Neil Young is sounding disillusioned these days. Young organized a big anti-war concert tour with Crosby Stills Nash and Young in 2006, called the "Freedom of Speech" tour. He had hopes that the tour would cause a change in the country and the people would rise up to demand an end to the Iraq war. But in an interview on Friday Young said, "I don't think the tour had any impact on voters."Earlier in 2006, Young released an album called "Living With War." The featured track was titled “Impeach the President.” Catchy title, right? And no doubt you'd have trouble dancing to it unless you're stoned. Check out these lyrics:
Let’s impeach the president for lying/And leading our country into war/Abusing all the power that we gave him/And shipping all our money out the door
He’s the man who hired all the criminals/The White House shadows who hide behind closed doors/And bend the facts to fit with their new stories/Of why we have to send our men to war
Let’s impeach the president for spying/On citizens inside their own homes/Breaking every law in the country/By tapping our computers and telephones
People with a low pain threshold will avoid having to endure songs like that. But back to Young's statement that "I don't think the tour had any impact on voters." Actually, the anti-war message won alot of votes in the 2006 elections, since the Dems won congress in 2006 after promising to end the war. But either the Dems weren't sincere, or Bush outsmarted them. Within months of coming to power, the Dem-controlled Congress had approved a "surge" of troops that continues one year later.
But seriously, Neil Young is 62. Most people his age matured past "music-can-change-the-world" naivete decades ago. Maybe Neil Young is finally growing up.
