Song of the Day 2/24: Neil Young, “Words”

Donald Trump’s daily special, syllable salad, doesn’t get as much attention as Joe Biden’s spells of the vapors, but between the two of them we are not going to get the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Words between the lines of age indeed.

The closing track of Young’s No. 1 “Harvest” album of 1972 features the Stray Gators, his country-folk backing band at the time, with Graham Nash and Stephen Stills singing harmony. James Taylor’s banjo is also somewhere in the mix. Young said the lyrics were inspired by the whirlwind surrounding his relationship with actress Carrie Snodgress, hot off her star turn in “Diary of a Mad Housewife.”

There were so many people around all the time, talking and talking, sitting in a circle smoking cigarettes in my living room. It had never been like that before. I am a very quiet and private person. The peace was going away. It was changing too fast. I remember actually jumping out the living room window onto the lawn to get out of there; I couldn’t wait long enough to use the door! Words – too many of them, it seemed to me.