The thing that is so killer about Neil is what absolutely beautiful melodies he writes. Behind all of that grunge, behind that garage band atmosphere, beyond the power of the lyrics, and beyond the cynicism, lies a heart-wrenchingly beautiful melody...and he does that over and over again, song after song. That is true genius.
@WMalven Absolute truth your assessment of the genius that is Neil Young . I am ecstatic I got to see him with Crazy Horse in their prime. It was indeed killer!
Gotta like the super subtle Grateful Dead hat you've got on. Very cool. Neil Young is still The MAN. "Cortez The Killer" is one of his Guitar Opuses, Neil is a GREAT Guitarist, and also a great Lyricist and Singer. Face it, Neil is just GREAT all around. For a musical artist he sure paints a detailed picture.
Big Soul Shawn, thank you for playing ‘Cortez the Killer’ from Neil Young's 1975 album, “Zuma.” It has ranked #39 on Guitar World’s 100 Greatest Guitar Solos and is also on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Neil is so underrated as a guitarist and songwriter. Neil's music touches us emotionally, where just words can't, and great music, once admitted to your heart and soul, becomes a part of your life again every time you hear it. Keep exploring, Shawn; we'll join you on your musical odyssey. Great commentary, as always - you're the best on UA-cam. NOTE: There is a 22 minute Live version on Neil's Album WELD.
Wow, that was mind-blowing. As a '70s kid I can't believe I never heard this song until TODAY. My college roommates introduced me to so many Neill Young tracks, how could they have missed this one? So glad you reacted to this so I could finally discover it!
This is always one of the songs the crowd want to hear at his live shows. Check out the Weld version and the live in Rio version also. Even better than this studio version in my opinion.
Neil could just keep playing right till the end without singing a note and this would still be a classic...........but he starts singing and it seals the deal !
I rate this in my top 3 favorite Neil Young songs. You need to check out the live version of this from Neil's Live Rust album. Normally I don't like live versions, but it's insane and also studio level quality.
The story I’ve read is that Neil brought the band into his barn studio pretty early one morning, and showed them the 3 chords to this song…then turned on the tape without a rehearsal/run through. The lengthy intro is Neil having them play it together until they find that swaying groove he wanted, and then he begins the vocal. It feels so fresh and real, as a result! I love this song, every guitarist my age loves to jam on it (younger cats do, too!)…but the lyrics are a highly romanticized and inaccurate description of the Aztecs. The lives offered in sacrifice were captives from their wars with neighboring tribes.
Neil on his way to legendary status with this album. And so much more to come. Believe it or not, Neil won the MTV Video of the Year Award in 1988 I think it was. He mocked artists who sell their songs to big corporations. Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson are featured. Pretty controversial video that when it was nominated, absolutely nobody thought it could win. But it sure did. Neil at his anti-establishment best. The song is called This Note's for You. It's bluesy, jazzy and pretty funny. He's backed by Booker T. and the MG's band.
Neil Young was never the greatest technical guitar player. He doesn't have the speed and chops of many of the great lead guitar players. But like his songs, Neil Young has a great feel for melodies, including in his guitar playing. I saw Neil Young live probably around 4 times back in the day, and I always found his concerts to be amazing, especially his guitar playing. He combines hard rocking songs with some of the greatest mellow songs in rock history.
I usually do not like covers of iconic songs, it is so difficult to do them justice, I grew up listening to Neil Young and consider him one of the pioneers of the music I love. Also, I used to be one of those old guys that thought real music and musicians were long gone but this cover is just astonishing. ua-cam.com/video/paeNnR33i5Q/v-deo.html -- the musicianship on this coupled with this song nearly always brings tears to my eyes and proved without a doubt that real musicians are still out there, they are just harder to find then when I grew up.
Whenever you do Neil Young I can’t click fast enough ♥️ btw…you might want to check out the song Barstool Blues on this album. It’s so underrated and it’s such a cool little song
Neil Young’s Album “Freedom” in 1989 was the grunge rockers template. But he he also used pedal steel guitar, which is a country music staple. Crime in the City. Rockin in the free world.
Love your comments about its influence on grunge in the 90s, but then earlier when you were naming off all those bands, every one of them registered with me and I think I've seen many of them live at least once. And yeah there's such an underlying thing here that's really heavy and it evokes so much. I can't remember if you've done Powderfinger from the same era and it also has kind of a historical take on things and yet it relates it right back to any human being at any given time. Especially if you're young and you're not quite sure what to do.
Young has often been called The Godfather of Grunge. The bands you listed loved and emulated him. Pearl Jam recorded an album (Mirror Ball) and toured with him. Whether or not you ever do any reaction to it, please listen to Ragged Glory, arguably the NY album that set off the Grunge sound when it was released in 1990. It's a masterpiece.
Yeah…. Haha….. been requesting this track on every Neil Young reaction you’ve done 🫵🏻🔥🎸❤️🙏🏻 “King Of Distortion” 🎸 try the live version off “Live Rust & Crazy Horse” (1979)
An awesome cover of this song that is well worth checking out is Grace Potter live with Joe Satriani on guitar backed with a trumpet player! It's killer!
A very serious tune and one of Neil’s best.Now try Southern Man or Long May You Run, which is completely different yet great in their own right!The Spaniards spread their diseases on the Natives who had just about no diseases before they came!Government Mule had a key member of The Allman Brothers so that cover will be worth your listening to!
Check out his live performance from Farm Aid 2018 in Hartford Connecticut. His back up band was Lukas Nelson (Willie’s son) and the Promise of the Real. They were on fire that night. I believe the Farm Aid You Tube channel still has the full set.
NY is a master and CH are his fellow shamen 🎸🌞 I covered Cinnamon Girl, White Lines, Rockin In Free World, Opera Star, Mr Soul, Needle, Albuquerque, Powderfinger, Heart Of Gold, Roll Another Number, Comes A Time, Burned, Sugar Mountain, This Note's, Everybody Knows, Natural Anthem...
If you want to throw some history in there though, there is an untold part of the story at least in this narrative although it's very well known historically, that yeah of course the Aztecs were bloodthirsty and dominant. And every group goes through this when they're in those situations, but this is playing out over eons. By the time of cortez, there had been piece for a really long time. I mean relative peace, people realize that trading goods and services was probably going to get them further down the road and because there was a stability to it, it was unpredictable when tensions just started to boil up again after hundreds of years. And this coincided with the conquest of that continent by Spain, and so it all plays into this hot mess.
Epic. Should be played in History classes. 📚 (Oh, some areas of the US don’t want instruction how native, or enslaved people were “living” - and, as Neil is Canadian, some won’t listen to his view) 🙄🥹🌎
Yes, the Aztecs were brutal, in the European view for human sacrifice. Yet, they had sophisticated architecture, astrology knowledge, cultivation of crops, chocolate…and, the Spanish subjugated them, killed them even with smallpox. Overall death for a time. Approved by the Pope, then, to Christian the new world.
Great music, have followed Neil for 30yrs and seen him 5 times. My other great love in Music is Pink Floyd..... and those 2 dont like eachother 😂. Btw: about history, i agree not to hide and put it into the open, BUT then in a correct way, context matters. Because for example , in this case , i am not goin to defend Cortez, but people forget there were only 1000 spanish invaders, they could never have overtrown the society on their own. Tens of thousands of indiginous people joined them, because now they figured they stood a chance against the Main Aztec tribe. And as you mentionned they were a really violent society. Same with many other people ,( ex. the Maori, Zulu, ...) that were conquered and now portrayed as some kind of ghandi like society with peace and love etc..., No, most were more brutal and violent. .... Should we have left them alone? That is hindsight, i live now, and in the context of 500yrs ago i would probably be on one of those ships myself. 🤘❤️
Neil the Killer! He can really play a soulful guitar. Great for Thanksgiving. (banned in Spain.....ridiculous, but unsurprising) How can you not look at your history in a more realistic way? Oops, oh, neither can we. [love your crappy people comment] Yes, Neil is not teaching history here. He is creating an illustration to learn from.....i.e. don't be a crappy person.
Shredders and guitar scale devotees knock Neil as a guitarist, but they can't it so wrong. It's not about technique, it's about emotion, and if this song doesn't carry to tears... well, I feel sorry for you.
The thing that is so killer about Neil is what absolutely beautiful melodies he writes. Behind all of that grunge, behind that garage band atmosphere, beyond the power of the lyrics, and beyond the cynicism, lies a heart-wrenchingly beautiful melody...and he does that over and over again, song after song. That is true genius.
@WMalven
Absolute truth your assessment of the genius that is Neil Young . I am ecstatic I got to see him with Crazy Horse in their prime. It was indeed killer!
His perfection lies in his imperfection I think.
Gotta like the super subtle Grateful Dead hat you've got on. Very cool. Neil Young is still The MAN. "Cortez The Killer" is one of his Guitar Opuses, Neil is a GREAT Guitarist, and also a great Lyricist and Singer. Face it, Neil is just GREAT all around. For a musical artist he sure paints a detailed picture.
If you haven't hit it yet, you have to do _Powderfinger._ Such a powerful song.
He already did 😊
I have consistently listened to this song since purchasing it December 1975. My last purchase from the Navy Exchange before heading home for good.
Big Soul Shawn, thank you for playing ‘Cortez the Killer’ from Neil Young's 1975 album, “Zuma.” It has ranked #39 on Guitar World’s 100 Greatest Guitar Solos and is also on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Neil is so underrated as a guitarist and
songwriter. Neil's music touches us emotionally, where just words can't, and great music, once admitted to your heart and soul,
becomes a part of your life again every time you hear it. Keep exploring, Shawn; we'll join you on your musical odyssey. Great
commentary, as always - you're the best on UA-cam. NOTE: There is a 22 minute Live version on Neil's Album WELD.
Wow, that was mind-blowing. As a '70s kid I can't believe I never heard this song until TODAY. My college roommates introduced me to so many Neill Young tracks, how could they have missed this one? So glad you reacted to this so I could finally discover it!
This is always one of the songs the crowd want to hear at his live shows. Check out the Weld version and the live in Rio version also. Even better than this studio version in my opinion.
NEIL ON A FRIDAYYYY, NEIL ANYTIME, YEAHHHH SHAWN! 💯😊
Neil could just keep playing right till the end without singing a note and this would still be a classic...........but he starts singing and it seals the deal !
I have heard Neil Young referred to as the Godfather of Grunge. He did an album, Mirror Ball, with Pearl Jam in 1995.
Some of Neil Young best guitar work is when he is performing with his band "Crazy Horse" another great guitar track is "Down by the river"
I rate this in my top 3 favorite Neil Young songs. You need to check out the live version of this from Neil's Live Rust album. Normally I don't like live versions, but it's insane and also studio level quality.
Crazy Horse is Neil's Heavy Rock band. sometimes called just The Horse.
The story I’ve read is that Neil brought the band into his barn studio pretty early one morning, and showed them the 3 chords to this song…then turned on the tape without a rehearsal/run through. The lengthy intro is Neil having them play it together until they find that swaying groove he wanted, and then he begins the vocal. It feels so fresh and real, as a result!
I love this song, every guitarist my age loves to jam on it (younger cats do, too!)…but the lyrics are a highly romanticized and inaccurate description of the Aztecs. The lives offered in sacrifice were captives from their wars with neighboring tribes.
Yes👍.you have to listen to a live take✌️🙏
Instant subscribe, the way music speaks to the soul. The way you don't just hear but feel it. That's true appreciation. Thank you 🙏❤️
Neil on his way to legendary status with this album. And so much more to come. Believe it or not, Neil won the MTV Video of the Year Award in 1988 I think it was. He mocked artists who sell their songs to big corporations. Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson are featured. Pretty controversial video that when it was nominated, absolutely nobody thought it could win. But it sure did. Neil at his anti-establishment best. The song is called This Note's for You. It's bluesy, jazzy and pretty funny. He's backed by Booker T. and the MG's band.
Neil Young was never the greatest technical guitar player. He doesn't have the speed and chops of many of the great lead guitar players. But like his songs, Neil Young has a great feel for melodies, including in his guitar playing. I saw Neil Young live probably around 4 times back in the day, and I always found his concerts to be amazing, especially his guitar playing. He combines hard rocking songs with some of the greatest mellow songs in rock history.
My absolute favorite song by my absolute favorite musician ❣️🎶😁THANKS FOR YOUR YOUR GREAT REACTIONS
I've loved Neil since 1972. I always will. I just love the tone of his beloved "old black" and of course his unique beautiful voice.
This and Like A Hurricane are my favourite Neil Young songs. Wonderful stuff!
Greatest mid-tempo rock song EVER!!
You should check out Hey Hey My My and My My Hey Hey together. 👍
Deserves 100 thumbs up. A terrific idea.
I usually do not like covers of iconic songs, it is so difficult to do them justice, I grew up listening to Neil Young and consider him one of the pioneers of the music I love. Also, I used to be one of those old guys that thought real music and musicians were long gone but this cover is just astonishing. ua-cam.com/video/paeNnR33i5Q/v-deo.html -- the musicianship on this coupled with this song nearly always brings tears to my eyes and proved without a doubt that real musicians are still out there, they are just harder to find then when I grew up.
They call Neil Young the godfather of grunge.
The best version of Cortez The Killer is off the live Weld Cd. “What a Killer”👍👊
Yes don't you just want it to go on? I love Neil and Crazy Horse, so many great songs but this is my absolute fave.
Whenever you do Neil Young I can’t click fast enough ♥️ btw…you might want to check out the song Barstool Blues on this album. It’s so underrated and it’s such a cool little song
Oh yeah I love that song. I've played it at open mics
Omgggg,,,, my FAV Young tune!!!
~ thx dude ~
Neil Young’s Album “Freedom” in 1989 was the grunge rockers template. But he he also used pedal steel guitar, which is a country music staple. Crime in the City. Rockin in the free world.
Built To Spill is a long running indie rock guitar band. They have some epic songs and I recommend them.
Love your comments about its influence on grunge in the 90s, but then earlier when you were naming off all those bands, every one of them registered with me and I think I've seen many of them live at least once. And yeah there's such an underlying thing here that's really heavy and it evokes so much.
I can't remember if you've done Powderfinger from the same era and it also has kind of a historical take on things and yet it relates it right back to any human being at any given time. Especially if you're young and you're not quite sure what to do.
Sublime epic...
Wise words brother.
Young has often been called The Godfather of Grunge. The bands you listed loved and emulated him. Pearl Jam recorded an album (Mirror Ball) and toured with him.
Whether or not you ever do any reaction to it, please listen to Ragged Glory, arguably the NY album that set off the Grunge sound when it was released in 1990. It's a masterpiece.
EFFINNNNNN AMAZING, I LUVVVVV THAT!!! 💯😊
Grace Potter does a fantastic live version.
One of my all-time favorite Neil songs. Another is "Touch The Night". Great video to go with that one too.
First time or next time is always like the first time. Immediate reaction is to close eyes and groove.
Yeah…. Haha….. been requesting this track on every Neil Young reaction you’ve done 🫵🏻🔥🎸❤️🙏🏻
“King Of Distortion” 🎸 try the live version off “Live Rust & Crazy Horse” (1979)
Cortez Cortez...What a killer!
You need to check out Warren Haynes and Dave Mathews doing this song in Central Park.
Great Song Great Musician Great Reaction check out Neil Young "Pocahontas" sometime its worth a listen
NIIIIICCCCE!👍😊YOU CAN BET THE RADIO WAVES DIDN'T LIKE THIS ONE SHAWN! 😊
You really need to see the 1991 live version, talk about atmosphere.
DANGER BIRD!
If you need it longer, try the live version Shawn!!
This is Ralph Molina's masterwotk right here.
Here's another Neil Young song suggestion, Sedan Delivery from Rust Never Sleeps.
An awesome cover of this song that is well worth checking out is Grace Potter live with Joe Satriani on guitar backed with a trumpet player! It's killer!
DANGER BIRD 😊ONE OF THOSE GREAT GUITAR CHORD RANTS SHAWN! 👍
please check the 1991 LIVE version of Cortez from the weld album
A very serious tune and one of Neil’s best.Now try Southern Man or Long May You Run, which is completely different yet great in their own right!The Spaniards spread their diseases on the Natives who had just about no diseases before they came!Government Mule had a key member of The Allman Brothers so that cover will be worth your listening to!
Glad you finally got to this one bro, it's just FIRE! I've seen Gov't Mule cover this and that's also fire, peace.
Winnipeg shout out
Check out his live performance from Farm Aid 2018 in Hartford Connecticut. His back up band was Lukas Nelson (Willie’s son) and the Promise of the Real. They were on fire that night. I believe the Farm Aid You Tube channel still has the full set.
NY is a master and CH are his fellow shamen 🎸🌞 I covered Cinnamon Girl, White Lines, Rockin In Free World, Opera Star, Mr Soul, Needle, Albuquerque, Powderfinger, Heart Of Gold, Roll Another Number, Comes A Time, Burned, Sugar Mountain, This Note's, Everybody Knows, Natural Anthem...
That is awesome, man! I'm loving my journey through Neil Youngs catalog. Amazing sound from him and Crazy Horse
DANGER BIRD SHAWN, SAME ALBUM ( ZUMA ) 😊
If you want to throw some history in there though, there is an untold part of the story at least in this narrative although it's very well known historically, that yeah of course the Aztecs were bloodthirsty and dominant. And every group goes through this when they're in those situations, but this is playing out over eons.
By the time of cortez, there had been piece for a really long time. I mean relative peace, people realize that trading goods and services was probably going to get them further down the road and because there was a stability to it, it was unpredictable when tensions just started to boil up again after hundreds of years. And this coincided with the conquest of that continent by Spain, and so it all plays into this hot mess.
Yeah, well Neil wasn't a historian or archeologist, just a great songwriter with a vivid imagination 🙂
Banning books. Hmmm, who could ever imagine such a thing. (wink wink).
Please check out "Down by the River" by Mr. Young. Epic.
try the live version of "Like a Hurricane" or better (well maybe not), the unplugged version from his 90's unplugged album (done on an organ no less)
Epic. Should be played in History classes. 📚
(Oh, some areas of the US don’t want instruction how native, or enslaved people were “living” - and, as Neil is Canadian, some won’t listen to his view) 🙄🥹🌎
Yes, the Aztecs were brutal, in the European view for human sacrifice. Yet, they had sophisticated architecture, astrology knowledge, cultivation of crops, chocolate…and, the Spanish subjugated them, killed them even with smallpox. Overall death for a time. Approved by the Pope, then, to Christian the new world.
YOU SHOULD DO ( DANGER BIRD ) SHAWN, SAME ALBUM ( ZUMA ) :)
Great music, have followed Neil for 30yrs and seen him 5 times. My other great love in Music is Pink Floyd..... and those 2 dont like eachother 😂.
Btw: about history, i agree not to hide and put it into the open, BUT then in a correct way, context matters. Because for example , in this case , i am not goin to defend Cortez, but people forget there were only 1000 spanish invaders, they could never have overtrown the society on their own. Tens of thousands of indiginous people joined them, because now they figured they stood a chance against the Main Aztec tribe. And as you mentionned they were a really violent society. Same with many other people ,( ex. the Maori, Zulu, ...) that were conquered and now portrayed as some kind of ghandi like society with peace and love etc..., No, most were more brutal and violent. .... Should we have left them alone? That is hindsight, i live now, and in the context of 500yrs ago i would probably be on one of those ships myself. 🤘❤️
Great song but anything from Neil Young is great
Neil the Killer! He can really play a soulful guitar. Great for Thanksgiving. (banned in Spain.....ridiculous, but unsurprising) How can you not look at your history in a more realistic way?
Oops, oh, neither can we. [love your crappy people comment] Yes, Neil is not teaching history here. He is creating an illustration to learn from.....i.e. don't be a crappy person.
This song is banned in Spain
The Live Rust version is so much better.
When I bought this album, I went right to this song because of the title
live version with crazy horse at toronto is better
Shredders and guitar scale devotees knock Neil as a guitarist, but they can't it so wrong. It's not about technique, it's about emotion, and if this song doesn't carry to tears... well, I feel sorry for you.
crazyhorse was a bad bad band
BTW Generalissimo Francisco Franco is STILL DEAD. LOL.
BWAHAHAHA!!!! You're dating yourself...and me for calling it out.
Yeah, I'm an old fart. I remember SNL when it was good.@@WMalven