The Weekday Ramble is a daily dose of sports, music, culture, and more from Rambling On founder Erik Ritland. For more information check us out on Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, or at our website.
Thursday June 25, 2015
A kerfuffle involving Neil Young and Donald Trump says a lot about how "the other side" is viewed.
Free world
Last week Neil Young criticized Donald Trump for using his song “Rockin’ in the Free World” when he announced his 2016 presidential bid. I can see both sides. On the one hand, if your material is so universal that it breaks boundaries and is seen as important even to people who don’t think exactly like you, that’s a cool thing. Even though it makes no sense that a Republican would use a song that is clearly anti-Republican, but that’s sort of beside the point.
However, I wouldn’t want a group that advocates, say, child sacrifice to use one of my songs, so I can see where a line needs to be drawn. But drawing that line based solely on petty political differences is sad to me. It shows a lack of love. Instead of wanting to come together with people who disagree both sides continue to distance themselves from the evil other, even supposedly “tolerant” leftists that claim to want to “coexist.” This is crippling our culture.
Hmm…
Trump fired back on Twitter earlier this week, posting a picture of the two together and a contract they signed. Evidently when he was looking for funding for his Pono music project Young approached Trump for support. So he’s good enough for a few bucks but it’s the end of the world if he uses one of his songs? Seems illogical and at least a little hypocritical.
Oh Susanna
from the 2012 Neil Young album Americana
Although I often disagree with his views, and how he goes about expressing them, I still love Neil Young. He’s one of my biggest songwriting influences. A few years back he did an album of old folk songs with Crazy Horse that I fell in love with. This is the spooky video for its lead single, a groove heavy take on “Oh Susanna.”
Erik Ritland is a writer and musician from St. Paul, Minnesota. His blog and podcast Rambling On features commentary on music, sports, culture, and more. He was also Lead Staff Writer for Minnesota culture blog Curious North. Support Erik's music via his Patreon account, reach him via email, or find him on Facebook and Twitter.
Erik Ritland is a writer and musician from St. Paul, Minnesota. His blog and podcast Rambling On features commentary on music, sports, culture, and more. He was also Lead Staff Writer for Minnesota culture blog Curious North. Support Erik's music via his Patreon account, reach him via email, or find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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