Top 10 Best Neil Young Songs

Sugar Mountain

Cinnamon Girl

Cowgirl in the Sand

Expecting To Fly

I Am A Child

After the Gold Rush

Old Man

Cortez The Killer

Tonight's The Night

Needle & The Damage Done

Broken Arrow

Helpless

Jean Ray The Cinnamon Girl?

Neil Young

Neil Young was born in Toronto, Canada in 1945. Here is Neil Young's website. Neil Young is one of the greatest song writers, singers and guitar players ever, in my opinion. One of the first songs I ever learned how to play on guitar was: Down By The River, by Neil Young. Incidentally, this song's chords on guitar are the basic chords that will also form the bar chords that are used extensively in rock and roll songs. Neil Young's songs and style can range from folksy to heavy distortion.

Neil Young songs are very melodic and usually use basic chords. His songs flow really well even when they are intricate. I think that Neil Young crafted his songs so well, that you can easily sing the songs and play the guitar parts at the same time. This is very important when learning guitar and it's a rare skill to craft songs in such a way. It's one thing to be able to play a song on guitar and its quite another to be able to sing along with the guitar part, as you play. If you can play a song on guitar and also sing the lyrics at the same time, it is an accomplishment and quite rewarding.

Everyone has probably heard of Heart Of Gold or a Horse With No Name from Neil Young. I remember these songs quite well from long ago, playing on the radio, all the time. On this list I will be visiting other Neil Young songs that you just might have forgotten and some of the all time favorites too, along with excerpts of some of the lyrics.

Sugar Mountain

I chose a single, vinyl version of Sugar Mountain, on the video located on the right hand side. Most of these Neil Young songs I heard originally on old AM radio sets, or on vinyl albums and 8-tracks I had bought. I think some of those versions are much better than some of the later, live and in concert video recordings that you might find on video sites. In some cases, on some of the other songs here, I did use a live concert version of the song, just because I liked them.

Sugar Mountain, for me personally, brings back tons of memories. Memories of waking up on warm summer days. Memories of being a preteen and plugging in an 8-track tape with this song on it. 8-track tapes were great because they could play endlessly and you could jump tracks to get closer to your favorite songs. Young wrote the song Sugar Mountain in 1964 and eventually recorded the song in 1968, as part of his live performance at Canterbury House in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Sugar Mountain was also released on the b-side of the single release of Cinnamon Girl and was finally included on his Decade album in 1977.

Cinnamon Girl

Cinnamon Girl was on the 1969 album called Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, which was Young's first album with his band called Crazy Horse. Jean Ray is said to be the inspiration for the songs Cinnamon Girl and Cowgirl in the Sand. I posted a video of her, at the very bottom of this article. I will talk about her a little more as we go along, so keep her in mind.

A dreamer of pictures, I run in the night, you see us together, chasing the moonlight, my cinnamon girl...

Cowgirl in the Sand

Cowgirl in the Sand is also from the Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere album. The song Cowgirl in the Sand was also said to be inspired by Jean Ray. Neil Young had supposedly visited her and her family while they were living near a beach. Jean Ray was part of a folk duo called Jim and Jean and was Bryan Ray's (member of Paul McCartney's band) sister. Jim and Jean would become a married couple, as well. See Jim and Jean video at the bottom.

Hello cowgirl in the sand, is this place at your command? Can I stay here, for a while? Can I see your sweet, sweet smile? Old enough now to change your name. When so many love you, is it the same? It's the woman in you that makes you want to play this game...

Expecting To Fly

Expecting To Fly was from the Buffalo Springfield Again album in 1967. Expecting To Fly has always been one of my all time favorite Neil Young songs.

There you stood on the edge of your feather, expecting to fly...while I laughed...I wondered whether..I could wave goodbye...knowing that you'd gone. By the summer it was healing...we had said goodbye...all the years we'd spent with feeling, ended with a cry...babe..

I tried so hard to stand, as I stumbled and fell to the ground...so hard to laugh as I fumbled and reached for the love I found...knowing it was gone...if I never lived without you...now you know I'd die...if I never said I loved you..Now you know I'd try...babe

I Am A Child

I Am A Child is from the 1968 Buffalo Springfield album called Last Time Around.

God gave to you...now, you give to me...I'd like to know what you learned.
The sky is blue and so is the sea...what is the color...when black is burned..?.. what is the color...

After the Gold Rush

After the Gold Rush is from Neil Young's 1970 album of the same name. In addition to After the Gold Rush, it's also included on Neil Young's Decade, Greatest Hits and Live Rust albums.

Old Man

Old Man is from Neil Young's Harvest album. Neil Young apparently approved a Redlight King version of Old Man which uses a sampling. It uses a sample of the song Old Man within Redlight King's version. I started hearing it sometimes on the radio and liked it. The Redlight King version of Old Man is sort of a soulful rap type song. You can hear Neil Young singing "Old man take a look at my life" in the background or as sort of a chorus to the song. You can watch Redlight King's version of Old Man here.

Cortez the Killer

...his subjects gathered around him...like the leaves around a tree...in their clothes of many colors...for the angry gods to see...

Cortez the Killer was from Young's 1975 album called Zuma. It was recorded with his band Crazy Horse. I wanted to include a Neil Young song called Soldier right about now, but I could not find a good recording or video of it, so you will just have to buy the album.

Tonight's the Night

The song called Tonight's the Night is from the album by the same name, that was finally released in 1975. Bruce Berry was a friend of Neil Young's and had worked with him as a roadie. The line in the song: "Bruce Berry was a working man, he used to load that Econoline van," is a reference to him loading musical equipment. Neil Young wrote Tonight's the Night after Bruce Berry had succumbed to a heroin overdose right after Danny Whitten (guitar player for Crazy Horse) had also died from a mixture of alcohol and Valium that he was more than likely using to kick heroin.

Bruce Berry was a working man...he used to load that econoline van...
....early in the morning at the break of day...he used to sleep until the afternoon...if you never heard him sing...I guess you won't too soon...people let me tell you...it sent a chill up and down my spine...when I picked up the telephone and heard that he'd died...out on the mainline...

The Needle and the Damage Done

I caught you knocking at my cellar door...I love you baby...can I have some more?

The Needle and the Damage Done first appeared on Young's Harvest album in 1972. The Needle and the Damage Done was recorded live, rather than being recorded in the studio. It is also included on the albums Decade and Young's Greatest Hits.

Broken Arrow

Broken Arrow is a song written by Neil Young and recorded by Buffalo Springfield on their 1967 album called Buffalo Springfield Again. Broken Arrow starts out like it's in front of some crazy fans that are screaming at a concert.

well hello Mr. Soul, I dropped by to pick up a reason (old school fans would claim reefer) cha cha for the thought that I caught, that my head is the event of the season...(unintelligible ad lib)

Then a completely different change where it turns into:

The lights turned on and the curtain fell down and when it was over it felt like a dream, they stood at the stage door and begged for a scream, the agents had paid for the black limousine, that waited outside in the rain. Did you see them? Did you see them?

Did you see them in the river? They were there, to wave to you. Could you tell that the empty quiver, brown skinned Indian on the banks, that were crowded and narrow, held a broken arrow?

Then a noisy change, possibly a jet airliner is heard overhead then it begins again with a calliope or carnival sounding organ begins:

18 years of American dream, he saw that his brother had sworn on the wall, he hung up his eyelids and ran down the hall, his mother had told him a trip was a fall and don't mention babies at all. Did you see him, did you see him?

Did you see him in the river, he was there to wave to you. Could you tell that the empty quiver, brown skinned Indian on the banks, that were crowded and narrow, held a broken arrow?

Then a snare drum starts and progressively gets louder until it starts to feed back, delay or loop.

The streets were lined for the wedding parade.The Queen wore the white gloves, the county of song, the black covered caisson her horses had drawn, protected her King from the sun rays of dawn, they married for peace and were gone. Did you see them, did you see them? Did you see them in the river? They were there to wave to you. Could you tell that the empty quiver, brown skinned Indian on the banks, that were crowded and narrow, held a broken arrow?

Then the song goes into an instrumental clarinet piece with a jazzy piano intermixed, it's just a great song and possibly the best lyrics ever written. At the end, is the sound of heartbeats and the song ends.

Broken Arrow has some of the most unique change ups, that I know of, in a song. I wrote a lot of the lyrics here, because I see what I believe to be a lot of errors or misquotes in them from what I have seen online, but I might be mistaken.

Helpless

Helpless was originally recorded with Young's band called Crazy Horse in early 1969, but was made more famous with the great harmonization on vocals, when he recorded it with Crosby, Stills, Nash (& Young) on their Deja Vu album in 1970. Helpless is a great song to finish up with.