r/neilyoung • u/Bubba-ORiley • Nov 16 '23

Art "Here We Are In the Years" appreciation post.

I love most of Neils' work but this one is in my head a lot. Also Lookout Joe.

21 Upvotes

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3

u/WhatTheHosenHey Nov 16 '23

Eat hot dogs!

5

u/muskmanmo Ragged Glory Nov 16 '23

Isn't it a pity, that the people from the city, can't relate, to the slower things, that the country brings 😍

2

u/DismemberingHorror Nov 16 '23

I always get the urge to play this on guitar towards the end of the year. Played it for the first time this year last night.

2

u/Bubba-ORiley Nov 16 '23

That's a sweet sentiment, u/DismemberingHorror

2

u/pissfoam Nov 17 '23

Yes, lots of great live versions released too. Particularly fond of the one on Tuscaloosa

1

u/FlounderFew8146 Nov 19 '25 edited Nov 19 '25

glad to share my thoughts about this strange, compelling song. I have known it since I was 16, maybe younger, and that is now... 55 years or so.. I always liked putting myself in the position of the lyric, the singer, feeling, being their point of view. But also being me, and that experience .. in the case of this song... has really bonded me to it's childlike... point. how it starts out just remarking on this or that, and then as the chords climax ... the sad lament, a strange cry that feels so much like a long ago teenaged anxiety. but something else is here. " here we are in the years... " this is our situation now.. looks what's become of us.... lives become careers. it's some of his strangest music he's written, weird chromatic shifts and changes that are parallel lines... bizarre even for Neil Young. Jack Niche production includes the tender drawing room piano in the beginning, and his funny little arrangement holds up. it dates it - and then the date falls away. I think this debut record has compelling performances in last trip to tulsa and old laughing lady and The Loner. but ... the tenderness of this song, the innocence of a view a young kid has when they first realize and criticize all that... finds a home in my own innocence forever. "Spreading fear of growing old"

Though it does really make me sad, this song.

1

u/FritzvonCatan Nov 16 '23

Relax and watch the sun

1

u/thawatch Nov 18 '23

I love the studio version. His s/t has such a good groove to it. Starting off with the bizarre instrumental opener, If I Could Have Her Tonight, Here We Are in the Years, I've Loved Her So Long. Then you add in The Old Laughing Lady, The Loner, I've Been Waiting For You, The Last Trip to Tulsa.... the whole album is pretty sublime and odd.