this song 0:14:21.556 --> 0:14:24.996 or whatever. And I played it and I was singing. 0:14:25.036 --> 0:14:28.236 I already sung on it and everything. So I must 0:14:28.236 --> 0:14:30.596 have said, or somebody must have said, why don't we 0:14:30.596 --> 0:14:33.796 just play with that? Which was weird because crazy Horse 0:14:33.876 --> 0:14:36.916 playing with a bunch of computers, it is weird. Wow. 0:14:36.996 --> 0:14:39.276 I don't remember this at all. I mean I remember, 0:14:39.396 --> 0:14:41.356 I remember being in the room with Crazy Horse. I 0:14:41.396 --> 0:14:45.076 remember the session, but I don't remember that. That's wild. Yeah, 0:14:45.156 --> 0:14:48.316 we only did one like that, Yeah, Hard Luck Stories. 0:14:48.356 --> 0:14:52.996 The other two are just live tracks of Modern World 0:14:53.196 --> 0:14:56.396 and Horseshoe Man, the two songs. Yeah, I remember there 0:14:56.436 --> 0:14:59.636 was a good version of Horseshoe Man as I think back. Yeah, 0:14:59.636 --> 0:15:02.356 it's a beauty things. It's great. I remember it being 0:15:02.476 --> 0:15:05.916 really in the moment I remember it. I remember that. See, 0:15:05.916 --> 0:15:09.796 that was an early master that was probably if I remember, 0:15:09.796 --> 0:15:12.716 it might have been the original performance in the studio, 0:15:12.996 --> 0:15:18.916 as was Modern World and Hard luck stories. It was 0:15:18.956 --> 0:15:21.996 the first time if you if you say, okay, the 0:15:22.036 --> 0:15:25.876 one I did with the computers and all the synthesizers 0:15:25.876 --> 0:15:28.556 and the machines. The one I did with the machines 0:15:28.676 --> 0:15:30.836 was the original one where I was writing it and 0:15:30.836 --> 0:15:33.196 I laid it all down. But the only other time 0:15:33.236 --> 0:15:36.716 I played it was when we put that on and 0:15:37.156 --> 0:15:40.316 we played with it, and it is so ridiculous. I 0:15:40.396 --> 0:15:42.556 can't I can't wait to hear it. It's the war 0:15:42.916 --> 0:15:47.636 of crazy horse against the machine versus the machines. That 0:15:47.676 --> 0:15:54.036 sounds great. Yeah, it's really good. Wins the battle. I 0:15:54.076 --> 0:15:59.316 think the horse one very they were very thankful the machines. 0:15:59.396 --> 0:16:01.476 The machines gave it them to some idea what they 0:16:01.476 --> 0:16:03.956 were doing, and it was easy to do. Never count 0:16:03.956 --> 0:16:07.396 the horse out, Oh no, no. The horse just sniffed 0:16:07.396 --> 0:16:09.796 the machines a couple of times. I can do this 0:16:10.476 --> 0:16:12.916 and turn its back on the machine and kicked them 0:16:12.916 --> 0:16:17.236 a couple of times. Don't bet against the horse. So 0:16:17.396 --> 0:16:20.116 that was great and we had a great time. I 0:16:20.156 --> 0:16:23.316 remember we booked the session and then you called me 0:16:23.476 --> 0:16:25.156 and you told me that you cut off a piece 0:16:25.196 --> 0:16:28.996 of your finger. Do you remember this, Yeah, that's where 0:16:28.996 --> 0:16:33.036 I happened after that session, no, before the session, and 0:16:33.156 --> 0:16:34.796 you called and told me about it, and I said, so, 0:16:34.996 --> 0:16:36.956 which we'll cancel. You said, I can't play guitar, So 0:16:36.956 --> 0:16:39.276 he said, we cancel the session, and you said, no, 0:16:39.396 --> 0:16:43.476 I have an idea. I'm gonna play harmonica through my guitar, 0:16:43.596 --> 0:16:47.836 rig right, and it's said okay, And that's so. That's 0:16:48.516 --> 0:16:51.316 that was what happened. That is so, that's why I'm 0:16:51.356 --> 0:16:55.956 not playing guitar on some of it. The only thing 0:16:55.996 --> 0:16:59.756 I played on Hard Luck Stories. I believe the only 0:16:59.796 --> 0:17:03.116 thing I played is one chord. Yeah, and I kept 0:17:03.156 --> 0:17:07.756 playing with one chord and just yeah and the rest 0:17:07.796 --> 0:17:13.116 of it. Poncho played his guitar, Yeah, played. Everything was good. 0:17:13.356 --> 0:17:15.036 But I remember you were able to play piano because 0:17:15.036 --> 0:17:17.516 you were playing piano the whole whole. Yeah. Yeah, I 0:17:17.556 --> 0:17:20.756 played piano on Horseshoe Man, and I didn't play anything 0:17:20.836 --> 0:17:25.716 on Modern World because I played harmonica. Yeah. We just 0:17:25.796 --> 0:17:29.436 kept going, We continued and we made good records. Yeah. 0:17:29.476 --> 0:17:31.996 I remember you had a marimba brought down. If I 0:17:32.036 --> 0:17:37.236 remember correctly, I think there may be marimba in there somewhere, 0:17:37.236 --> 0:17:39.436 because because I remember, i'd never seen a marimba in 0:17:39.476 --> 0:17:43.156 person before, so it was exciting. Well, that was the 0:17:43.236 --> 0:17:46.516 big thing, like xylophone. It was like a xylophone but 0:17:46.556 --> 0:17:49.716 made out of wood and really big, beautiful, and it 0:17:49.836 --> 0:17:53.516 had some machine in it that like spun almost like 0:17:53.516 --> 0:17:58.196 a Leslie. Yeah, that was used on I believe we 0:17:58.276 --> 0:18:02.236 used that on Horseshoe. Yeah. Cool stuff. We'll be right 0:18:02.276 --> 0:18:04.876 back with more from Neil Young after a quick break. 0:18:08.716 --> 0:18:12.556 We're with Rick Rubin and Neil Young. You mentioned Stills. 0:18:12.756 --> 0:18:15.556 Do you remember the first time ever playing with Stills. 0:18:15.836 --> 0:18:19.436 I played with him in Fort William, Ontario, in like 0:18:19.596 --> 0:18:23.276 nineteen sixty one, before I even went back, before I 0:18:23.316 --> 0:18:26.476 even went down to La Wow. And I went down 0:18:26.516 --> 0:18:30.116 to La looking for him, couldn't find him. And I 0:18:30.156 --> 0:18:32.396 was driving down the street and they were thinking of 0:18:32.436 --> 0:18:35.436 going to San Francisco. Bruce Palmer and I, you know, 0:18:35.516 --> 0:18:39.556 just driving down the street in our hearse's with all 0:18:39.596 --> 0:18:42.596 of our stuff and you go to San Francisco, will 0:18:42.596 --> 0:18:46.796 find some music there. So all the Sunset Boulevard around 0:18:47.036 --> 0:18:51.396 uh right, it between the Screen Actors Guild and the 0:18:51.436 --> 0:18:55.316 Old Green Blacks and exactly where that is really close 0:18:55.356 --> 0:18:59.236 to Earle Canyon, Yeah, really close to all canyon. I 0:18:59.236 --> 0:19:02.316 looked out and there and I heard this somebody calling 0:19:02.396 --> 0:19:06.196 Neil Neil, and I looked out the window and it Stills. 0:19:06.756 --> 0:19:08.876 He's in a car going the other way, but the 0:19:09.116 --> 0:19:12.236 graphics kind of going really slow. So I pulled over 0:19:12.316 --> 0:19:15.356 and they came and Stills with Puree and they had 0:19:15.356 --> 0:19:18.596 been trying to get it going. So that's how the 0:19:18.636 --> 0:19:24.556 Springfield started. So the the initial playing with Stills in 0:19:24.636 --> 0:19:27.996 Ontario must have been good for you to want to 0:19:28.036 --> 0:19:30.676 come down to California to find him. Oh yeah, No, 0:19:30.796 --> 0:19:32.716 that was great. We played a lot of stuff and 0:19:32.756 --> 0:19:36.836 it always felt good. And he was just really getting 0:19:36.876 --> 0:19:39.916 into electric guitar for the first time. He had an 0:19:39.956 --> 0:19:43.436 acoustic guitar and had done a folk but he had 0:19:43.436 --> 0:19:46.676 gotten an electric guitar and he liked playing it. And 0:19:46.676 --> 0:19:50.196 he was in a band called The Company and what 0:19:50.356 --> 0:19:54.996 he played in the Company was his his electric guitar sometimes. 0:19:55.636 --> 0:19:59.876 And the Company was kind of a folk Christian minstrel's 0:19:59.996 --> 0:20:02.916 kind of thing, only sixty four or something. It's pretty cool, 0:20:03.276 --> 0:20:07.156 like a vocal based group. Yeah, but they had instruments 0:20:07.156 --> 0:20:10.436 and they played, so they the group going yeah, but 0:20:10.636 --> 0:20:13.476 we were at the time. It was me and the Squires. 0:20:13.476 --> 0:20:16.076 It was me and a bass player and drummer and 0:20:16.196 --> 0:20:18.596 we were just rock and roll, crazy rock and roll. 0:20:18.636 --> 0:20:24.116 I was doing stuff based on Jim Rose. Jim Rose 0:20:24.156 --> 0:20:28.116 had Hey Joe, Yeah, and he also had great versions 0:20:28.156 --> 0:20:31.956 of I think it was Oh Susannah, or maybe it 0:20:32.036 --> 0:20:34.516 was anyway it was. There was some other guys in 0:20:34.596 --> 0:20:37.956 the group too, and from from his band, and they 0:20:37.996 --> 0:20:42.916 played both folk songs with rock and roll arrangements, and 0:20:43.316 --> 0:20:46.236 one of them was their version of Oh Susannah, which 0:20:46.236 --> 0:20:49.436 I thought was really cool. I actually did a version 0:20:49.476 --> 0:20:52.396 of it on one of my albums, Psychedelic Bill with 0:20:52.796 --> 0:20:57.036 Crazy Horse, decades later. So there was a rock version 0:20:57.076 --> 0:20:59.676 of Hey Joe prior to Hendrix. I didn't know that. 0:21:00.116 --> 0:21:04.956 Oh yeah, oh Hendrix game right, had no idea. I 0:21:04.956 --> 0:21:08.076 don't know. Hey Joe was a very cool folk rock 0:21:08.236 --> 0:21:10.956 thing and Jim Rose is great. Try to find a 0:21:11.036 --> 0:21:14.156 Tim Rose version I will. So you were in the 0:21:14.196 --> 0:21:18.156 Squires playing music inspired by that kind of stuff? Was 0:21:18.196 --> 0:21:20.916 your group with Rick James prior to that? It was 0:21:20.956 --> 0:21:25.676 after that? So Squires was first, then Mina Birds and 0:21:25.756 --> 0:21:27.836 what was that group? Like, anybody from the Squires and 0:21:27.916 --> 0:21:31.116 the Mina Birds or no, no, just me. What was 0:21:31.156 --> 0:21:34.476 that group like? Well, Bruce Palmer was in that group. 0:21:34.916 --> 0:21:38.236 Rick James was in that group, amazing, John Yacamac and 0:21:38.356 --> 0:21:42.756 another guy, a guitar player and a drummer, Rick Rick, 0:21:42.916 --> 0:21:46.196 the drummer Boost, the bass player John and the rhythm 0:21:46.236 --> 0:21:49.756 guitar player. The lead guitar player was gone. That's why 0:21:49.796 --> 0:21:53.916 they bought me and Rick Matthews, Ricky James Matthews, the 0:21:54.036 --> 0:21:58.236 third was singing lead and he was in Canada and 0:21:58.356 --> 0:22:01.036 we didn't know, but he was a draft dodger. I see. 0:22:01.236 --> 0:22:03.316 And what was the music? How would you describe the music? 0:22:03.996 --> 0:22:08.636 R and B rock and roll, rolling Stones meets motown 0:22:09.476 --> 0:22:15.916 meets old time southern blues? Great? Did you did you 0:22:15.956 --> 0:22:19.636 do gigs? Oh? Yeah, how were the gigs? Gigs were great? 0:22:20.356 --> 0:22:23.156 It was all over the place. I remember pulling my 0:22:23.236 --> 0:22:27.596 guitar chord out multiple times, was playing, jumping around and 0:22:28.036 --> 0:22:31.636 suddenly there's no sound. Oh yeah. We played high schools. 0:22:31.676 --> 0:22:36.276 We played, We played clubs in Yorkville, in Toronto. So 0:22:36.316 --> 0:22:40.236 then you come down south, you find Stills, the band 0:22:40.316 --> 0:22:45.276 starts and things go good. For Buffalo Springfield, It's great. 0:22:45.516 --> 0:22:49.196 It's a great band. Never was recorded. I wanted to 0:22:49.196 --> 0:22:50.756 ask you about that. What do you remember about the 0:22:50.756 --> 0:22:55.036 recording sessions for Buffalo Springfield. Our managers were our producers. 0:22:55.556 --> 0:22:58.436 That's the one thing I remember. They were awful. They 0:22:58.436 --> 0:23:00.196 didn't know what the hell they were doing. They were 0:23:00.236 --> 0:23:02.996 on the phone half the time, they were posing. They 0:23:03.036 --> 0:23:06.956 had nothing. We if we'd had like, oh god, if 0:23:06.956 --> 0:23:11.836 we'd had Barry Friedman, if we'd had Paul Rothschild, any 0:23:11.916 --> 0:23:15.876 number of guys from the folk and blues scene, we 0:23:15.876 --> 0:23:19.076 would have been in pretty good shape. We had two 0:23:19.116 --> 0:23:22.356 managers from New York. They didn't know how to do it. 0:23:22.476 --> 0:23:25.636 They had Sonny and Share. Yeah, they didn't do that, 0:23:25.756 --> 0:23:29.996 though Sonny did that. Yeah, so we we didn't have 0:23:30.076 --> 0:23:33.996 the benefit of We didn't even have Sonny. You need 0:23:34.796 --> 0:23:37.796 I would have been something to here. So anyway, we 0:23:37.876 --> 0:23:41.636 didn't have much. So the recording sessions was mostly up 0:23:41.676 --> 0:23:45.356 to Skills and I and for a you know, the 0:23:45.396 --> 0:23:48.916 whole band. But that that was it. On for what 0:23:48.996 --> 0:23:52.716 it's worth. The guitar sound in the beginning of the harmonics, 0:23:53.396 --> 0:23:57.676 who plays that? I never knew that. It's it's funny 0:23:57.676 --> 0:24:02.116 because the song is so it's obviously synonymous with Buffalo Springfield. 0:24:02.196 --> 0:24:04.836 But we think of it as a Stills song, Yet 0:24:04.876 --> 0:24:07.676 that guitar part is kind of the musical signature of 0:24:07.716 --> 0:24:10.956 the song. And um, it's just interesting to know that 0:24:10.996 --> 0:24:13.676 you played it. Yeah, yeah, it was live. Do you 0:24:13.716 --> 0:24:15.676 remember how that came about? How that part came about, 0:24:15.716 --> 0:24:17.876 because it's unusual. I never heard that in a song before, 0:24:17.996 --> 0:24:21.676 or maybe since. It seemed to me like the song 0:24:21.956 --> 0:24:27.476 was a news warning or something, and I was thinking 0:24:27.516 --> 0:24:33.556 of the sound of news, so the d could be 0:24:33.716 --> 0:24:36.956 part of a news sound, you know. Yeah, and it 0:24:37.076 --> 0:24:42.756 just it just going, Dad just doing that thing with 0:24:42.796 --> 0:24:47.996