NEW
YORK: In the spring of 2006, Neil Young was just a year removed from a
nearـfatal aneurysm when he became so enraged with the war in Iraq
that he quickly wrote, recorded and released the protest album Living
With War.
Not two months after its release, his partـtime supergroup Crosby,
Stills, Nash & Young launched their Freedom of Speech tour, during
which unwitting fans expecting the band''s sweeter side were greeted
instead with its serrated edge.
During a threeـhourـplus concert, the band played nearly all
of Living With War and many of the political anthems on which its legend
was built, like "Ohio," "Military Madness" and
"Find the Cost of Freedom." Despite CSN&Y''s antiـestablishment
roots, the move angered some fans, while inspiring others.
The forthcoming documentary CSNY: Deja Vu charts that friction,
portraying fans who saluted the group''s efforts and those who felt
betrayed by them, while also introducing viewers to Iraq War veterans
who are now protesting the war as musicians, politicians and social
workers.
Directed by longtime film buff Young (who uses the alias/nickname
Bernard Shakey) and due in theaters July 25, the documentary blends
concert and behindـtheـscenes footage with short news
features created by ABC correspondent Mike Cerre.
Young, 62, recently spoke with Billboard about the film. Here are some
highlights.
It''s Pretty Shocking Midway Through The Movie When An Irate Atlanta Fan
Tells You To Stick It Up Your Ass, And Another Remarks That He Wants To
"Knock Your Teeth Out" For Singing AntiـWar, AntiـBush
Songs. How Did You React The First Time You Saw This Footage?
Well, we knew that it was happening. That wasn''t the first time it
happened. Before we even got to Atlanta, we''d experienced that. There
were other places. The bullـometer was pretty high in a couple of
places, and I think Orange County (California) was pretty good, Irvine.
It was pretty strong there. We had some fights; everything was crazy
there. They just went nuts. But they weren''t real close to us. We could
see them, and they were just going berserk. But Atlanta was very
forceful. I mean, they are so passionate about what they felt, and how
they feel about, you know, how we crossed over the line and intruded on
something that they believed in so strongly. So you gotta respect
people, even if they''re losing their minds at that very moment, and not
talking really eloquently. They have their deep beliefs. So we had to
use it, because we''re telling the story, and we''re trying to tell the
whole story. There was a journalistic responsibility involved.
When You Watch This Film And When You Think Back On The Negative
Reactions In The Audience, Is There A Face Or A Middle Finger That
Vividly Sticks Out To You?
I remember some faces. There''s one guy I remember for sure, and he''s
not in the movie. But there are things that I remember from all tours.
(This tour) was a harrowing experience at times, and it''s not an
experience that I would like to repeat. I think it was a oneـoff.
Why''s That?
I think if I did this kind of thing for the rest of my life, I''d become
like CNN and I don''t really respect that very much. It''s like the same
thing on a loop. I don''t see the need for that. I like to be a fullـlength
program, not a repeating segment.
There''s A Scene In The Movie Where Graham Nash Talks About Going To
Hear "Living With War" For The First Time And Deciding Whether
He Wanted To Suit Up For This Tour. Were There Times When You Felt Like
You Were Bringing David (Crosby), Stephen (Stills) And Graham Into
Something That Was Ultimately Harmful To Their Bottom Line As Crosby,
Stills And Nash? Obviously, You Play To Two Different Audiences, And
Touring With Them Is A Lot Less Of A PreachingـToـTheـChoir
Scenario.
I guess so, ''cause they''ve been pretty mellow for a long time, and
they haven''t done anything. But if you look at the roots, if you look
at the original music ـ "For What It''s Worth,"
"Ohio," "Military Madness," "Long Time
Gone," "Deja Vu" and all these songs that were written
back then ـ "Immigration Man," "Teach Your
Children" ـ all that stuff is all rooted in the same message.
This is just a different time. So they had a history of doing that, and
I thought that was a good thing, because it reached way back for the
roots.
Of course, between then and now, they''ve been singing about things
they''ve believed in, and also just singing a lot of love songs, and a
lot of songs that people enjoy, so it could become kind of like date
night going to see them.
But those guys were into it 100 percent. I mean, Stephen does not like
people to not like him, and I respect him for that. And he''s a very
sensitive guy, so I could understand that, but even with that he wanted
to do it. He said, "Yeah, I''ll do it," and he sang "For
What It''s Worth" every day and every night. He played his heart
out. But he kept saying, "Well, it''s like a political cartoon, you
have to see it as that," and he was always trying to soften the
blow a little, and that''s the way he is, and that''s cool. But I think
he was with us, and he believed in what we were doing, or he wouldn''t
have been there. And Crosby and Nash were right there from the
beginning, because they don''t care so much how the reaction''s gonna
be. They''re not as concerned with that as they are just with singing
about stuff that matters to them. And they agreed with the songs, and
they wanted to sing ''em.
In The Movie, You Talk About Not Singing The Song "Ohio"
For Years, Because You Didn''t Want To Capitalize...
I thought that right at the beginning. That''s what bothered me about
the song in the first place, and that''s why I rarely sang it. But in
this tour, it took on a context of being part of history, so we played
it again. But I did many tours with CSNY where I would hardly ever do
that song. If you saw us do it, you saw us on a rare occasion. Crosby
loves to do the song. He just wants to do it every night. And I just
can''t do it. It''s too personal, it''s too real. It''s about people who
actually died that we feel were our audience. They could have been in
the first row at our shows. These were students. That''s who we played
for. That''s why I didn''t want the cameras at Woodstock, because they
were in between us and our crowd. This is the way it started. It started
with a total connection. There was no facade, there was no style, there
was no posing. It was a real deal happening. And it had so much energy
that people are still living off of it today. They''re still building
off of it.
What Are You Hoping To Gain From The Release Of The Film, And The Dvd
That Will Follow It?
Discussion. Debate. Open forums. And it does do that to people. You''ll
see what happens when this film comes out on the Internet. You''ll see
people talking. It''ll be interesting. It''ll open up a thing, and
that''s what it does. That''s what the music did. That''s what happens.
It happens in the audiences. I saw families fighting within the
families, the kids wanting to stay and the parents going, "No,
we''ve got to get out of here. This is no good." The parents
dragging the kid out, and the kid looking back. And we''re not talking a
10ـyearـold, here. We''re talking college kids being driven
out by just straightـlaced fathers, the classic father image of
strength. Not much compassion, but a lot of strength.
Is There A Certain Amount Of Disappointment You Have In Your Own
Generation? Was That One Of The Reasons For Doing The Freedom Of Speech
Tour?
Actually, I''m encouraged by my own generation, because they still
remember enough. They''re the ones that are trying to move forward. The
youngsters today, the ones in school, the college kids, they''re not
threatened like my generation was when they were in college. They''re
not threatened with going to war, the imminent draft, that they''re
going, that they''re going to be in the lottery, that they''re gonna go,
and maybe die. Kids today are thinking, "Will I work for Google? Am
I going to be lucky enough to work for Google? Or whom I''m going to be
working for? Am I gonna get a dotcom job? Maybe I''ll be working in an
environmental company. Maybe I''ll get some cool job. Maybe I want to be
a designer, maybe fashion. What am I gonna be doing with my life?"
They''re not going, "I don''t want to go to Vietnam. I don''t want
to go to Afghanistan. I don''t want to go Pakistan." There''s no
threat so there''s protest. So our generation, my generation, still
remembers what we went through, and they still have the fire. They''re
making a lot of noise about Bush. When I see them out in the crowd, I''m
not disappointed. I''m proud of them, because they''re still there.
Because they remember what it''s like.
In The Liner Notes To "Living With War," You Thank Bob Dylan
For Inspiration. Did You Give Him The Album? Has He Heard It?
I don''t think so. I know I didn''t give it to him. I imagine he may
have heard part of it. He may have heard all of it. I really don''t
know. I talked to him a couple years ago, maybe a yearـandـaـhalf
ago. He really liked a performance that I did of "Walking to New
Orleans" on TV. He saw it and he called me to tell me that he liked
it. I call him to tell him when he''s great, when I see him being great.
I like to call him and tell him: "You''re fـــin''
great. You''re still rockin''. You fـــin'' really got
it." Ya know, somebody''s got to tell him. And he is great. You may
think that everybody is telling him all the time how great he is, but I
don''t know about that. Coming from me, I just wanted him to know how I
felt, because I love the guy. I think he''s a great artist. So I want to
be supportive, whenever I see him really step up. So he returned a favor
to me. We have a friendship.
