The 10 best Neil Young deep-cuts
There’s an audience reaction that only truly great artists can elicit: turning your fanbase into a ravenous mob of adoring musos who claim to only enjoy the deepest darkest roots of your music. Radiohead and Nirvana fans have long derided the mainstream success of ‘Creep’ and ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ as populist outliers of an otherwise deeply introverted artist. However, you have to be really special to have no discernable pop hits and still have your audience clamouring for the rarest gems in your treasure chest. That is exactly what faces us when we find Neil Young‘s X marking the spot.
Of course, we’re not saying Neil Young isn’t popular. To have been a beloved songwriter for nearly six decades while rarely losing momentum is proof enough of popularity. Add to that notion that some of his most cherished numbers are as adored as holy scriptures and fought over almost as much, and Young is widely revered as one of the songwriting greats.
Unlike many of his contemporaries, however, when you push aside some of the truly great songs Neil Young has delivered over the years, from ultimately his most pop-driven song ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ to the beloved ‘Cinnamon Girl’ or the heartbreaking ‘Old Man’, the quality barometer on young’s discography barely flickers.
The songwriter’s devotion to his craft, the guile with which he crafts lyrics and licks, is so ostensibly authentic that his tracks are all imbued with a sense of shimmering timelessness. Hardly any artists have been as prolific as Neil Young in their career. Never deterred by workload or expectation, Young has always been his own master and has made sure that everything he has done has been an accurate reflection of the artist he set out to be.
Not only are there over 40 albums to his name, but every one of those albums is full of great, hulking gems, ready to be unearthed, polished by your ear and adorned at your next gathering as your latest find. Deep-cut diamonds are easy to find with Neil Young, and if you’re looking for our ten favourites, they’re just below.
10 best Neil Young deep-cuts:
‘Kansas’
The 1970s were a frenetic period of Neil Young’s life. He had become the icon of rock and roll he had always dreamed of, and his lifestyle allowed him to write songs at a furious rate. So many, in fact, that most of them were left on the floor of the studio, discarded for another jigsaw piece to fit the latest album puzzle. One song which had been left behind until 2020’s Homegrown was ‘Kansas’.
Homegrown itself was a previously shelved LP later released by Young, and with the birth of the new-old LP came this lilting ballad. Written in the early morning dew of his break-up with actress Carrie Snodgress, the song is dripping with emotion and emptiness in equal measure.
‘Stringman’
First delivered as part of his 1993 Unplugged session, Young’s song ‘Stringman’ is an undoubted fan-favourite. Written for bandmate and friend Jack Nietzsche during the dissolution of his marriage, Young was rarely in a better pocket for songwriting than when despair entered the room. A simple piano ballad, the tenderness of Young’s lyrics and the broken, shallow softness of his vocal are what triumph here.
The song was given a proper home in 2007 as part of Chrome Dreams II — a sequel to another unreleased record Chrome Dreams from 1977 and has been widely adored ever since, despite being only aired on the rarest of occasions in a live forum.
‘You Never Call’
Sadly, Neil Young has more songs for the people he lost in his life than he’d like. When, in January 2010, Larry Johnson, Young’s sidekick at Shakey Productions, sadly died — reportedly when taking Young’s son to a hockey game — the songwriter knew he must pay a solemn tribute to his friend.
A deeply painful track, the song featured in Jonathan Demme’s 2011 movie Neil Young Journeys but has not found an album home since. It remains one of the “lost” Young tracks that has always found a home in the hearts and minds of fans.
‘Hitchhiker’
As with every icon of the 1960s, as the decades passed, it became harder and harder for Young’s new albums to be as revered as his previous LPs. However, when he released Le Noise in 2010, Young powered out some of his best work, including ‘Hitchhiker’. Built out of echoing vocals and a killer lead line, the song is blended with alt-rock sensibilities and acts as one of his most visceral stories.
A song about Young’s life, and the drugs he’s taken along the way, the track was originally conceptualised in the 1970s before being shelved for decades. Often thought of as the blueprint for ‘Like An Inca’, the song is a bellowing reminder of Young’s powerhouse beginnings.
‘L.A.’
Neil Young loves to canonise a city within a song. Some are odes to the people who inhabit them, and some of them, including ‘L.A.’, are just pure acerbic wit. This track featured as part of Young’s famed, disastrous 1973 tour and is now locked away in the classic live album Time Fades Away as one of the record’s highlights.
Despite being rarely given an outing on the live circuit, save its appearance a the Los Angeles Forum in 2015, the song has become a deep-cut worth diving for. Written about a locationally specific apocalypse affecting the “city in the smog”, the track has divided fans. Whether you believe in Young’s musings or categorise them as self-righteous ramblings, it’s hard to deny the potency of the song within which they are contained.
‘Aurora’
Call us old-fashioned, but we think there is a lot to be gained from adding instrumental songs back into the fray of songwriting. This one from Young’s first band, The Squires, is absolutely drenched in the kind of cool that would launch Young’s career into the stratosphere.
Not only does the track show off the unique ear and embarrassingly virile longevity of his career, but that Young isn’t just a solo star. We wouldn’t have considered it for a Neil Young-specific piece — as we’re discounting his work with Crosby, Stills, Nash and young as well as Buffalo Springfield — but as it was included in the Neil Young Archives Vol. 1, we felt it qualified. More importantly, it’s a hefty dose of surf rock from Canada, so what more could you want?
‘Don’t Be Denied’
Time Fades Away is full of classic tracks. At the time, the 1973 tour, was derided for being too full of new songs, leaving audiences angry at the lack of attention paid to the hits. However, where they may have lost out, the live album that followed the tour is positively brimming with the roughest of diamonds. ‘Don’t Be Denied’ is one of those gems that need a little polishing but, soon enough, shines brighter than most.
A track as brutal as the divorce it describes, it ranks as one of Young’s most heart-achingly honest songs. Written about his parents’ divorce, the track is authentic and painful at every turn. The visceral imagery is mirrored in Young’s usually sweet vocal souring with every new line. Few artists are able to turn youthful frustration into a timeless classic, but Young achieves it here with aplomb.
‘The Last Trip to Tulsa’
In many ways, Neil Young is a traditional songwriter. His viewpoints may have seemed challenging at times, but the construction of his songs is comparatively timeless. However, that all changed with ‘The Last Trip to Tulsa’. The song ranks as one of Young’s most unusual compositions.
Featuring on his 1968 self-titled album, Young is in an experimental mood as he sings, “So I unlocked your mind, you know/ To see what I could see/ If you guarantee the postage/ I’ll mail you back the key”. It is here that comprehension of the song ends. Young seems to refer to many past lives he’s led, with perhaps subtle references to LSD also finding their way into the lyric sheet. However, it’s on our list because it provides a unique view of Young — for an artist so keen to wear his heart on his sleeve, this remains one of his most indistinguishable numbers.
‘Powderfinger’
This is definitely the most well-known song on our list and has largely only gained its place from its comparative lack of notoriety. While ‘Powderfinger’ is a track most Young fans will be well aware of, even casual fans wouldn’t give it the time it deserves in the face of ‘Harvest Moon’ or ‘On The Beach’.
It’s not often that rock and roll can create songs about such unattainable things as Neil Young consistently does. On ‘Powderfinger’, somehow, Young takes us all on a vivid and imagined trip to the bootlegging backwaters of old America and the frightening feeling of isolation.
The premise of the song is that the family of bootleggers, living out near the river, can see a police boat making its way to their house. A Young man is expected to lead the family because “Daddy’s gone” and “brother’s out hunting in the mountains” while “Big John’s been drinking since the river took Emmy-Lou.” The young man stands on the deck when the boat begins firing at him. As he raises his own rifle to shoot, the gun backfires and kills him instantly. The fact that young can seamlessly integrate such a vibrant and unusual story into his music and still wrap it up in one of the most vulnerable and touching melodies is proof of his unstoppable talent.
‘Everybody’s Alone’
Recorded for After The Gold Rush, ‘Everybody’s Alone’ was first performed in 1970 and has found its way into some of Young’s more extensive sets since 1997. the track is certainly one of the deeper cuts on our list, with the recording lacking Young’s usual dedication to sound quality. However, what is left behind is a killer solo, heart-bolstering lyrics and the kind of sentiment that only Young can deliver with a smile.
“Everybody’s alone,” may not seem like the kind of refrain that can bring joy to one’s ears, but somehow Young delivers it with such panache that the ubiquitous notion of lonesomeness feels somewhat comforting.
