recordei há dias "on the beach", um velho disco de neil young. 

a cor do casaco, replicada na rear-wing do cadillac, no guarda-sol e na mesa e cadeiras

e ainda esta canção sobre cinema, tudo nesse momento me lembrou a menina limão.

ouvi há dias uma cover de uma das pérolas do disco que me fez gostar de country-music (embora "harvest" não fosse exactamente um disco típico do género), esta canção escrita por young sobre a devastação que a dependência da heroína estava a provocar no meio musical da costa oeste naquele começo da década de setenta. há quem diga que se refere a danny whitten, seu parceiro nos crazy horse e uma das vítimas da altura, mas creio que é mais universal do que isso.

I caught you knockin' at my cellar door

I love you, baby, can I have some more

Ooh, ooh, the damage done.

I hit the city and I lost my band

I watched the needle take another man

Gone, gone, the damage done.

I sing the song because I love the man

I know that some of you don't understand

Milk-blood to keep from running out.

I've seen the needle and the damage done

A little part of it in everyone

But every junkie's like a settin' sun.

neil young

henry diltz

festeja hoje setenta risonhíssimas translações solares o menino neil percival young, canadiano tranquilo, um dos meus heróis da música pela sua coerência e independência e uma das grandes e boas memórias da minha adolescência. muitos muitos parabéns neil.

Think I'll pack it in

and buy a pick-up

Take it down to L.A.

Find a place to call my own

and try to fix up.

Start a brand new day.

The woman I'm thinking of,

she loved me all up

But I'm so down today

She's so fine, she's in my mind.

I hear her callin'.

See the lonely boy,

out on the weekend

Trying to make it pay.

Can't relate to joy,

he tries to speak and

Can't begin to say.

She got pictures on the wall,

they make me look up

From her big brass bed.

Now I'm running down the road

trying to stay up

Somewhere in her head.

The woman I'm thinking of,

she loved me all up

But I'm so down today

She's so fine she's in my mind.

I hear her callin'.

See the lonely boy,

out on the weekend

Trying to make it pay.

Can't relate to joy,

he tries to speak and
Can't begin to say.

d e s c u b r a
a s
s e t e
d i f e r e n ç a s :




esta canção do canadiano tranquilo, como gosto de lhe chamar, deve ter sido das primeiras que ouvi e gostei. faz parte do célebre album "harvest", gravado em 1972 com os stray gators. mas neil young já a tocava ao vivo pelo menos um ano antes. descubra as sete diferenças entre as duas versões:





a) em estúdio, acompanhado:




b) em palco, abandonado:




Old man look at my life,
I'm a lot like you were.
Old man look at my life,
I'm a lot like you were.

Old man look at my life,
Twenty four
and there's so much more
Live alone in a paradise
That makes me think of two.

Love lost, such a cost,
Give me things
that don't get lost.
Like a coin that won't get tossed
Rolling home to you.

Old man take a look at my life
I'm a lot like you
I need someone to love me
the whole day through
Ah, one look in my eyes
and you can tell that's true.

Lullabies, look in your eyes,
Run around the same old town.
Doesn't mean that much to me
To mean that much to you.

I've been first and last
Look at how the time goes past.
But I'm all alone at last.
Rolling home to you.

Old man take a look at my life
I'm a lot like you
I need someone to love me
the whole day through
Ah, one look in my eyes
and you can tell that's true.

Old man look at my life,
I'm a lot like you were.
Old man look at my life,
I'm a lot like you were.

escrita pelo sr. young ainda nos anos sessenta, esta canção (uma das minhas all-time favourites) só apareceu no disco "dejá vu", quando o jovem neil percival integrava os c.s.n.&y.
consta que o ritmo lento foi conseguido num "take" gravado no estúdio às 4 da manhã, quando o cansaço e o sono venceram os músicos, que anteriormente teriam apostado numa versão mais rápida.

(ainda bem, digo eu...)
(é... estou romântico...)

o jovem neil percival em estado de graça, muitos anos depois do «harvest» original.
nunca percebi como é que ele consegue sempre transformar uma canção country num clássico imortal.




Come a little bit closer
Hear what I have to say
Just like children sleepin’
We could dream this night away
But there’s a full moon risin’
Let’s go dancin’ in the light
We know where the music’s playin’
Let’s go out and feel the night

Because I’m still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because I’m still in love with you
On this harvest moon

When we were strangers
I watched you from afar
Then when we were lovers
I loved you with all my heart
But now it’s gettin’ late
And the moon is climbin’ high
I want to celebrate
See it shinin’ in your eye

Because I’m still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because I’m still in love with you
On this harvest moon

...e, vá lá, para os que se portaram bem, um bónus: