The Resurrection of Neil Young

Monday, Sep. 26, 2005 By JOSH TYRANGIEL
GIVING A HAND: The veteran rocker turned out for Farm Aid last week
RICK DIAMOND / WIRE IMAGE
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Most things just came pouring out, but that song's unique because a lot of it came from a voice-mail message. A friend of mine called, knowing I was going through this, and left me a voice mail that was, "Thinking about you--just want to tell you that you mean a lot to me," that kind of stuff. So I wrote it all down and made up this kind of bass-ackwards melody. With songwriting, the key thing is not to have any preconceptions, to be wide open and never worry about whether it's cool or not. Use whatever you can, and worry about cool after you finish the record.

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YOUR SURGERY WENT SMOOTHLY, BUT THE RECOVERY DIDN'T. WHAT HAPPENED?

Everything was cool, so I figured I might actually get to Winnipeg to do the Juno Awards, which is a big deal in Canada, where I'm from, and I had planned to do it and never bothered to cancel. So, two days after the surgery, you can start walking--I went out for a walk, and I made it half a block, and the thing burst on the street, and there was blood in my shoe and--I don't know if you need to share this. Let's just say there was a complication. It was my femoral artery [which the surgeons had used to access his brain]. I was unconscious, and the emergency guys had to revive me. There was no way I could make the Juno Awards, so we had to make an announcement about what happened. But I came very close to no one ever knowing. I would have had an aneurysm, got rid of it, and no one would know the difference. [Laughs] It would have been so cool.

A FEW WEEKS AFTER YOU FINISHED PRAIRIE WIND, YOUR FATHER, WHO WAS A FAMOUS SPORTS JOURNALIST IN CANADA, DIED AT 87. WHAT WAS YOUR RELATIONSHIP LIKE?

I had a great relationship with my dad, and I felt like everything was O.K. when he died, that I was at peace with him and everything was cool. Then I went to the service and completely broke down out of nowhere. He had dementia for the last years of his life, so I couldn't talk to him on the telephone--he couldn't remember what we were talking about. But he was a loving father and a loving grandfather and a great writer.

ONE OF HIS BOOKS WAS 1984'S NEIL AND ME, ABOUT BEING NEIL YOUNG'S DAD. DID YOU READ IT?

Oh, yeah! It was a good book. [Laughs] I learned a few things about what I was like when I was a kid and stuff. Learned more from that book than anything else I ever read about myself.

YOU HAVE TWO SONS, BOTH OF WHOM HAVE CEREBRAL PALSY. ZEKE'S CASE IS MILD, BUT BEN'S IS SEVERE. AS SOMEONE WHO COMMUNICATES FOR A LIVING, DOES IT FRUSTRATE YOU THAT YOU CAN'T TALK TO BEN THE WAY MOST FATHERS AND SONS TALK?

Ben's 25 and a quadriplegic. He's a nonverbal guy, and he's paralyzed basically, but we've developed ways we can play together and do things together for enjoyment. To other people it looks a lot different than it really is. Most people see a severely handicapped or physically disabled person, and they feel uncomfortable. "Oh, my God, I'm glad it isn't me," or they talk too loud or treat him like a baby. But Ben has always been a great communicator with me. There are times when he can't tell me exactly what's going on, when he comes home and he looks a little [upset] and I wish he could say, you know, "Daddy, I wanted to go somewhere today, and the guys with me wouldn't go there." There's all kinds of things like that. But Ben is such a wonderful kid.