I consider myself to be a decent sized Neil Young fan, I'm not president of his fan club but I do love his stuff. Harvest Moon is a tremendous album (and also my wedding song for those interested) as is Harvest. It's amazing how he's able to speak to different generations. You can say a lot about Neil Young but you can't deny the fact that he always finds a way to make himself relevant. Look what he did in the 90's attaching himself to the grunge movement. Maybe attaching is the wrong word, he became infatuated with it and needed to explore it more. Watch how his sound changes during the 90's (for a great example look at Mirrorball an album he recorded with Pearl Jam as his backing band).
As Unknown Legend starts to play I'm immediately struck with two thoughts. Thought A- I'm so glad that it's not a Rage Against the Machine or Nine Inch Nails song and Thought B- this song reminds me so much of Pearl Jam's Off He Goes. I mean a lot!
There is no doubt that Off He Goes is heavily influenced by Unknown Legend (which would make sense considering Unknown Legend came out in '92 and Off He Goes in '96). They're very similar in story and in sound. Listen to the lyrics. Unknown Legend seems to be about a woman who was living her dream and obviously had to give it up (to be a waitress it seems) because she had children and started a family. At night this waitress gets on her motorcycle and drives down these empty long stretches of highway in hopes of finding what she lost. It's really sad when you think about it. After recently watching Rock of Ages I think that the woman in this song kind of bothers me, on a selfish level. The message that Rock of Ages is trying to send is that it's okay to have dreams but it's also okay to accept that these dreams change and new ones develop (ex. wanting to be a rock star into wanting to start a family). The woman in Unknown Legend is failing to see this concept. She sees her family and new life as a burden. It also seems that she never really amounted to anything any way. Why else would she be an unknown?
Oh, how heart breaking is the female backup singer? She plays like the woman's inner monologue as she's riding down those stretches of desert highways. Ugh so much pain and loss there. Such a perfect, underlining to the story Uncle Neil is trying to paint.
Off He Goes is a similar tale about a man who just can't stay in one place for long periods of time. There is a belief that this song is actually written about Neil Young, I can't confirm or deny it but the similarity in sounds would make sense (also the song Smile from No Code sounds a lot like a Neil Young song). But there is a longing in the main character here, and a deeper sadness. Like he's always running from happiness or comfortablity. It's one of my all time favorite Pearl Jam songs and so it's nice to find a way to talk about it even though it wasn't the song of the day.
(Side Note: Pearl Jam is my favorite band. I will find excuses to talk about them. I have 880 (tons of live stuff) Pearl Jam songs on my ipod so there is a possibility that their songs will pop more then others. My wife, Shea, will be very happy that I have another forum to speak about them because I know she grows tired of my Pearl Jam rants.)
I would actually love to hear a mash-up of these songs. Who doesn't love a good mash-up? It would weave in and out of the music of each song and trade off verses too. Now you're getting one story about two very sad and defeated people. Plus you're meshing Pearl Jam and Neil Young so it's guaranteed to make me drool.
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