The Neil Young song with a nod to Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix
There are several key reasons why Neil Young resonates so deeply as a musician. One of the most significant is his ability to channel his emotions—both the highs and the lows—into his music, resulting in some of the rawest and most impactful songs ever written. Another is his steadfast connection to his roots. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Young has consistently kept his feet on the ground, drawing inspiration from his surroundings and staying true to the places and experiences that shaped him.
Alcohol and drugs have undeniably taken their toll on Young at times, as has the familiar rock star egotism that touched many of his generation. This was evident in his decision to fill the extensive tour for Harvest—his most successful album—with a setlist of mostly unknown songs, leaving fans disgruntled. Ironically, this tour spawned the album he dislikes the most, Time Fades Away. However, it’s a testament to Young’s resilience that every time he has lost his way—whether due to personal struggles like the deaths of friends or romantic break-ups—he has always managed to find his footing and continue forging ahead. His list of missteps is remarkably short and can be counted on one hand.
It’s clear that across Young’s career, the moments that have been the most affecting are the ones that are pulled from the personal. Just take ‘Ambulance Blues’ from 1974’s On the Beach, for example. In one of his most emotionally ruining songs, Young, who was incredibly depressed at the time due to the deaths of his friends Danny Whitten and Bruce Berry and grappling with a relationship with Carrie Snodgress that wasn’t far from falling apart, seeks to make sense of his past.
To do so, he casts a nostalgic spell and, in the opening lines, takes us back to his days as a young, wide-eyed folkie back in Toronto: “Back in the old folky days / The air was magic when we played / The riverboat was rockin’ in the rain / Midnight was the time for the raid”. Looking back on his time in the Yorkville neighbourhood, the formative Riverboat Club and other aspects of that green period, regret, nostalgia, and a serious sense of “If I knew then what I know now” course through the song. It’s tangible.
That is just one moment of many where Young journeys into his past to make sense of the present or uses it as a background to outline his complex feelings. Another song in which the former Buffalo Springfield member delves back into his history is ‘Downtown’ from 1995’s Mirror Ball.
It’s an overlooked number that recalls his proto-alt-rock work on 1969’s Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. Like the rest of the album, it features a backing band comprised of Pearl Jam. Notably, the mid-1990s was the era when alternative rock finally took off thanks to the work of the Seattle band and their fellow grunge pioneers, such as Nirvana, so it was the ideal time for Young to revisit this era of his. With his younger counterparts in tow, he injected energy into his operation.
While Pearl Jam are notable adherents of Young’s sound, they’re also clearly sonically deferential to others from the classic rock period. Therefore, it made sense in the song that Young should take fans back to his past once more, lyrically and musically. In his words, he explicitly mentions two of the late 1960s’s most influential artists, Led Zeppelin, their leader Jimmy Page, and Jimi Hendrix.
Just like in ‘Ambulance Blues’, Young mentions a club brimming with hippies. This time, though, it’s most likely imaginary, called “Downtown” and adorned with psychedelic imagery. Adding substance to this heady image he paints, he sings: “Jimi’s playin’ in the back room / Led Zeppelin on stage / There’s a mirror ball twirlin’ / And a note from Page”.
While no one knows precisely why Young referenced Hendrix and Led Zeppelin in ‘Downtown’, given that his era’s music was being celebrated by a new generation in 1995, he probably thought it was high time he did, too. After all, it had been 20 years since his peak in the mid-1970s. It was the perfect time to return to those halcyon days and honour what was great about them.
