Friday, December 9, 2011

No Mistaking What These Lyrics Are About...
Revolution Blues - Neil Young
Well, we live in a trailer, at the edge of town
You never see us, 'cause we don't come around.
We got twenty five rifles, just to keep the population down
But we need you now, and that's why I'm hangin' 'round.
So you be good to me, and I'll be good to you,
And in this land of conditions, I'm not above suspicion
I won't attack you, but I won't back you.

Well, it's so good to be here, asleep on your lawn.
Remember your guard dog? Well, I'm afraid that he's gone.
It was such a drag, to hear him whining all night long.
Yes, that was me with the doves, setting them free near the factory
Where you built your computer, love.
I hope you get the connection, 'cause I can't take the rejection
I won't deceive you, I just don't believe you.

Well, I'm a barrel of laughs, with my carbine on
I keep 'em hoppin', till my ammunition's gone.
But I'm still not happy, I feel like there's something wrong.
I got the revolution blues, I see bloody fountains,
And ten million dune buggies, comin' down the mountains.
Well, I hear that Laurel Canyon is full of famous stars,
But I hate them worse than lepers, and I'll kill them in their cars.
 

1974: “Revolution Blues”
On Young’s 1974 album On the Beach, he included a song about Manson, “Revolution Blues”, culminating in the couplet: “I hear that Laurel Canyon is full of famous stars/ But I hate them worse than lepers, and I’ll kill them in their cars.”  Subtle it’s not, but a pretty extreme sentiment for a rock star, one illustrating just how far Young has deviated from the gently melancholic country rock, the “Heart of Gold”-type stuff, that is still what he is most publicly known for.
For his part, Manson said in a 1995 interview from prison in California that all his old musician friends “didn’t give a sh*t” – except Neil Young, who once gave him a motorcycle.  When Young’s biographer related this to Young, he seemed oddly pleased to have won Manson’s approval: “So Charlie remembers me too, huh? Everybody else ripped him off.  I gave him a motorcycle.  I turn out to be a good guy.”

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Check out the lyrics to Mansion on the Hill as well...

Good stuff L/S I love this topic

Anonymous said...

Although it is a remake of a Hank Williams song... I have read his version was inspired by Charlie and it contains the lyrics...

"And he looked at me,
it could have been my face
His words were kind
but his eyes were wild "

LynyrdSkynyrdBand said...

V717...

Your contributions are improving immensely, as of late.

You've earned a stripe on the "Thread Hall of Fame", for sharing a great video... and inspring a cool thread.

Thanks!

As Saint said... great topic!

Kimchi said...

Way to go V17! Keep it up man!

v717 said...

LynyrdSkynyrdBand said...
V717...

Your contributions are improving immensely, as of late.
And Kimchi also said that
Way to go V17! Keep it up man!
I thank you for that, but please don´t missunderstand me.
I haven´t changed my mind about Manson in any way.

katie8753 said...

Well we know that Manson knew Neil Young.

“I hear that Laurel Canyon is full of famous stars/ But I hate them worse than lepers, and I’ll kill them in their cars.”

Well that pretty good evidence that Linda Kasabian was telling the truth when she said on the "drive around" looking for folks to kill, that Charlie was going to kill the guy in the car next to him, but the light turned green.

Thanks V717 for supporting that story. HA HA.

katie8753 said...

As for the other 15 million people who said they met Charlie at Mama Cass's house at a party, I say hhhhhhrrrrrrrrrrruuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmpppppppppppphhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Hanger's on. No goods. Liars.

If everyone who said they met Manson at Mama Cass's parties were telling the truth, then you have to agree that Mama Cass was a BIG party animal.

Parties every fucking night. With a house as big as Griffith Park.

Party down now!!! HA HA HA.

katie8753 said...

I guess Hef is just too embarrassed to say that Chuckie was a welcome frequent guest at the Playboy Mansion. Or Nixon just doesn't want to acquiesce that Charlie was a frequent diner at the White House.

Go figure. HA HA.

Kimchi said...

V17 said"

"I haven´t changed my mind about Manson in any way."

I wouldn't want you to...everyone is entitled to their own opinion..IMO...whether they agree or not..

katie8753 said...

Back in 1968 or 1969, Mama Cass's house was the place to be. LOL.

I wonder if Three Dog Night met Charlie there. Or the Cream team, or Neillson, or The Stones, or The Beatles or Elvis, or Bobby Sherman, or the cast from Laugh In, The Man From Uncle, Batman, Mr. Eddy's Father, Room 222, The Partridge Family, The Munsters, Lost in Space, The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, The Dating Game, The Gong Show, etc., etc.

I could go on and on.

Everyone was at Mama Cass's house for the BIG PAR-TAY.

And they ALL ran into Manson.

HA HA HA!

katie8753 said...

People used to claim that they were all invited to Sharon's house for a party the night of August 8th, 1969.

Now, I guess, they were all invited to Mama Cass's house. LOL.

And the lies just go on, and on, and on......

LynyrdSkynyrdBand said...

Katie...

Mama Cass did throw large, frequent parties.

The Grateful Dead were the "house band" at many 60's california parties, both indoors, and out... with hundreds in attendance... not the least of which, were Ken Kesey and his "Merry Pranksters"... Hell's Angels... you name it.

Legendary bashes, and "Acid tests" were had frequently... and "everybody knew everybody" is really not such a great exaggeration.
It was a completely different place and time.

Haight/Ashbury was a bustling place, to say the least... among other spots.

I keep telling you to read "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid test" by Tom Wolfe (author of "Bonfire of the Vanities")... but, you refuse.
The book gives a great perspective into the culture of the time.

LynyrdSkynyrdBand said...

Terry Melcher, Dennis Wilson, Gregg Jakobson, Neil Young... these are big names.

Melcher = Doris Day's son.
Wilson = Beach Boys
Neil Young = Buffalo Springfield

The idea that Manson may have interfaced with others at huge 1960's gatherings, is really not that far-fetched...

I'm not saying he DID... I'm saying... given the time and place... it's not a stretch...

Even Wavy's Hog Farm... where we know Manson visited, was a popular place...

The "Spiral Staircase" was popular...

C'mon Katie... this is not a bizarre notion.

katie8753 said...

Well, the population of Los Angeles back in 1969 was probably around 2 million people.

In order to serve 2 million people at a party, you'd have to have a house with the square footage of around 200,000 sf.

The catering and drinks and drugs must have cost a hefty $100,000 per party/per night = $700,000/week. Did she charge admission?

If you stood in line for the bathroom, you might get way-laid.

"What are you standing in line for?"

"The bathroom"

"uhhh, this is the line for the keg, the bathroom line is over there. I think you only have 15,000 people ahead of you."

DOHHHH!!!

katie8753 said...

Check that...2,000,000 square feet. LOL.

katie8753 said...

Well if there were only 2 bathrooms, let's hope that people didn't stop up the commode with tampons, or worse yet, still births from the Manson girls. HA HA.

Boy, that Mama Cass must have had a plumbing bill that was higher than the national debt.

She was party city. It's too bad those lavish parties didn't earn her an income or get her any kind of date. HA HA.

MrPoirot said...

Young described Charlie as a song spewer. This jives with Jacobson's description of Charlie as an early manifestation of rap.

There is a reference to somebody's guard dog disappearing. Dunno who Young is referring to. Did the Mansons kill somebody's dog? I thought Charlie preached that dogs were sacred.

Anonymous said...

L/S....

I am frieds with Zane Kesey on Facebook...

you know they have renovated the bus- and he takes it to several functions a year- and a few of the remaining pranksters occasionally go with them...

They all live up in Oregon on the original family farm, and mountain Girl AKA Carolyn Garcia lives with her new husband nearby...

This past summer a friend of ours moved out there for a teaching job, and a few of my friends went to visit him. The Band further was out there doing a concert in an amphitheater in Eugene- and they all went.. I couldn't make that trip becuase of work- but they took great pictures next to the bus...

Next year I will get mine lol....

Electric Cool aid Acid Test-- one of a kind reading and story...

They just finally made the original tapes they made into a movie- with Pranksters and Cassidy narrating- I saw a screening- you wont want to miss it...

" Magic Trip"

The very end of the movie- An older Kesey right before he passed- speaking in front of a large crowd leading them in a version of what a long strange trip its been....

It also shows one of the earliest videos of Jerry Garcia playing at one of the acid tests I have ever seen on video or in print...

LynyrdSkynyrdBand said...

Thanks Saint!

Yeah...

"The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test", is my favorite book, of all-time.
Fabulous read...

It's the closest one can get to experiencing the whole Beatnik/Hippie transition and culture, without actually being there...

You can't capture an entire era, with text on paper... but "Acid Test"... comes pretty close.

Is there any subject not touched-upon in that book?
Heck... they even travel to the World's Fair, before it's over.

I also like the fact that Kesey, was not just a mindless bum.
As everyone knows... he wrote Cuckoo's Nest... and associated with many intelligent cerebrals early-on in the book.

His experiences regarding Cuckoo's Nest, were always in the background of my mind, as I read it.
His intelligence, and accomplishment as a writer... add legitimacy and historical perspective to the whole read... otherwise, it would be just a bunch of bananas partying. LOL

I really have to see that movie... "Magic Trip".

It's just... I'm tied-up with this f#ckin' thing they call a blog, all the time...
AHahahaha

Kesey, and that whole scene from Karouac, to Ginsberg, to Owsley, to Cassidy, to Mountain Girl... is my second big interest after this topic.

I'v always thought it would be cool, to join a blog on that subject... or, even start one.

But alas...
There's that pesky "work thing", which keeps getting in the way of my interests!
LOLOL

I'll have to continue living vicariously through you, and books for a while Saint!

'Course, I won't complain if someone sends me a copy of the movie!
: )

Anonymous said...

kesey almost made the US Olympic team as a wrestler...

one seriously strong guy!!

leary7 said...

was Kesey on that famous band train tour across Canada with Janis and all the others. There is a great film on that too but I can't recall if Kesey was along.

Anonymous said...

festival express...they show it alot on the documentry channel.
good stuff.

TomG said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt2Vubm5bg8

starship said...

Yes, Katie, it's true...Mama Cass had an open house policy for people who made music...lots of people in and out, hangers on, etc...

And most of them peed in the woods.