You wouldn’t immediately associate Neil Young with love songs. He is more so known for his poignant social commentaries. But, like all artists, he isn’t immune to a bit of romance. Find three of his best love songs, below.
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3 of the Best Neil Young Love Songs
1. “Motion Pictures (For Carrie)”
Despite his relationship with Carrie Snodgress slowly fizzling out, Young penned “Motion Pictures (For Carrie)” for her. It’s very clear that something was up with their relationship, but nevertheless, Young seemed to be holding on tight to what could be.
Well, all those headlines,
they just bore me now
I’m deep inside myself,
but I’ll get out somehow,
And I’ll stand before you,
and I’ll bring
a smile to your eyes.
Motion pictures,
motion pictures.
2. “Cinnamon Girl”
“Wrote this for a city girl on peeling pavement coming at me thru Phil Ochs eyes playing finger cymbals,” Young once said of “Cinnamon Girl.” “It was hard to explain to my wife.”
Though that descriptor is kind of hard to decipher, it does let us know that this track is a love song–if the lyrics didn’t already. I wanna live with a cinnamon girl / I could be happy the rest of my life, a section of the lyrics read. It’s as heartfelt a statement of adoration as any we’ve heard.
I wanna live with a cinnamon girl
I could be happy the rest of my life
With a cinnamon girl
A dreamer of pictures I run in the night
You see us together chasing the moonlight
My cinnamon girl
3. “Danger Bird”
On the flip-side of love is heartbreak. Though they may not be considered love songs by the regular definition, breakup songs are indeed tinged with love–albeit the remaining love once the relationship is over. You wouldn’t get the kind of fervor Young employs on “Danger Bird” without love. Young waxes poetic about a former lover, reeling in the wake of losing them.
And we used to be so calm
Now I think about you all day long
(That’s the moment that he cracked)
‘Cause you’ve been with another man
(Long ago in the museum with his friends)
There you are and here I am
(Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images)
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