Sunday, June 28, 2009

Old Man Take A Look at Yourself...

Okay, kids, so despite my current straitened economic circumstances, I went ahead and splurged the 238 bucks over at Amazon for the ten-disc Blu-ray of Vol. 1 of the Neil Young Archives.

So of course I'm going to share with you.

From 1971, please enjoy Neil's previously unreleased tale of rock star anomie, "Southern California Brings Me Down."





I need someone to live with me
To keep my bed warm and keep my shorts clean
I need a maid to give for free
And sew patches on my jeans

I dreamed I found my cowgirl housewife
I was driving in my pickup through L.A.
I gotta love you while I can, babe
Before I become an old man

Southern California brings me down
Southern California brings me down
Southern California brings me down

I need some place to go
O North Ontario
It's safer than Alabama
It's safer than O-Ohio O-Ohio O

Gonna go home now where I can grow old
With the cowgirl of my dreams
Gonna stayed stoned now
Stare out my basement window and scream
Aa-aaa

I think we can all agree, Neil never distilled Topanga Canyon angst quite so brilliantly, although lord knows he's tried on numerous occasions.

13 comments:

David said...

Wow, his voice sounds so young...certainly, this is a precursor to "A Man Needs a Maid"...

MBowen said...

...yer so bad...

Anonymous said...

Heh heh.
:-)

steve simels said...

That anonymous was me, but the sentiment remains.

Heh heh.

dave™© said...

Do you have that Joan Baez song from about the same time? Something in the chorus about "just across the Bay"...

steve simels said...

You know, I should probably post that Baez song one of these days...
:-)

Anonymous said...

"Oh Colorado's calling me..." (HEY, YOU!) - bill buckner

Kid Charlemagne said...

What exactly is "Topanga Canyon angst"?

steve simels said...

A very high class variety.
:-)

With the best weed....

dave™© said...

So who is that - I'm assuming Christopher Guest?

geor3ge said...

Believe it or don't, I first heard this tune around 20 years ago when Dr. Demento spun it on his weekly show.

steve simels said...

It's a guy named Tony Scheuren. Guest may be playing guitar -- I have the LP, and I'll check the credits.

It's from the absolutely classic "National Lampoon's Goodbye Pop," which has never been on CD, although some parts of it have shown up on various Nat Lamp comps.

dave™© said...

It's from the absolutely classic "National Lampoon's Goodbye Pop," which has never been on CD...

Has "Radio Dinner"? If so, I missed it...