Heartbreak Trilogy: The three songs Neil Young wrote about getting cheated on
No artist can completely ignore their own heart, even if they try. Even for those who know how to check their emotions at the door before entering the studio, the moment they pick up a guitar or sit behind a piano, they’re likely to create something that can break every listener’s heart. Neil Young, known for not suffering fools gladly when writing his masterpieces, crafted a poignant triptych with Motion Pictures, Danger Bird, and Star of Bethlehem. These songs, taken together, explore different stages of his broken relationship, each offering a raw and emotional window into his personal life.
Granted, it’s not like Young hasn’t explored heartache in one form or another before. When combing through his back catalogue, ‘Sugar Mountain’ already started his outlook of being slightly cynical towards the greater world of rock and roll, and no matter how much emotion is behind ‘Heart of Gold’, his singing about getting old sounds like it’s coming from someone with calloused feelings.
But starting with ‘Motion Pictures’, Young had already been starting to peel away from his relationship with Carrie Snodgress. After having an on-again-off-again relationship for years, Young finally cut ties with her when he found out he was getting cheated on, with this song representing the moment where he’s hung out to dry, staring blindly at the TV and wondering when he’ll ever break free from his heartache.
No matter how long someone tries to keep it inside, though, emotions demand to be felt, and ‘Danger Bird’ is the sound of him lashing out much more aggressively. Now that he has Crazy Horse behind him, the roar of the electric guitars paints this relationship almost like a funeral march, with the titular bird serving as the rotting carcass of what used to be their relationship.
Despite being more than a little bit over-the-top, ‘Danger Bird’ is one of the more compelling broken love songs that Young ever wrote, especially when the solos start. Since Young can’t express himself verbally, he lets his guitar do the talking this time around, getting out all his aggression by acting like he wants to break the strings off the fretboard.
For all of the raw pain on ‘Danger Bird’, ‘Star of Bethlehem’ is rather tame by comparison. Make no mistake, Young is still incredibly hurt by watching his relationship fall apart, but this is where he realises that he’s far from perfect in his own right. Aside from being stripped of his pride, Young is still ready to persevere one more day and letting time heal the wounds that he can’t.
There’s probably zero chance that Young planned it this way, but over these three tunes spread out across different projects, he may have made the best musical form of the stages of grief ever made. If listened to from back to front, you get to see him experience shock, rage, bargaining, and ultimately acceptance knowing that the world will keep turning.
But for the full impact, the version of ‘Star of Bethlehem’ from the redux album Homegrown does a better job at sequencing that tale of heartache. Young had been through the wringer for the past few years, and by having it right at the end of the album, it’s not like he finally found a way to close the book on that part of his life.
