Neil Young has been criticized by liberals for his stance, "Let's Roll" albumn

USA Today ^ | 04.11.02 | By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY

[meandog]

Neil Young has been criticized by liberals for his stance.

Neil Young figured the music world would get on a roll with "Let's roll," Sept. 11's instant catchphrase for U.S. defiance against terrorism.

Amid the glut of musical spinoffs, Young's Let's Roll, a tribute to the passengers of doomed Flight 93, is the only Sept. 11 anthem to seize upon Todd Beamer's last known utterance.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Benjamin would not agree that any "essential" liberties need be sacrificed for national security. Maybe you are worried about losing the liberty of having your a$$ blown away in a plane by one of the Murderous Minions of Mad Mo. I am not.

[Fintan]

If it's half as good as "Ragged Glory", I'm buyng it.

[zarf]

Check Out Love and Theft....awesome.

[colorado tanker]

Yep, rock and roll is the kinda music that soothes the soul, to coin a phrase.

[monkeywrench]

bloodmeridan said Ben Franklin was correct, not Neil Young.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Yeah, and your point is?

[Revolting cat!]

Hear Dylan's last two albums. Not only do they stand up to Blood on the Tracks they perhaps beat it. He has grown, matured, become cynical perhaps and his voice sounds like sh**! Then there is Things Have Changed on some soundtrack album released last year:

Bridge #1:
Standing on the gallows with my head in a noose
Any minute now I'm expecting all hell to break loose

Chorus
People are crazy and times are strange
I'm locked in tight, I'm out of range
I used to care, but things have changed

(You can hear at least some of it on bobdylan.com)

[Revolting cat!]

He was particularly moved by reports that passengers had taken a vote before acting, upholding democratic ideals in the midst of crisis.

Huh? Is it me or is this guy in the intellectual kindergarten despite his conservative or libertarian leanings? (Or maybe it's the author's infantilism to emphasize something Neil mentioned in passing.) I bet he doesn't take a vote to make every trivial decision in the studio!

[cardinal4]

A man writes a song immortalizing the very ideals that this country stands for and is getting criticzed for it.So what about Ohio! It was a different time a different place.How many others have written songs about 9/11? How many other long hairs grew up and realized that maybe the hippie lifestyle might have been wrong? Neil has done more for America than a lot of Americans.Honoring the 93 heroes is something no Americans have done in song.Neil is Canadian and a friend of America....And I was glad for that when I bought Live Rust in 1979.Criticizing Neil on this Forum is pretty low considering our own Hoolywood and entertainment people havent done S**t!! Awaiting the flames.

[cardinal4]

hoolywood=hollywood

[Libloather]

If it's half as good as "Ragged Glory", I'm buyng it.

CSNY concert tickets START @ $75 for nosebleed seats. Are there really that many suckers out there?

It seems obvious that CSNY's musical message worked. Too bad it now costs so damn much to hear it...

[Howlin]

I once called Microsoft, back before I knew better, and was put on hold. The ENTIRE time I was holding, they played Neil's songs. I never, ever called back.

[Revolting cat!]

RE # 29:

No flames in over 1/2 hour? Pity.

It takes no courage to write a song about 9/11 and others have done it making much less fuss about it (take Alan Jackson for example.) But it would have taken some courage to write Northern Man instead of the noxious Southern Man at another place and another time, as you call it, and it would take some courage to say now, I regret ever writing Ohio and I ain't going on no tour with those 3 Commies. But Neil, like so many, likes to go with the flow. A man of his time swimming with the tide. With all that, Neil's not all bad politically and musically, and we reserve the right to criticize puff pieces written to coincide with tours and album releases.

[cardinal4]

Im surprised too! No flames! Yours was even tame. Im a big Neil fan,always have been.Southern Man,(I saw in an interview with surviving Skynyrd members) was a joke.In fact Ronnie Van Zandt was a good friend of Neils.Anyway,I admire him for writing it,and I was unaware that Alan Jackson had wrote one.But those are the only two Im aware of.I still keep my stance that badmouthing Neil is wrong...in this instance.Just my opinion.

[Revolting cat!]

(My intention wasn't to flame.)

I think that the reason people are not writing songs about 9/11 is that they don't want to be seen as capitalizing on it. Both Alan Jackson and Neil Young have been apologetic about it and I believe they're sincere.

I was a bit surprised to hear that Neil decided to tour with the Irrelevants and still don't quite understand it. They're about, what, 25 years behind him and their output for those 25 years has been roundly panned. I like him too and will probably get a copy of his latest when I can find a used one.

[sheik yerbouty]

I thought he was from Canada.

[tutstar]

let's roll

[bloodmeridian]

Umm, read my post again: I'm saying that Neil's wrong. The only thing I'm worried about is government going too far -- which it never fails to do.

[justshutupandtakeit]

I know what you are saying and I am saying that he is not wrong. What is wrong is trotting out an irrelevent quotation from Franklin who would likely not disapprove of any of the steps taken to protect the nation from the Murdering Minions of Mad Mo. He would probably have suggested even more drastic measures.

There is nothing wrong with defending the nation, the constitution requires the president to do just that. The "We can make an omelet without breaking eggs crowd" has no idea of what Franklin was referring to when he said that. He certainly did not mean for some yahoo two hundred years later to drag it out of mothballs and throw at a government acting to destroy evil doers attacking its people.

[bloodmeridian]

Sure. That's why every time I fly, some old, white, non-muslim lady with blue hair has the contents of her purse dumped on a table -- because the president is looking for terrorists. Don't kid yourself. You and I are about as free as zoo animals. But, that's right, I forgot; ole Ben, of course, wasn't talking about government tyranny when he made his famous statement -- which I'll bet more than "yahoos" hold dear. No. He was talking about government benevolence. Because government always knows best. Right? LOL.