Patti Smith names the Neil Young song that “speaks for his generation”
No individual artist is wholly responsible for creating our collective cultural voice. Cultural movements and eras spawn from the communities that harbour and hone them. Each songwriter, each producer, and each promoter contributes to the development of a culture in their own way, continually proving that support and collaboration is integral to its creation. However, if we are looking to assign our cultural voice to one person in particular, Patti Smith has put forward a pretty solid suggestion.
While it’s true that culture and subcultures form out of communities, certain people often lead in their creation. Smith, for example, was one of those pioneering figures in the New York City punk scene in the 1970s. Spending her days between The Chelsea Hotel and CBGBs, she paired her poetic prowess with her place in the underground punk realm and quickly became one of the most influential voices in the scene.
Smith, then, is fairly well-placed to comment on cultural development. And according to the punk poet, Neil Young remains one of the most instrumental figures in our current cultural voice. While speaking with ShortList, Smith shared her love for Young’s more recent offerings, particularly a song called ‘Walk Like A Giant’, which she suggested “speaks for his generation”.
While Smith only started with her own cultural creation in the 1970s, Young had kicked off his career a decade earlier. “I’m really a 70s artist,” Smith explained, “Even though Neil and I are the same age, I started later in the 70s. But when they were teenagers, people like Fred and Neil were creating our cultural voice and this song is so deeply touching…”
The song featured on Young’s 2012 album, Psychedelic Pill. The record served as proof that, even 34 albums in, he still hadn’t lost his touch, and ‘Walk Like A Giant’ was one of the finest examples of this. Opening with layers of exquisite guitars and lively whistles, the song finds Young ruminating on the hope of youth and the resulting disappointment.
“Me and some of my friends, we were gonna save the world, we were trying to make it better,” he sings, “we were ready to save the world.” But despite their youthful efforts, the weather changed, the “white got stained,” and Young’s heart got broken. “To think about how close we came,” he lamented, “I wanna walk like a giant on the land.”
Smith interpreted the song as Young “remembering that feeling of when you’re young and you feel like you can change the world” before you’re “trampled upon” by the world. “Neil’s standing up again and saying ‘I’m not gonna sit back’,” Smith commented, “He’s reclaiming this sensation and this mission.”
The song certainly conveys this message. Though it laments the loss of that youthful drive and optimism, it refuses to give into despair either. Young still hopes to walk like a giant on the land, to feel that good again. And, despite his suggestions that they failed to achieve this in youth, Young certainly seems like a giant in the land of culture.
He may not have been able to save the world as he and his friends once dreamed, but he has certainly directed it culturally and, along the way, bettered it. Smith and Young are each giants of culture in their own right.
