Neil Young Album

Grandpa said to cousin Jed
Sittin' on the porch,
"I won't retire
But I might retread

Seems like that guy singin' this song
Been doin' it for a long time
Is there anything he knows
That he ain't said?

Sing a song for freedom
Sing a song for love
Sing a song for depressed angels
Falling from above"

Grandpa held the paper
Pretendin' he could see
But he couldn't read without his glasses on

"How can all these people
Afford so many things?
When i was young
People wore what they had on...and Mama said

'a little love and affection
In everything you do
Will make the world a better place
With or without you'"

A little love and affection
In everything you do

Slammin' down a late night shot
The hero and the artist compared
Goals and visions and afterthoughts
For the 21st century

But mostly came up with nothin'
So the truth was never learned
And the human race just kept rollin' on

Rollin' through the fighting
Rollin' through the religious wars
Rollin' down the temple walls
And the church's exposed sores

Rollin' through the fighting
The religious wars
Mostly came up with nothin'

"Grandpa here's your glasses
You'll see much better now,"
Said that young girl of Edith and Earl's
But Grandpa just kept starin'
He was lost in some distant thought
Then he turned and said
To that young girl

"A little love and affection
In everything you do
Will make the world a better place
With or without you"

With or without you
A better place
With or without you
With or without you

Hear that rooster crowin'
Down on the double e
It's a new morning
Dawning on the green

Bouncing off the towers
And the sun's heading down for the streets
The business meeting
Window shades are drawn

Another morning edition
Headed for the porch
Because Grandma puts down the paper
Before Grandpa raises his fork

A little love and affection
In everything you do
With or without you

Hear the rooster crowing
Down on the double e

Back in the country
Livin' on the double e
In the sunshine of her life
There's a ready young filly
And mom and daddy
Won't let her leave
Mom and papa won't let her go

But when they go out dancin'
She breaks out on her own
She's hot enough to
Burn the house down
And mom and daddy don't know

When Edith and Earl
Renamed the double e
They nearly made history
The neighbors rose up
And some of them were mad as hell
'cause it used to be the double L

Change comes slow in the country
When you're new
There's a lot of distrust
Years pass by uneventful,
And memories turn to dust

Meanwhile Granny
Has got her bright colors on
The sunshine in her eyes
Cruisin' by the bars
And honky tonks where she met Grandpa
And caught that young man's eye

Dusty white Eldorado
Cruisin' through the trees
Slippin' through the shadows
Of what used to be

Back in the day
Livin' in the summer of love
Livin' in the summer of love

Grandma's ok
But not the same since grandpa's gone
She's livin' in the summer of love

Back in the day
Livin' in the summer of love
Livin' in the summer of love

Livin' in the summer of love

Livin' in the summer of love

Livin' in the summer of love

"When the red light shines
On the streets of hate
Where the devil dines
Who knows what he ate

It's a simple thing
Trying to stay afloat,"
The captain said
Without his boat

"Some things are getting better
Other things a little worse
It's a situation
Much like a curse

It's the devil's sidewalk (Greendale)
It's the devil's door (Greendale)
I try to avoid it," (Greendale)
Said the captain of the shore (Greendale)

"There's a garden growing (Greendale)
And a million weeds (Greendale)
With no way of knowing (Greendale)
Who has done which deed" (Greendale)

"That's an honest tale,"
Said the helmsman to the mate,
"about a woman delicious
And a matter of fate"

Big wheel's still rolling
Down on me
One thing I can tell you
Is you got to be free

John Lennon said that
And I believe in love
I believe in action
When push comes to shove

"Who cares what you believe,"
Said the captain amazed,
"If you stood in my shoes
Your eyes would be glazed"

So my fair damsel (Greendale)
Won't you take your leave (Greendale)
Are you headed for the country (Greendale)
Where you wear the green sleeve (Greendale)

And the children laugh (Greendale)
And the old folks sing (Greendale)
And the church bells toll (Greendale)
For a miraculous thing (Greendale)

Where the big red furnace (Greendale)
Just glows and glows (Greendale)
Where the big heart beats (Greendale)
Where the big wheel rolls (Greendale)

Out on the old coast highway
Flyin' through the night
Jed got stopped by the CHP
For speedin' and no brake lights

Rolled down the drivers window
Slipped his gun down under the seat
Glove box full of cocaine
Trunk was full of weed

"Driver's license and registration,"
Said the officer with his flashlight
Searchin' around the floor of the car
Smellin' like somethin' ain't right

Jed's life flashed before him
Like a black and white super 8
He heard the sound of the future
On a scratchy old 78

Nothin' was still, all was movin'
When the flashlight found the gun
Then Jed pulled the trigger
In a split second tragic blunder

"Makes you think about livin'
And what life has to tell,"
Said Jed to grandpa
From inside his cell

Camouflage hung in his closet
Guns all over the wall
Plans for buildings and engineers
And a book with no numbers at all

The whole town was stunned
They closed the coast highway for 12 hours
No one could believe it
Jed was one of ours

Meanwhile across the ocean
Living in the Internet
Is the cause of an explosion
No one has heard yet

But there's no need to worry
There's no reason to fuss
Just go on about your work now
And leave the driving to us

And we'll be watching you
No matter what you do
And you can do your part
By watching others too

Grandpa put down the paper
Staring in disbelief
Jed had always been good to him
And never gave him any grief

"The moral of this story
Is try not to get too old
The more time you spend on earth
The more you see unfold

And as an afterthought
This must too be told
Some people have taken pure bullshit
And turned it into gold"

Silk scarf and a napkin
Hidden in a drawer
Two hundred bucks in an envelope
Labeled Lenore

"Maybe she shouldn't see this
She should never know,"
Said the widow's best friend Anne,
"I'll just take it and go

I'll give her the money later
Say it was in his shoe
That way she'll never find out...
That'll do"

"Carmichael was a credit to the force
In everything he did
It's like we got a big hole in our side
Where he fit

If any of you officers
Would like to say a word
Now would be the time
To be heard"

"Thank you chief, I sure would
He was a partner of mine
He was always very careful
And played it straight down the line"

One by one the officers spoke
And the service drew to a close
He had no living relatives
But his wife who never showed

She just couldn't face the men
They all understood
They got in their cars and drove home
As directly as they could

"Carmichael you asshole,"
The new widow sobbed beneath her veil,
"shot down in the line of duty
Is this how justice never fails?

I wish that things were better
When we said goodbye today
But we had our share of good times though
Along the way

Remember
'Hey mr. las vegas
You used to be so cool!'
We met Wayne Newton down at pebble beach
And you acted like a fool

But we both just couldn't stop laughin'
It seemed so funny to us
We left our luggage back in the room and almost missed the bus

That was a great vacation
Maybe the best of all
But goddamnit Carmichael you're dead now
And I'm talkin' to the wall"

The force got back to normal
Carmichael was replaced
For one year nobody parked a car
In Carmichael's space

Turnin' the pages
In this old book
Seems familiar
Might be worth a second look

Wrappin' up dope in a paper bag
Talkin' to yourself
Takin' a drag
Who are you kidding
With what you say?
What does it matter?
They'll never hear it anyway

Got to get past
The negative thing
The lawyers and business
You get what you bring
No one's sorry
You did it yourself
It's time to relax now
And then give it hell

Someday you'll find
What you're lookin' for
Someday you'll find
What you're lookin' for

You didn't bet on the Dodgers
To beat the Giants
Then David came up
Now you gotta pay up
You didn't count on that

Geez half the money's gone
The month is still young
Where you gonna go now?
Things are closin' in

Got to trust someone
Trust someone
Someone you trust
Got to be careful
Be careful

You can't go to your brother
That money's all gone
Can't go to your friends

Someday
You'll find
Everything you're lookin' for

Someday
You'll find
Everything you're lookin' for

Someday
You'll find
Everything you're lookin' for

Someday
You'll find
Everything you're lookin' for
Yeah

Made out like a bandit
For so many years
What are you workin' for?
One more big score?
What are you tryin' to prove?

Try to get closer
But not too close
Try to get through
But not be through

No one can touch you now
But i can touch you now
You're invisible
You got too many secrets
Bob Dylan said that
Somethin' like that

Someday
You'll find
Everything you're looking for

Someday
You'll find
Everything you're looking for

Someday
You'll find
Everything you're looking for

Someday
You'll find
Everything you're looking for
Yeah

"Grandpa here's your coffee,"
Said Edith as she filled his cup,
"nobody'll find you here
And Earl is glad you guys showed up

The way things are downtown
You might have to stay for a while
There was a helicopter flyin' over your house
When i talked to your neighbor Kyle"

"Who the hell do they think they are?
Invading our home like that
Grandma and i had to leave so fast
We couldn't even catch the cat

The helicopter scared the shit out of it
And it took off down the trail
Down past the railroad track
Towards the county jail"

"Jed you really screwed up now
What'd you have to do that for?
Everybody wants to hang your ass
Here's a note from Lenore"

She touched the cold steel bars
As she pushed the paper in
Jed took it up and read it
And couldn't hide a grin

Outside the jail window
A crow flew across the sky
Completely disappearing behind each bar
Then a helicopter flew by

"Say hi to Earl and Edith
Tell'em I'm doin' fine
Tell'em you're ready to leave home now
And they should cut the line

Can Grandma come and see me?
I've got a new song to sing
It's longer than all the others combined
And doesn't mean a thing"

The noise was unfamiliar...
A walkie talkie squealed
Generators were runnin'
Vans parked in the field

TV crews and cameras
They wanted to interview Grandpa on the porch
They came through the gate and up on the lawn
Knockin' down Edith's tiki torch

Grandpa saw them there
Looking through the venetian blind
"those people don't have any respect
So they won't get any of mine

I ain't gonna talk about Jed...
I don't watch channel 2 or 6 or 9
I don't have time to talk that fast
And it ain't my crime

It ain't an honour to be on tv
And it ain't a duty either
The only good thing about tv
Is shows like 'leave it to beaver'

Shows with love and affection
Like mama used to say
A little mayberry livin'
Can go a long way"

He took Earl's gun from the closet
And loaded up both barrels
Went out on the porch and fired them off
And up walked a woman named Carol

"Susan Carol from early magazine
I've got some questions to ask"
"Well you can stick 'em where the sun don't shine,"
Grandpa said with a gasp

Then he fell face first and let out a sigh
Edith came out in shock
Grandpa was whispering to her from down on the floor
He looked like he was tryin' to talk

"That guy who just keeps singin'
Can't somebody shut him up?
I don't know for the life of me
Where he comes up with this stuff"

They laid his head on a newspaper
With a picture of Carmichael on the front page
Posing with a little league baseball team
And a seedy shot of Jed with a motorcycle.

Grandpa died like a hero
Fightin' for freedom of silence
Tryin' to stop the media
Tryin' to be anonymous

Share your lovin' and you'll live so long
Share your lovin' and you'll live so long
Share your lovin' and you'll live so long
Live so long

The evening fog was rolling in
It was getting hard to see
The old white car edged down the road
Headed for the double e

She was bringin' down dinner for Grandpa
It was crawlin' with vitamins
And tender as a mother's love
When she saw the TV vans

The side door was open
There were three TVs
Grandpa's face was on every one
He was talkin' to a woman with a microphone
She was sexy and her hair was all done

Sun Green came out and met Grandma then
"My, you're such a beautiful girl
Mother Earth needs more like you
You should go out now and see the world

What's grandpa doin' on TV?
I got his dinner in the car
All these vans have blocked our road
But we can carry it, it's not too far"

Sun Green started makin' waves
On the day her grandpa died
Speakin' out against anything
Unjust or packed with lies

She chained herself to a statue of an eagle
In the lobby of Powerco
And started yellin' through a megaphone
"there's corruption on the highest floor"

Suits poured out of elevators ("they're all dirty")
Phoneheads began to speak ("you can't trust anybody")
But security couldn't get her down
She was welded to the eagle's beak

Sun Green leaned into that megaphone
And said, "truth is all I seek"
Security brought in some blowtorches
News cameras recorded the speech

"When the city is plunged into darkness
By an unpredicted rolling blackout
The white house always blames the governor,
Sayin', 'the solution is to vote him out'"

On top of that great bronze eagle
Sun's voice was loud and clear
She said, "Powerco is workin' with the white house
To paralyze our state with fear"

It was a golden moment (golden moment)
In the history of tv news
No one could explain it
It just got great reviews

"Hey Mr. Clean, you're dirty now too
Hey Mr. Clean, you're dirty now too
Hey Mr. Clean, you're dirty now too
Hey Mr. Clean, you're dirty now too"

The imitators were playin'
Down at John Lee's bar
When Sun went down to see 'em
Someone followed her in a car

So now when she goes dancin'
She has to watch her back
The FBI just trashed her room
One of them kicked her cat

The damn thing scratched his leg
And he had to shoot it dead
And leave it lyin' in a puddle of blood
At the foot of Sun Green's bed

"Hey Mr. Clean, you're dirty now too
Hey Mr. Clean, you're dirty now too
Hey Mr. Clean, you're dirty now too
Hey Mr. Clean, you're dirty now too"

John Lee's was rockin'
The imitators drove it home
Sun was dancin' up a heatwave
For a while she was all alone...

When up walked a tall stranger
He shadowed her move to move
In perfect unison
A supernatural groove

He took her by the hand
And the room began to spin
He said, "I'm Earth... Earth Brown
You know the shape I'm in

I'm leavin' tonight for Alaska
And I want you to come in the spring
And be a goddess in the planet wars
Tryin' to save the livin' things"

"I'm ready to go right now,"
Sun Green told Earth Brown
"let's go back to my place,
Pick up my cat and leave this town behind"

"Hey Mr. Clean, you're dirty now too
Hey Mr. Clean, you're dirty now too
Hey Mr. Clean, you're dirty now too
Hey Mr. Clean, you're dirty now too"

Next day Sun Green got busted for pot
And it made the headline news
But then the charges all got dropped
And the story got confused

She'd still like to meet Julia Butterfly
And see what remedy brings
And be a goddess in the planet wars
Tryin' to save the livin' things

But that might not be easy
Livin' on the run
Mother Earth has many enemies
There's much work to be done

"Hey Mr. Clean, you're dirty now too
Hey Mr. Clean, you're dirty now too
Hey Mr. Clean, you're dirty now too
Hey Mr. Clean, you're dirty now too"

Save the planet for another day
"Attention shoppers, buy with a conscience and save"
Save the planet for another day
"Save Alaska! Let the caribou stay"
Don't care what the governments say
"They're all bought and paid for anyway"
Save the planet for another day
"hey Big Oil, what do you say?"

We were runnin' through the night
Never knowin' if we would see the light
Paranoid schizophrenic visions
Livin' in fear of the wrong decisions

We got to wake up
We got to keep goin'
If they follow us
There's no way of knowin'

We got a job to do
We got to
Save Mother Earth

Be the ocean when it meets the sky
"You can make a difference, if you really try"
Be the magic in the northern lights
"six days....six nights"
Be the river as it rolls along
"it has three eyed fish and it's smellin' strong"
Be the rain you remember fallin'
"be the rain, be the rain"

Yeah rain was fallin' and we're soakin' wet
Hail is beatin' down on our heads
The wind is blowin' through our hair
Faces frozen in the frigid air

We got to get there
Alaska
We got to be there
Before the big machines

We got a job to do
We got to
Save Mother Earth

Dream the hunter on the western plain
"the birds are all gone, where did they go?"
Dream the fisherman in his boat
"he's comin' home empty, he's barely afloat"
Dream the logger in the great northwest
"they're runnin' out of trees, they got to give it a rest"
(there's no other way to cut it)
Dream the farmer in the old heartland
"corporate greed and chemicals are killin' the land"

Next mornin' Sun was up at dawn
She looked around and Earth was gone
Dark visions he had last night
He needed peace, he needed light

He heard the rumble and
He saw the big machines
The green army rose
It was a bad dream

He had a job to do
He had to
Save Mother Earth

Be the ocean when it meets the sky
"Greek freighters are dumping crap somewhere right now"
Be the magic in the northern lights
"the ice is melting!"
Be the river as it rolls along
"toxic waste dumpin' from corporate farms"
Be the rain you remember fallin'
"be the rain, be the rain"
Save the planet for another day
"be the rain, be the rain"
Be the river as it rolls along
"be the rain, be the rain"