Is "Ambulance Blues" the Greatest Thing Neil Young Ever Did?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXAaNQjgMA8

Can a song be among an artist's "best ever" (according to Ian MacDonald) but also a "throwaway" (according Xgau)? In the case of Neil Young, definitely. Reportedly inspired by Bert Jansch's "Needle Of Death," "Ambulance Blues" is perhaps the most rambling composition of its composer's very rambling career. At various points musing on the streets ("Isabela") and clubs ("Riverboat") of a romanticized youth, opining on the evils of Richard Nixon ("I never knew a man could tell so many lies..."), and taking on his own critics ("With your stomach pump and your hook and ladder dreams"), there's a sense that, however evocative its imagery may be, the song is pure free association.

Yet between the soured sentimentality, the self-centeredness elevated to self-mythological proportions, and the endless lyrical and melodic meandering over the simple guitar figure ("organized to self-regenerate," according to MacDonald) "Ambulance Blues" manages to achieve an impressive, even unique balance, feeling both frivolous and somehow towering -- the aural manifestation of "The Me Decade" winnowed down to 8'53".

The most important performer of the Seventies as some have suggested? Very possibly, on the basis of this song...

no

no

its not even as good as Revolution Blues

I love it but no.

No.

no

i like it a lot more than revolution blues.

you're right, i think it's a pretty amazing bit of work....it's not often that stuff lives up to all the hype you'd heard about it, but on the beach and ambulance blues in particular does seem to rise to the occassion

also boo to y'all for hatin on a good thread

It's not even the second best song on that album.

But I tend to dislike Big, Ambitious, Epic songs of that sort. Which is not to say I dislike it - it's very nice.

is this really that "legendary" a track? news to me. its not among my favorite things on the album, much less my favorite things from Neil ever. its pretty but kinda interminable and yeah the lyrics are super-rambling, they don't really hold my attention very well.

No, I adore the song, I'm prepared to accept Young as the Most Important Artist of the Seventies, and "Ambulance Blues" is integral to the album's awesomeness, but, yeah, c'mon.

This thread was tailor made for me, because it's been my fav Neil song for quite a long time.

i like it but it's my least fav track on the album; it's missing the bass drums wurlitzer electric guitar etc. that grounds everything else, the violin part grates (and i generally like grating violin), and the lyrics are kinda... self-pitying troubador tbh.

seems like a song that casual neil fans of a certain age and taste can really get into. don't press me on what i mean by that, i don't know.

my favorite neil guitar moment ever might be near the end of "on the beach" though (sustain).

I can think of no other song with verses/choruses/bridges that are so perfectly balanced and complementary. Even if you really like "all" of a song, it's almost always the case that you favor one section (say, the chorus) over another (the verses), even if that feeling is subconscious. But I hear "Ambulance Blues" as one long cycle of awesomeness, from the big, EXHALING harmonica wordless choruses to the violin-sections of the verses (I don't hear this as grating at all, but whatevs). The percussion is remarkably restrained. Thank GodCATBEAST they didn't throw some sort of lame stomping 4/4 rock shit behind it. Even the tempo is perfect, taking its time but not lazy. And "Ambulance Blues" manages to build momentum without really raising the volume level, or adding a guitar solo or some shit like that. It's also the perfect album closer.

and it's the ONLY 5-star song in my iTunes collection. BEAT THAT, ILX

I don't think it's the greatest (that would prob be "Cortez the Killer," for me) but its a really, really good song that's good enough that I can respect your argument for it.

seems like a song that casual neil fans of a certain age and taste can really get into. don't press me on what i mean by that, i don't know.

Hmm...maybe because the song epitomizes Neil Young working from his disillusioned, rambling, angry hippie persona, and if you like that side of Neil Young this is the best example of it? and don't press me on what I mean by that, either.

xpost

I realize that this is against protocol, but I'd like to officially press both of you on what you mean on that.

This is the greatest thing Neil Young ever did. And you can quote me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eblFQppJfyg

Of course, no.

But it's noteworthy for being extremely melodic, dark, accessible, and weird at the same time. Best of all, for decades it languished on a record that was out of print, so you could bust it out and impress people with your mastery of arcane Neil Young songs.

"Sure, After The Gold Rush is great, but have you heard Ambulance Blues? No? Well you gotta hear that..."

much prefer the title track of OTB tbh. nails a similar mood muscially, even more wasted perhaps, with that limping tempo, plus has fewer words. says as much or more with less is what i mean.

dunno if i'd say it is the greatest thing he ever did, but it might be in my top 10 Neil songs. His "Desolation Row," maybe ... There's a great version of him doing this in the late 90s with REM. He hadn't played it live in probably 20 years or more, and you can kind of hear him reconnect with the song as it goes on, like "oh shit I WROTE this!" kind of a magical recording.

Sometimes you need a friend to tell you when you're just pissing in the wind. I am, however, not that friend. A fave, for sure. But I intend on keeping more than one track on the iPod.

I kinda think the title track wins this album - it's like a much more successful version of Pink Floyd's "Money" - a whining-about-fame song where you actually connect with the singer and feel his pain.

That would be "Expecting To Fly".

much prefer the title track of OTB tbh. nails a similar mood muscially, even more wasted perhaps, with that limping tempo, plus has fewer words. says as much or more with less is what i mean.

― jabba hands, Friday, 18 December 2009 02:00 (1 hour ago)

yeah, this.

Since I hate Bert Jansch's voice, I've never heard Needle of Death. How close musically is AB to it?

I can't pick out a single song as the greatest thing he's ever done. It's a lovely song, though: it swirls like a hurricane, and the fiddle gets me every time. The aspect of the song that's most likely to bother me is what the o.p. describes as " the self-centeredness elevated to self-mythological proportions". It doesn't bother me here because, as on "On the Beach", he manages to make what's personal for him sound universal by his singing. If you describe the song as being partly about old haunts, you might say, what a boring old hippie, who cares about where he used to play; but the way that he sings about proud Isabella makes me care. So I love the song and it's because of the performance more than its structure or its words.

No. I prefer him with electric guitar.

How close musically is AB to it?

Pretty close.

"Ambulance Blues" is a nice song to play on acoustic though

I like long songs

thish a good one to let play over the air while you step out of the radio station for a hot minute to pick up a bag of grass

like to do a little tune for you now that I wrote a while ago, it's called "ambulance blues", it's kind of a long song, so I hope you bear with me while I tell you all about it, this thing that happened to me... sometimes I wonder about these long songs... I used to sit in coffeehouses when I was younger, y'know, and look at all these folksingers up there and they used to come up, and some of 'em'd sing fast songs y'know and shake around, and then this cat'd come up and sing all these down songs, y'know... what am I doing here man... I came here to have a good time... so here's another bummer for you... it's my trip, man, y'know... here we go

I just got a comment on my blog from a guy who says he was at that Bottom Line show ...

did he laugh when neil saing "pissin in the wind"?

This song cant hold a candle to "Cowgirl in the Sand" or "Powderfinger". Even Cortez kicks its ass.

this song is amazing

I listened to it a lot as an angsty teen. So I can't be objective. But if I try to, I'd say this song really isn't that great. But I still listen to it more than almost any other Neil song. (and I aint so angsty as a 40+ year old.)

How close musically is AB to it?

Pretty close.

― Sonny Uplands (Tom D.), Friday, 18 December 2009 10:23 (7 hours ago)

I think this is an overstatement. The melody of half of the verse line is very similar, the other half less so, and the chorus is completely different.

yeah, there are similarities, but it's not like it's the same chord progression ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qMfjE9qdrQ

I see a lot "no"s upthread. It was #1 in my early 20s, and it's still in the running for me.

It isn't even my favorite "long and rambling" NY song (see Thrasher, imo). But it still gets stuck in my head on the regular.

I kind of agree about Ambulance Blues being like third or fourth greatest song on On the Beach, though that is a perfect album, easily one of the fifty greatest of all time so that still ain't bad...

as far as Greatest Thing Neil Ever Did? I'm waffling between Don't Be Denied and Tell Me Why

greatest thing ever? it's pretty great. you could probably convince me. what's the competition in terms of long, rambling acoustic Neil tunes? Last Trip to Tulsa, Will To Love, Thrasher ... are there others?

Thrasher's not very long

yeah, but it sort of seems like it's of a piece with those songs doesn't it? lotta words anyway.

I'd probably include "Hitchhiker" there too

I love "Thrasher" so much. Thrasher vs. Ambulance Blues would be insanely hard

Yeah, wordswise, 'tis true

ah yeah, hitchhiker fits too.
"thrasher"'s a song he's pretty much ditched, isn't it? hasn't played it live since the Rust tour as far as i know. seems odd, such a great tune.

"The Old Homestead" is another one

Thrasher's not very long

Yeah, I realized this after that post. Went back and checked the time and it was just 5 something. But it feels long!

oh yeah the old homestead! that is great too.

Love this song. my favorite off "on the beach". although it's quite long I find it pretty easy to listen to regularly (which is not the case of some great dylan long songs, like "desolation row" or "sad eyed lady", for instance, which I love but rarely listen to). the violin is gorgeous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvQapeVtsT0

my favorite off On the Beach is For the Turnstiles. Easily.

Weird. I like it too tho!

I'm either a "Walk On" or "For The Turnstiles" guy myself. "Ambulance Blues" is alone in third.

We did a Neil Young epics poll awhile back with a pitiful turnout.

"Motion Pictures" yall

I've grown to love "See The Sky...," especially the electric pi-anner.

http://youtu.be/8uom1SBE1IY
great clip from Trunk Show, I guess. Would love to see this doc. but no DVD release yet...

We did a Neil Young epics poll awhile back with a pitiful turnout.

I'll be doing the Neil Young poll in the summer. Turnout will be historic. Thousands of advance ballots have already been sent in, and major get-out-the-vote drives are vbeing organized all across the continent. Super PAC money is everywhere. It'll be big.

i agree that this song is totally magnificent. it's so bitter too, although i don't think it's particularly literal.

this came up on shuffle last night and its still wonderful

Gave it some thought over the weekend and my candidate for the greatest thing Neil ever did might be that lick at the end of Cinnamon Girl.

If you mean the bit after the song ends where Neil just goes for it, I agree.

That is the bit I'm speaking of right there.

The opening couplet of Speaking Out always makes me grin.

Most things Neil does make me grin one way or another, which is of course why he casts such a large shadow.

Related to Cinnamon Girl: it would drive me NUTS when I was a kid and they faded that song out/cut it off before that guitar bit at the end, cause I would get excited for it every time. Terrible radio programming IMO.

Or like, talk over it?

Usually they just omitted it seems, but yeah, any non-acknowledgment of the righteousness of that part would piss me off.

The first time I heard that bit was actually as the intro to Mudhoney's "Broken Hands", which was my favorite song off that album when it came out. I didn't hear the riff on Cinnamon Girl until years later, even though I had a few Neil Young albums at the time and considered him to be a favorite.

Man I really love this song. Greatest Neil ever? No, but I could see the argument. Saw Neil play this song with Bert Jansch at the Bridge School Benefit a years back, I'll never forget that. 70s Neil is as good as music's ever been, ya know?

oh the one-note solo? that's classic! first experience with Neil was 'borrowing' my dad's Everybody Knows; as a dumb HS freshman I wasn't entirely sure what the big deal was, but even back then I knew that 'Cinnamon Girl' ended on a note of pure greatness...

From 2:43 on:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAdtUDaBfRA

How you can immediately tell whether you're listening to an AM oldies station or a classic-rock FM station: whether or not you get "Cinnamon Girl"'s coda.

ok yeah totally that is awesome too!

Man, "Cinnamon Girl" just rules hard. I almost forget about the handclaps.

And then get surprised by them all over again, is how that thought ends. Not thinking clearly today. Neil rules!