19 Neil Young Quotes To Tip Your Hat To

Neil Young, born November 12, 1945, is an acclaimed Canadian and American singer-songwriter. He kicked off his highly successful music career in Winnipeg back in the 1960s. Young then moved onward to Los Angeles, where he joined the folk-rock group, Buffalo Springfield. From the onset of his solo career, where he was oftentimes backed by the band Crazy Horse, Young has been responsible for releasing numerous renowned albums like Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (1969) and On the Beach (1974). Young was also a part-time member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

1. On burnout

“It’s better to burn out, than to fade away.”

2. On one’s life journey

“As you go through life, you’ve got to see the valleys as well as the peaks.”

3. On the ’60s

“The ’60s was one of the first times the power of music was used by a generation to bind them together.”

4. On seizing the moment

“Something comes along and you have to jump on and do it. You can’t stop until it’s done.”

5. On repetition

“I feel like I could be likened to an old hound circling on a rug for the last five years.”

6. On commitments

“Commitments are one of the worst things to have in the music business. They’re very annoying.”

7. On seeking happy places

“It’s cool to go places where working people are happy.”

8. On the punk thing

“When the punk thing came along and I heard my friends saying, I hate these people with the pins in their ears. I said, Thank God, something got their attention.”

9. On being liberated

“I can get away with saying a lot of ideas that are young and naive. I’m liberated.”

10. On trusting the process

“I didn’t really know what I was doing when I started. I just started writing songs. After two songs I just continued to explore it.”

11. On opinions

“I have so many opinions about everything it just comes out during my music. It’s a battle for me. I try not to be preachy. That’s a real danger.”

12. On the state of music

“Back then people closed their eyes and listened to music. Today there’s a lot of images that go with the music. A lot of music is crap and it’s all commercial and the images are all trying to sell the record.”

13. On playing live music

“I live for playing live. All my records are live, since After the Gold Rush, with the exception of Trans and the vocals on Landing on Water.”

14. On rock ‘n roll

“The cutthroat avenues of rock ‘n’ roll, I am fed up with. I don’t want anything to do with it.”

15. On intergalactic domination

“We need to spread out now in the universe. I think in 100 years we’ll be living on other planets.”

16. On a one track state of mind

“I totally have no other talent and I would be totally out of work if I did anything else.”

17. On making country records

“I think I’m going to be making country records for as long as I can see into the future. It’s much more down-home and real.”

18. On pointless creative creation

“The thing about my music is, there really is no point.”

19. On not just following commands

“When people start asking you to do the same thing over and over again, that’s when you know you’re way too close to something that you don’t want to be near.”