Quote Of The Day By Neil Young: 'You Get To A Point In Life Where Things Are Happening Everywhere Around You, And...'

As part of Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, as well as a bandleader and solo artist, Neil Young has become part of the musical lexicon. With an ever-evolving sound that's straddled folk, country, blues, and noise rock — and lyrics that go from the political to the personal, from the pastoral to the dark and cynical, from anguish to ecstasy — few artists are as prolific, inventive, incisive, and outspoken; few as built for the long haul.

"I don't know if there's been another that's been inducted ... that's still as vital as he is today," Eddie Vedder marveled at Young's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction in 1995, and since then, he's put out over 30 albums. While 1972's "Harvest," a Billboard Hot 200 No. 1, was his commercial peak, Young's catalog contains no shortage of vinyls that classic rock fans should already own, such as "After the Gold Rush" and "Rust Never Sleeps." 

Born in Toronto, Canada, in 1945, Young grew up in Winnipeg with his mother, who'd divorced his father. Following stints in rock bands and as a folk musician in his home country, he moved to Los Angeles in 1966. Buffalo Springfield formed soon after, but despite some success, they broke up in 1968. The following year, he released a debut self-titled solo album, took on his long-time backing band Crazy Horse, and joined Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young. He was off and running.

It's tempting to call Young a torchbearer for '60s and '70s rock, especially as we've lost so many of his generation, but since he wasn't content to rest on his laurels, he never became a museum piece. And because Young endures and his legacy continues to grow, he's our quote of the day.

"You get to a point in life where things are happening everywhere around you, and your friends are going away and not coming back."

In a 2022 interview with The New Yorker, Neil Young talked to writer Amanda Petrusich about his recently released album, "World Record." In the interview, he also talked about his fruitful collaboration with producer Rick Rubin as well as the role of advocacy in his work and music. Asked if "World Record" was "in conversation" with his older material, Young was direct. "Well, in this case, very little," he said. "Because the songs came from not thinking. They came from another place." And when Petrusich brought up retirement, the then 77-year-old was direct, prefacing his aforementioned quote of the day with, "Doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility." 

His journey has been long — he's lost family, friends, fellow musicians along the way — and he can't help but feel like he's an endangered species: a survivor.

In his interview with The New Yorker, Neil Young reflected on one of the toughest aspects of getting older: Loss is a fact of life. And as the world keeps moving forward and the yesterdays get even more remote, he felt lost in the shuffle and out of step. As it does to everybody sooner or later, time has taken away old friends, family members, and fellow musicians.

While Young is still standing, the list of icons we've lost has only grown. He's seen leading lights of his generations taken too soon — Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Jim Morrison — and losses that hit closer to home. In November 1972, he lost Crazy Horse bandleader Danny Whitten, followed by roadie Bruce Berry in 1973, events in Neil Young's tragic real-life story that were channeled in the album recorded just after: "Tonight's the Night." 

When David Crosby passed away in 2023, Young recalled the bond they formed years ago; even as their relationship was fraught at times, they're connected forever. "Crosby was a very supportive friend in my early life," he said in his published eulogy, "... we bit off big pieces of our experience together" (via Pitchfork). No matter how many times it happens, it never gets easier; to lose an old friend is to lose a part of who you are.

Just like some of Young's best songs, aging can be a downer. And yet, looked at another way, he's reminding us — and himself – to hold on. Reach out to that old friend you haven't talked to in years and check in with family. Cherish those you love and have loved because nothing lasts forever. 

• "The reason everybody's so uptight about the things they're talking about, in my view, has nothing to do with what they're talking about. I think it has to do with what's happening to the planet." 
• "Half the people feel musicians should be listened to simply as artists and shouldn't step outside their area as political spokesmen. But the other half feel what musicians have to say is meaningful. Maybe it's not going to change your mind. But it's going to reinforce what you feel if someone whose music you relate to agrees with you." 
• "... when it comes to songwriting, it's all just a bunch of information coming from the same place. And I don't know how to relate to the thoughts behind it. I really don't. The songs are on their own little trip, I go out and ride along with them and sing them and sometimes I won't sing them because I don't feel like it." 
• "Every one of my records, to me, is like an ongoing autobiography. I can't write the same book every time." 
• "Well, it's like a mirror. And you can't get away from a mirror if you stand in front of it all the time, right. But if you step away from it, you don't notice it any more. And that's what the stage is like for me. See, an image becomes meaningless in as much as it's always temporary." 
• "I don't make a habit of listening to my old stuff. Ever ... I spend so much time making them that when it's over, I just never want to listen to 'em again. I just send 'em out into the world like an evil father. 'OK get out of here now. Be sure to write if you find a home!'"