My second husband introduced me to Neil Young.  Until that point in my life, I’d not been a fan of Neil Young.  Maybe it was his unusual voice.  Maybe it was the fact that every time you turned on your TV in the early 90’s, it seemed that Eddie Vedder and Neil Young were doing a 20 minute live version of “Rocking in the Free World.”  Maybe it was because he pissed off Lynard Skynard and they “don’t need him around any how…”

Whatever the reason, I always turned the dial when Neil came on.  Then my second husband bought me a copy of Harvest.  And I was hooked. Every song on the album spoke to me.  I finally understood the buzz around Neil.  I think I kept that CD in my car for a month and listened to it all the time.  My favorites, “Out on the Weekend” and “Needle and the Damage Done.”

From there, I built on my Neil Young collection.  Some of my friends were still haters…they’d not gotten the memo about this Canadian genius.  But one of my friends, Scott, was also a fan.  When I asked him his favorite Neil Young song, he immediately replied, “Cowgirl in the Sand.”

I’d not listened to that one.  So I purchased the album, Nobody Knows This is Nowhere, and gave it a listen. And it’s a brilliant song.  That’s why I share it with you on here.  Scott loved the lyrics, “old enough now to change your name, when so many love you, is it the same?”  And it took me a minute (as it typically does) to understand the lyrics.  This woman is old enough to change her name (get married) but she has so many men on her trail, that it’s lost its thrill.

I hope you will give this one a listen.  There’s a long guitar intro and it sets the tone of the song.  I love how it starts slowly and then explodes.  That Neil Young…he is a veritable genius.  Oh and by the way…get comfy…it’s about 10 minutes long.  (Keep on rockin’ in the free world my friends)

(Credit: YouTube)