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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YOU WROTE ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS LYRICS IN ROCK: "IT'S BETTER TO BURN OUT THAN TO FADE AWAY." A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVE USED THAT LINE TO JUSTIFY ALL KINDS OF SELF-DESTRUCTIVE ACTS, INCLUDING KURT COBAIN, WHO QUOTED IT IN HIS SUICIDE NOTE. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT LINE THESE DAYS?

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The fact that he left the lyrics to my song right there with him when he killed himself left a profound feeling on me, but I don't think he was saying I have to kill myself because I don't want to fade away. I don't think he was interpreting the song in a negative way. It's a song about artistic survival, and I think he had a problem with the fact that he thought he was selling out, and he didn't know how to stop it. He was forced to do tours when he didn't want to, forced into all kinds of stuff. I was trying to get a hold of him--because I had heard some of the things he was doing to himself--just to tell him it's O.K. not to tour, it's O.K. not to do these things, just take control of your life and make your music. Or, hey, don't make music. But as soon as you feel like you're out there pretending, you're f_____. I think he knew that instinctively, but he was young and he didn't have a lot of self-control. And who knows what other personal things in his life were having a negative impression on him at the time?

IS PART OF THE REASON YOU HAVE VEERED BETWEEN SO MANY GENRES OVER THE YEARS THAT YOU FEAR YOU'LL FIND YOURSELF UP THERE FAKING IT ONE DAY?

I'm as predictable as a Holiday Inn when you really look at me. I keep doing the same thing all over again. I just make records, and the records are usually some sort of turnabout from the last record. It took me a long time to write this record. I didn't write anything for two years after Greendale [the widely reviled 2003 movie he wrote and directed], 'cause Greendale was a completely draining experience and a huge project that I think was one of the best things I have been able to do in my life, and a lot of people were lost by it, but that doesn't mean anything. A lot of people in the middle of the road don't pick up on what I'm doing when I'm not in the middle of the road, and it's an accident and a pleasant one when I do end up [there] and traffic is with me.

SO YOUR NEXT ALBUM WILL BE ...?

I don't know. All I know is, I don't want to die. I have a lot left to do. I don't feel like people are giving up on me, and I won't give up on them. So I'm just going to keep on doing whatever it is I do. But I won't stay still for long. Don't want to grow bark.