Neil Young – Old Man

First off, just want to give a special thanks to Aquariumdrunkard for pointing me in the right direction of the legendary Neil Young. He had a post in December of “Don’t Let it Bring You Down.” The song is amazing. I’ve found a few more old amazing songs out there of his, but I feel this one everyone can relate to.

I’m so jealous that i don’t play guitar when i see footage like this. I own two guitars an Epiphone SG in cherry and a Gibson Firebird in Black and White with gold. It’s very sexy. I bought the SG in college to jam on, but i sucked. So i ended up inviting people over to play it for me and entertain me. It worked out well until he started impressing my girlfriends and going after them. And then i didn’t like him so much anymore. James…I had to kick him out of my room one night. It was kind of sad. I just couldn’t take it anymore. He was hitting on my xgf. Of course i was madly in love with her so these things can be expected when the other guy’s just looking to bone her :(.

I gave the SG to my dad and set it up in such a way that all he had to do was pick it up and play it if he ever wanted to. As it turns out for the past five years since i brought it home for him, he’s been playing it regularly. Pretty funny. Now he owns a Gibson Les Paul Sunbeam, (he bought the epiphone Casino and didn’t like the sound so returned it and bought the Gibson Casino in black and white. That’s all back in New Canaan, CT.

At my dad’s house in Cali he has an old Yamaha acoustic guitar. i tried playing that a lot in college, but it’s quite huge so i couldn’t really get used to it. I think thats what provoked me to get an electric guitar. I bought my second electric right after i moved out to Cali after college in 2005. The Firebird. It’s a beauty. I bought it on ebay for 900 bux. It’s got one little rub mark on it, like some piece of rubber mashed against it. It’s not even a dent or a scratch. It’s crazy. You have to really look for it. The thing plays incredibly. Everytime i meet someone who plays guitar I try to get them to play it haha.

Old man is a light and swimming song. It reminds me of so much. How similar everyone is. Not much has changed between now and the time of neanderthals. People still eat, sleep, live and die. It’s crazy. We’re all so concerned with being different and trying to stand out, and yet we’re all so very similar. In Young’s song he comes across as defensive, almost like a father and son relationship. It reminds me of Cat Stevens Father, Son.

Youngs voice is amazing. It’s so melodic, he could just be speaking the words, but we all want to moan and eww with him. That’s how powerful this song is, you really want to sing it out and share it with people which is exactly what Young does. He shouts it out with vigor.