Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Rust Never Sleeps [1979]
Year Released: 1979
Record Company: Reprise
1. My, My, Hey, Hey (Out of the Blue) (3:45)
2. Thrasher (5:38)
3. Ride My Llama (2:29)
4. Pocahontas (3:22)
5. Sail Away (3:46)
6. Powderfinger (5:30)
7. Welfare Mothers (3:48)
8. Sedan Delivery (4:40)
9. Hey, Hey, My, My (Into the Black) (5:18)
MY MY, HEY HEY (OUT OF THE BLUE)
My my, hey hey
Rock and roll is here to stay
It’s better to burn out
Than to fade away
My my, hey hey.
It’s out of the blue and into the black
They give you this but you pay for that
And once you’re gone you can never come back
When you’re out of the blue
And into the black
The king is gone but he’s not forgotten
This is the story of a Johnny Rotten
It’s better to burn out than it is to rust
The king is gone but he’s not forgotten
Hey hey, my my
Rock and roll can never die
There’s more to the picture
Than meets the eye.
THRASHER
They were hiding behind hay bales,
they were planting in the full moon
They had given all they had for something new
But the light of day was on them,
they could see the thrashers coming
And the water shone like diamonds in the dew
And I was just getting up, hit the road before it’s light
Trying to catch an hour on the sun
When I saw those thrashers rolling by,
looking more than two lanes wide
I was feelin’ like my day had just begun.
Where the eagle glides ascending there’s an
ancient river bending
Down the timeless gorge of changes
where sleeplessness awaits
I searched out my companions, they were lost
in crystal canyons
When the aimless blade of science slashed
the pearly gates
It was then I knew I’d had enough, burned my
credit card for fuel
Headed out to where the pavement turns to sand
With a one-way ticket to the land of truth
and my suitcase in my hand
How I lost my friends I still don’t understand
They had the best selection, they were
poisoned with protection
There was nothing that they needed, they had
nothing left to find
They were lost in rock formations or became
park bench mutations
On the sidewalks and in the stations
they were waiting, waiting
So I got bored and left them there, they were
just deadweight to me
It’s better on the road without that load
Brought back the time when I was eight or nine
I was watchin’ my mama’s T.V., it was that great
Grand Canyon rescue episode
Where the vulture glides descending on
an asphalt highway bending
Thru libraries and museums, galaxies and stars
Down the windy halls of friendship to the rose
clipped by the bullwhip
The motel of lost companions waits with
heated pool and air-conditioned bar
But me I’m not stopping there, got my own
row left to hoe
Just another line in the field of time
When the thrashers come and I’m stuck in the sun
like dinosaurs in shrines
Then I’ll know the time has come to give what’s mine
RIDE MY LLAMA
Remember the Alamo when help was on the way
It’s better here and now, I feel that good today
I’d like to take a walk but not around the block
I really got some news
I met a man from Mars
He picked up all my guitars
And played me travelling songs
And when we got on ship
He brought out something for the trip
And said, “It’s old but it’s good”
Like any other primitive would
Ah, ah, ah ,ah
I’m gonna ride my llama from Peru to Texarkana
I wanna ride him good thru my old neighborhood
I’m gonna ride him good in my old neighborhood
I’m gonna ride him good in my old neighborhood
When we got on ship
He brought out something for the trip
And said, “It’s old but it’s good”
Like any other primitive would
Ah
POCAHANTAS
Aurora borealis
The icy sky at night
Paddles cut the water
In a long and hurried flight
From the white man to the fields of green
And the homeland we’ve never seen
They killed us in our tepee
And they cut our women down
They might have left some babies
Cryin’ on the ground
But the firesticks and the wagons came
And the night falls on the setting sun
They massacred the buffalo
Kitty corner from the bank
The taxis run across my feet
And my eyes have turned to blanks
In my little box at the top of the stairs
With my Indian rug and a pipe to share
I wish a was a trapper
I would give thousand pelts
To sleep with Pocahontas
And find out how she felt
In the mornin’ on the fields of green
In the homeland we’ve never seen
And maybe Marlon Brando
Will be there by the fire
We’ll sit and talk of Hollywood
And the good things there for hire
And the Astrodome and the first tepee
Marlon Brando, Pocahontas and me
Marlon Brando, Pocahontas and me
Pocahontas
SAIL AWAY
I could live inside a tepee
I could die in Penthouse thirty-five
You could lose me on the freeway
But I would still make it back alive
As long as we can sail away
As long as we can sail away
There’ll be wind in the canyon
Moon on the rise
As long as we can sail away
See the losers in the best bars
Meet the winners in the dives
Where the people are the real stars
All the rest of their lives
As long as we can sail away
As long as we can sail away
There’ll be wind in the canyon
Moon on the rise
As long as we can sail away
There’s a road stretched out between us
Like ribbon on the high plain
Down from Phoenix through Salinas
‘Round the bend and back again
As long as we can sail away
As long as we can sail away
There’ll be wind in the canyon
Moon on the rise
As long as we can sail away
As long as we can sail away
As long as we can sail away
As long as we can sail away
POWDERFINGER
Look out, Mama, there’s a white boat comin’ up the river
With a big red beacon, and a flag, and a man on the rail
I think you’d better call John, ’cause it don’t
look like they’re here to deliver the mail
And it’s less than a mile away
I hope they didn’t come to stay
It’s got numbers on the side and a gun
and it’s makin’ big waves.
Daddy’s gone, my brother’s out
hunting in the mountains
Big John’s been drinking since the river took Emmy-Lou
Seems the Powers That Be left me here to do the thinkin’
And I just turned twenty two
I was wonderin’ what to do
And the closer they got,
The more those feelin’s grew.
Daddy’s rifle in my hand felt reassurin’
He told me, “Red means run, son,
and numbers add up to nothin’”
When the first shot hit the docks I saw it comin’
Raised my rifle to my eye
Never stopped to wonder why.
Then I saw black, and my face splashed in the sky.
Shelter me from the powder and the finger
Cover me with the thought that pulled the trigger
Think of me as one you’d never figured
Would fade away so young
With so much left undone
Remember me to my love, I know I’ll miss her.
WELFARE MOTHERS
People, pick up on what I’m puttin’ down now
Welfare mothers make better lovers
Down at every laundromat in town now
Welfare mothers make better lovers
While they’re washin’ you can hear this sound now
Welfare mothers make better lovers
DEE VORR CEE!
Hard to believe that love is free now
Welfare mothers make better lovers
Out on the street with the whole family now
Welfare mothers make better lovers
Hard to believe that love is free now
Welfare mothers make better lovers
DEE VORR CEE!
People, pick up on what I’m puttin’ down now
Welfare mothers make better lovers
Down at every laundromat in town now
Welfare mothers make better lovers
While they’re washin’ you can hear this sound now
Welfare mothers make better lovers
DEE VORR CEE!
SEDAN DELIVERY
Last night I was cool at the pool hall
Held the table for eleven games
Nothing was easier than the first seven
I beat a woman with varicose veins
She stopped to see herself in the mirror
Fix her hair and hide heir veins
But she lost the game.
Next day I went to the dentist
He pulled some teeth and I lost some blood
We’d like to thank you for the cards you sent us
My wives and I were all choked up
I recall how Caesar and Cleo
Made love in the Milky Way
They needed boats and armies to get there
I know there’s a better way
I saw the movie and I read the book
But when it happened to me
I was sure I had what it took
To get away
Gotta get away
Gotta get away
Gotta get away
Gotta get away
I’m making another delivery
Of chemicals and sacred roots
I’ll hold what you have to give me
But I’ll use what I have to use
The lasers are in the lab
The old man is dressed in white clothes
Everybody says he’s mad
No one knows the things that he knows
No one knows
No one knows
No one knows
No one knows
I’m lookin’ in every hallway
I still can’t accept the stares
I’m sleepin’ with many covers
I’m warm now so I don’t care
I’m thinkin’ of no one in my mind
Sedan delivery is a job I know I’ll keep
It sure was hard to find
Hard to find
Hard to find
Hard to find
Hard to find
HEY HEY, MY MY (INTO THE BLACK)
Hey hey, my my
Rock and roll can never die
There’s more to the picture
Than meets the eye.
Out of the blue and into the black
You pay for this, but they give you that
Once you’re gone, you can’t come back
When you’re out of the blue
And into the black
The king is gone but he’s not forgotten
Is this the story of Johnny Rotten?
It’s better to burn out ’cause rust never sleeps
The king is gone but he’s not forgotten
Hey hey, my my
Rock and roll can never die
There’s more to the picture
Than meets the eye.
——————————-
Pocahontas*
Sail Away**
Neil Young & Crazy Horse:
Neil Young: guitar, vocal
Frank Sampedro: guitar, stringman, vocal
Billy Talbot: bass, vocal
Ralph Molina: drums, vocal
**Neil Young & The Gone With The Wind Orchestra:
Neil Young: guitar, vocal
Nicolette Larson: vocal
Karl T. Himmel: drums
Joe Osborne: bass
et al.
*Recorded at Indigo Recording Studio, Malibu, Aug. 11, 1976, and later at Triad Recording, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, and Broken Arrow Studio, Redwood City, CA
**Recorded at Triad Recording, Ft. Lauderdale, FL on Sept. 12, 1977, and later at Woodland Sound Studios, Nashville
Produced by Neil Young, David Briggs & Tim Mulligan