Song of the Day: Ambulance Blues by Neil Young

Back in the old folky days
The air was magic when we played
The riverboat was rockin’ in the rain
Midnight was the time for the raid
Oh, Isabela, proud Isabela
They tore you down and plowed you under
You’re only real with your make-up on
How could I see you and stay too long?
All along the Navajo Trail
Burn-outs stub their toes on garbage pails
Waitresses are cryin’ in the rain
Will their boyfriends pass this way again?
Oh, Mother Goose, she’s on the skids
Sure ain’t happy, neither are the kids
She needs someone that she can scream at
And I’m such a heel for makin’ her feel so bad
I guess I’ll call it sickness gone
It’s hard to say the meaning of this song
An ambulance can only go so fast
It’s easy to get buried in the past
When you try to make a good thing last
I saw today in the entertainment section
There’s room at the top for private detection
To mom and dad this just doesn’t matter
But it’s either that or pay off the kidnapper
So all you critics sit alone
You’re no better than me for what you’ve shown
With your stomach pump and your hook and ladder dreams
We could get together for some scenes
Well, I’m up in T.O. keepin’ jive alive
And out on the corner it’s half past five
But the subways are empty
And so are the cafes
Except for the farmer’s market
And I still can hear him say
You’re all just pissin’ in the wind
You don’t know it but you are
And there ain’t nothin’ like a friend
Who can tell you you’re just pissin’ in the wind
I never knew a man could tell so many lies
He had a different story for every set of eyes
How can he remember who he’s talking to?
‘Cause I know it ain’t me, and hope it isn’t you

That’s the Ambulance Blues lyrics after the embedded song to start with today’s SOTD post, you know? So I’m back to these SOTD posts after yesterday’s film post! So it seems like I’m getting back into the blogging a bit more than the past last months! OK, everyone out there really should know all about Neil Young by now so what in hell can I tell you about him today? Somewhere on in the dark depth of my blog, I’ve said before that Zuma album is my all-time favorite of all his stuff. I think, if I were to name the runner-up toady it would have to be On The Beach album. Off course, I know most fans, critics etc. would put his late 60’s and early 70’s album before his mid-70’s ones. NOT than I’m saying those earlier ones are bad or anything but I just prefer to listen to these albums myself, if I go out of my way to listen to him? Maybe, don’t ask me what I would put in third place? So I really shouldn’t go here but I’ll go there anyway, I would say my number three Neil Young album of all-time is the film score from Deadman from 1990’s. So everyone out there can just say to me, that’s just totally silly ridiculous selection of NY albums but fuck it, who cares what I want to listen tooo but that what it would be for me, if anyone out one wants to know? So now what about your own all-time fave Mr. Young albums, please do if you wanna share say your own top three albums? It can be anything really, you know? I wouldn’t care if you picked/named what everyone else labeled as his worst album ever! Anyway Ambulance Blues was the closing track on On The Beach album of 1974. Just below is the whole album embedded, if you wanna listen to it right now?

NY smiling, waving and having drink on the the beach, you’ll get arrested doing that these days!

Cheers! 🙂

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