Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DXXIII--Neil Young: Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)

Yikes--almost two weeks late.  To steal a phrase, it's alright, Ma, it's life and life only....

My introduction to this week's tune was my turntable in my bedroom at my parents home in Kokomo, Indiana.  I had a big assist from noted rock critic Robert Christgau and a stellar review he wrote in The Village Voice for this week's album--which prompted me to rush right out and buy a copy.  Christgau nailed it--it was a great record and with the passage of time became quite the influential album....

I wrote about Neil Young in Jukebox Vol. LXXX, and if I do say so myself, it was a nice bio paragraph, and other than his marriage to actress Daryl Hannah, releasing nine (!) more albums (Young was nothing if not prolific) and adding one more Grammy nomination it was a pretty bland nine years for Young (note:  tongue planted firmly in cheek).  I also wrote about Young for his brilliant protest song, "Ohio" in Vol. CCLII, which was ever so nobly performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. That's six links in three sentences--you'd think this was Wikipedia....

"Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)" was the closing song on Young's seminal 1979 album, the rather oxidizingly entitled Rust Never Sleeps.  The single would peak at #79 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Pop Singles chart, while the album hit #8 on (just to show you how old the album is) on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart.

Fun Fact:  Rust Never Sleeps opens with an acoustic version of this week's song, entitled "My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)."  Pretty damn sure that's a Friday Night Jukebox first (and one hell of a song in its own right).

Give "Hey Hey, My My" one listen and you can instantly tell why Young is considered the Godfather of Grunge.  From the thrashing slashing guitars to the ripped raw lyrics, Young takes on his relevance, his music's relevance, and what exactly should become of rock and roll (one of pop music's great ironies is that punk music did burn out rather than fadeaway).  It was a singular achievement for Young and sparked a musical movement for the rest of us.  Did I happen to mention that it's also simply a great song?  The vocals, the guitars, the band, the lyrics--just an ultimate piece of work that ranks with any of rock's greatest songs.

Lyric Sheet:  "Hey hey my my/Rock and roll can never die/There's more to the picture than meets the eye/Hey hey my my..."

Enjoy:

Bonus acoustic version:

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee