Top 10 Neil Young with Crazy Horse songs

Neil Young’s music has spanned a period of 45 years and has no signs of slowing down anytime soon. He has 35 studio albums under his belt and numerous live albums. His music has crossed many genres, including folk, country rock, big band blues, rock, electronic, grunge and others.

One thing that has spanned over nearly as much time as Young’s music is his relationship with the band Crazy Horse. In 1969, Young recruited three members of the band The Rockets to accompany him on his second solo album, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. These musicians decided to call themselves Crazy Horse, and the album was billed as Neil Young with Crazy Horse. As of now, the band has accompanied Young on 11 studio albums and numerous live albums. According to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Young has described his association with Crazy Horse as “the essence of my musical life. This is the core, the smoldering thing I come back to over and over again....If I had never done anything else, the Crazy Horse stuff would just stand on its own.”

Young’s long-lived success is witnessed by his newest album Psychedelic Pill’s current Grammy nomination for Best Rock Album, on which Young is once again backed by Crazy Horse. Here are my choices for top 10 songs by Neil Young with Crazy Horse in celebration of this latest award nomination.

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10. Don’t Cry No Tears
Though most songs Young has played with Crazy Horse are of the hard rock genre, “Don’t Cry No Tears” shows Young’s country influence. This song was released on the 1975 album Zuma, Young’s second studio album with Crazy Horse. The song was partially derived from an at the time unreleased song Young had written in high school called “I Wonder.”

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9. Country Home

Also showing Young’s country influence, “Country Home” is a song written by Young and performed live by Young and Crazy Horse in the ‘70s though it was not released on a studio album until the 1990 album Ragged Glory, Young’s fifth studio album with Crazy Horse. It is a popular song for their Farm Aid performances.

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8. Down by the River

This is one of three songs that Young wrote in one day in 1969 while in his bed in Topanga Canyon with a high fever. It appears on the album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere which was his first album with backup band Crazy Horse. The song is basically a murder ballad in the same vein as Hendrix’s “Hey Joe.”

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7. Mr. Soul

Young wrote this song in the 1960s and it was first recorded by Buffalo Springfield in 1967. Since then, Young has released more versions of this song than any of his other songs to date. It is a pure psychedelic song in its simplest form. Young claims it took him about five minutes to write it. The song has been covered by Rush and Widespread Panic, among others.

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6. Cowgirl in the Sand

“Cowgirl in the Sand” is one of three songs Young wrote in a day’s time - a day when he was in bed, delirious from a 103 degree fever. The song appears on his second solo album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, his first with Crazy Horse as his backup band. It seems that many music critics have tried to dissect this song with little success. Young has said the song expresses his impression of beaches in Spain, although he had never been to Spain at the time he wrote the song.

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5. Like a Hurricane

Young wrote this song with a friend in the back of a car in 1975 at a time when he couldn’t sing because of surgery he had recently gone through on his vocal cords. It was first released on his 1977 album American Stars ‘n Bars. Not only has Young released several versions of this song, but it has been covered by numerous artists. This particular video is a very interesting and tempestuous production.

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4. Cinnamon Girl

Young wrote this and two other songs that appear on the 1969 album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere all in a day’s time while he was sick in bed with a fever of 103. This was Young’s first album with Crazy Horse. “Cinnamon Girl” was released as a single in 1970 and hit #55 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

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3. Hey Hey My My (Into the Black)

This song and the album Rust Never Sleeps shows Young’s restless muse responding to the rise of new wave and punk scenes, and his need to change up his music style to remain relevant. Young did so with great success, eventually being dubbed the godfather of grunge and influencing the music of the likes of Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder. “Hey Hey My My (Into the Black)” was accompanied by the electric grunge music of Crazy Horse. The song’s counterpart was called “My My Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)” which Young played solo on his acoustic guitar. Both songs consider the consequences of never adapting your music to changing styles.

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2. Rockin’ in the Free World

Young wrote this song as a political statement against the George H.W. Bush administration, but it’s popular chorus, “Keep on rockin’ in the free world,” led it to be thought of more as an anthem for the fall of communism. The song was released on Young’s 1989 album Freedom. It is ranked #216 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

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1. Cortez the Killer

Young has said that he wrote “Cortez the Killer” while studying history in high school. The song appears on the 1975 album Zuma. The song was ranked #39 among Guitar World’s 100 Greatest Guitar Solos. It was also included in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time at #321.

Image: Wikimedia Commons