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Di Neil Young, non c’è più nulla da dire e non si sarà mai detto abbastanza, c’è un disco splendido che manca qui in mezzo alla lista. Mi prendo la briga di lasciarvi una pagina personale, un ricordo, un certo sapore, per me inscindibili da questo disco.
Ricordo quelle sere, si usciva dall’albergo nel silenzio delle valle, solo alte vette sopra di noi ad orlare il cielo. Non so descrivere la magia e l’intimità di quei luoghi montani e di quei momenti. Solo il profumo delle alpi è mio ricordo, il rumore del fiume scorrere, non altro
Come ai primi movimenti di un sentimento, le parole lassù acquisivano un’eco, rimbombavano, dilatavano la loro portata, il loro significato. Andavano oltre, parole elegiache e sole, belle solamente a pronunciarle.
Trascorrevamo spesso il buio su panche di legno, al limitare delle abetaie, ora tirando sassi in un lavatoio, ora ripercorrendo la strada quotidiana. I chilometri rotolavano veloci sotto i nostri cerchi, tanto nei mattini freschi, quanto nei pomeriggi assolati. Talvolta ci sorprendevano grandi nubi gonfie d’acqua e malinconia, e le risalite si facevano più faticose e le planate più infìde.
Rovistando tra i ricordi c’era anche una chitarra ad accompagnarci sino in cima ai boschi, la ricordo accompagnare falò improvvisati su piccole strade di ghiaia. E mentre bruciavano vecchie scope rubate qua e la’, la semplice complessità di quei luoghi si riproponeva a noi, in tutto il suo montano e notturno fascino. Altere giornate passate a trastullarci con gli accordi di Neil Young, a rendere estati come inverni, la musica di Neil Young può far perdere la sicura strada del ritorno, può far perdere le tracce di noi, farci ammalare di una malattia dolce quanto insidiosa.
E proprio su questa manciata di canzoni senza rovo e senza spina si punsero i nostri sogni, ora sparsi e perduti come quell’estate.
Non vorrei essere meno fascinoso e banale definendo “Unplugged” questa serata di Neil Young, non una delle perle della collana di MTV, ma una riflessione immediata e vibrante, che tocca il cuore, un disco teso a metà tra la notturna campagna di Harvest Moon e gli sgomenti interiori del venturo Sleep with Angels.
Neil è solo, accompagnato nella penombra dalla sua chitarra. Solo, con una piccola bottiglia d’acqua e la sedia scarna, scarna e inquieta, come la voce che ricuce le vicissitudini più oscure dell’esperienza Younghiana. Sarà così per mezz’ora, ma il tempo scoppia davanti a tutto questo, quello emotivo fugge fortissimo, quello materiale si arresta..
E dopo The Old Laughing Lady, Mister Soul, Pocahontas, The Needle and the Damage Done e Like a Hurricane, ecco comparire gli amici più fidati, che pur non essendo certezze regalano maggior rilassatezza al fascino cupo, che soggiace comunque la base dei pezzi che seguiranno non meno austeri.
Le notturne ballate non covano solo bucoliche riflessioni, ma anche ombre lunghe nella notte e vento che spira da Nord imbarazzando le spighe di grano immature e, ora non più quieto, scuotendo l’animo.
Per le strade di quel paesino spesso potevo vedere la sagoma fuggevole di Neil Young vegliare su di noi, calare con la sera su balconi di legni e semplici pietre, a volte riparato dietro una fermata d’autobus, a volte seduto su di una staccionata, altre coricato tra l'erba ad ascoltare una fontana…
Elenco tracce testi e samples
02 Mr. Soul (03:54)
Oh, hello Mr. Soul, I dropped by to pick up a reason
For the thought that I caught that my head is the event of the season
Why in crowds just a trace of my face could seem so pleasin'
I'll cop out to the change, but a stranger is putting the tease on.
I was down on a frown when the messenger brought me a letter
I was raised by the praise of a fan who said I upset her
Any girl in the world could have easily known me better
She said, You're strange, but don't change, and I let her.
In a while will the smile on my face turn to plaster?
Stick around while the clown who is sick does the trick of disaster
For the race of my head and my face is moving much faster
Is it strange I should change? I don't know, why don't you ask her?
04 Pocahontas (05:05)
Aurora borealis
The icy sky at night
Paddles cut the water
In a long and hurried flight
From the white man to the fields of green
And the homeland we've never seen.
They killed us in our tepee
And they cut our women down
They might have left some babies
Cryin' on the ground
But the firesticks and the wagons come
And the night falls on the setting sun.
They massacred the buffalo
Kitty corner from the bank
The taxis run across my feet
And my eyes have turned to blanks
In my little box at the top of the stairs
With my Indian rug and a pipe to share.
I wish I was a trapper
I would give thousand pelts
To sleep with Pocahontas
And find out how she felt
In the mornin' on the fields of green
In the homeland we've never seen.
And maybe Marlon Brando
Will be there by the fire
We'll sit and talk of Hollywood
And the good things there for hire
And the Astrodome and the first tepee
Marlon Brando, Pocahontas and me
Marlon Brando, Pocahontas and me
Pocahontas.
05 Stringman (04:01)
You can say the soul is gone
And the feeling is just not there
Not like it was so long ago.
On the empty page before you
You can fill in what you care
Try to make it new before you go.
Take the simple case of the serge
Who can't go back to war
'Cause the hippies tore down everything that he was fighting for.
Or the lovers on the blankets
That the city turned to whores
With memories of green kissed by the sun.
You can say the soul is gone
And close another door
Just be sure that yours is not the one.
And I'm singing for the stringman
Who lately lost his wife
There is no dearer friend of mine
That I know in this life.
On his shoulder rests a violin
For his head where chaos reigns
But his heart can't find a simple way
To live with all those things.
All those things
He's a stringman
A stringman
All those strings to pull
06 Like a Hurricane (04:44)
Once I thought I saw you in a crowded hazy bar,
Dancing on the light from star to star.
Far across the moonbeam I know that's who you are,
I saw your brown eyes turning once to fire.
You are like a hurricane
There's calm in your eye.
And I'm gettin' blown away
To somewhere safer where the feeling stays.
I want to love you but I'm getting blown away.
I am just a dreamer, but you are just a dream,
You could have been anyone to me.
Before that moment you touched my lips
That perfect feeling when time just slips
Away between us on our foggy trip.
You are like a hurricane
There's calm in your eye.
And I'm gettin' blown away
To somewhere safer where the feeling stays.
I want to love you but I'm getting blown away.
You are just a dreamer, and I am just a dream.
You could have been anyone to me.
Before that moment you touched my lips
That perfect feeling when time just slips
Away between us on our foggy trip.
You are like a hurricane
There's calm in your eye.
And I'm gettin' blown away
To somewhere safer where the feeling stays.
I want to love you but I'm getting blown away.
07 The Needle and the Damage Done (02:52)
I caught you knockin' at my cellar door
I love you, baby, can I have some more
Ooh, ooh, the damage done.
I hit the city and I lost my band
I watched the needle take another man
Gone, gone, the damage done.
I sing the song because I love the man
I know that some of you don't understand
Milk-blood to keep from running out.
I've seen the needle and the damage done
A little part of it in everyone
But every junkie's like a settin' sun.
11 Unknown Legend (04:46)
She used to work in a diner
Never saw a woman look finer
I used to order just to watch her float across the floor
She grew up in a small town
Never put her roots down
Daddy always kept movin', so she did too.
Somewhere on a desert highway
She rides a Harley-Davidson
Her long blonde hair flyin' in the wind
She's been runnin' half her life
The chrome and steel she rides
Collidin' with the very air she breathes
The air she breathes.
You know it ain't easy
You got to hold on
She was an unknown legend in her time
Now she's dressin' two kids
Lookin' for a magic kiss
She gets the far-away look in her eyes.
Somewhere on a desert highway
She rides a Harley-Davidson
Her long blonde hair flyin' in the wind
She's been runnin' half her life
The chrome and steel she rides
Collidin' with the very air she breathes
The air she breathes.
13 Long May You Run (05:22)
We've been through some things together
With trunks of memories still to come
We found things to do in stormy weather
Long may you run.
Long may you run.
Long may you run.
Although these changes have come
With your chrome heart shining in the sun
Long may you run.
Well, it was back in Blind River in 1962
When I last saw you alive
But we missed that shift on the long decline
Long may you run.
Long may you run.
Long may you run.
Although these changes have come
With your chrome heart shining in the sun
Long may you run.
Maybe The Beach Boys have got you now
With those waves singing "Caroline No"
Rollin' down that empty ocean road
Gettin' to the surf on time.
Long may you run.
Long may you run.
Although these changes have come
With your chrome heart shining in the sun
Long may you run.
14 From Hank to Hendrix (05:51)
From Hank to Hendrix
I walked these streets with you
Here I am with this old guitar
Doing what I do
I always expected
That you would see me through
I never believed in much
But I believed in you
Can we get it together
Can we still stand side by side
Can we make it last
Like a musical ride
From Marilyn to Madonna
I always loved your smile
Now we're headed for the big divorce
California-style
I found myself singing
Like a long-lost friend
The same thing that makes you live
Can kill you in the end
Can we get it together
Can we still stand side by side
Can we make it last
Like a musical ride
Sometimes it's distorted
Not clear to you
Sometimes the beauty of love
Just comes ringing through
New glass in the window
New leaf on the tree
New distance between us
You and me
Can we get it together
Can we still walk side by side
Can we make it last
Like a musical ride
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