As the news continues to report on the unimaginable destruction caused by fire in Los Angeles, I found myself searching for songs that could reflect the way I’m feeling in this moment.
In times of doubt, I often call on my higher power for guidance. The first song that came to mind was one I’ve loved since I was a child. To my surprise, I wasn’t even aware that Neil had recorded it, but knowing his heart, it makes perfect sense that he would.
I hope you seek out this song and take a listen. It carries a resonance that feels deeply meaningful, especially now.
It Might Have Been
Written by
Herbert Weiner, Seymour Gottlieb
Recorded by JOE LONDON – It Might Have Been
(1959) Top 40 Canadian Hit
Recorded by Neil Young and Crazy Horse
Released on
Neil Young Archives – Vol. 1 (1963-1972)
Album
June 2, 2009
The saddest words of tongue or pen
Are these four words:
“It might have been”
We had big dreams,
we made big plans
How could they slip right through our hands?
Instead of tearing our romance to pieces
Why don’t we try to right what we’ve done wrong?
It’s not too late to set things straight
Let’s never say, “It might have been”
Instead of tearing our romance to pieces
Why don’t we try to right what we’ve done wrong?
It’s not too late to set things straight Let’s never say,
“It might have been” “It might have been e, Columbia Recording Studio in London, Wally Heider Recording Studio in San Francisco, Woodland Sound Studios and Sound Neil Young, David Briggs, Ben Keith & Tim Mulligan. RIP David Briggs, Nicolette Larson, Ben Keith & Tim Drummond.
The next song that came to me was Goin’ Back. It made me reflect on how losing someone you love and losing your family home can feel heartbreakingly similar.
These two losses are often intertwined—a relationship ends, and suddenly the home you once shared becomes too expensive to keep. The children are uprooted, moved to a place that feels unfamiliar, smaller, and lacking the warmth or grandeur of what they’ve lost.
Goin’ Back captures the ache of these transitions, where memories linger in spaces that no longer belong to you. It speaks to the longing for what was, even as life pushes you forward.
Goin Back
Written by Neil Young
In a foreign land
Running hand in hand
Needing nowhere to stay
Driven to the mountains high
They were sunken in the cities deep
Livin’ in my sleep
I feel like goin’ back
Back where there’s nowhere to stay
When fire filled the sky
I still remember that day
These rocks I’m climbin’ down
Have already left the ground
Careening through space
I used to build these buildings
I used to walk next to you
Their shadows tore us apart
And now we do what we do, ah
Driven to the mountains high
Sunken in the cities deep
Livin’ in our sleep
I feel like goin’ back
Back where there’s nowhere to stay
I feel like goin’ back
Back where there’s nowhere to stay, ah
I feel like goin’ back
Back where there’s nowhere to stay, ah
I feel like goin’ back
Back where there’s nowhere to stay
Down By The River
The third song seemed to show up by itself. I understood that, and I think Neil will, too. Down by the River represents not only an enormous hole in the heart but also one that should never have been. It embodies the emotional devastation caused by an unexpected tragedy and the weight of responsibility, even for something you didn’t do.
Neil takes responsibility in the song, not for an act he committed, but for the fallout—echoing the deep introspection that follows when life spirals out of control. When the unthinkable happens, who bears the blame? Do you hold yourself accountable, even if unjustly? Do you blame someone you love, or do you accept it as a cruel twist of circumstance?
Down by The River
Written by Neil Young
Be on my side, I’ll be on your side, baby
There is no reason for you to hide
It’s so hard for me staying here all alone
When you could be taking me for a ride Oooh,
Yeah, she could drag me over the rainbow
And send me away Down by the river,
I shot my baby Down by the river, dead
You take my hand, I’ll take your hand, baby
Together we may get away
This much madness is too much sorrow
It’s impossible to make it today, yeah
Oooh yeah, she could drag me
Over the rainbow and send me away
Down by the river, I shot my baby
Down by the river, dead Be on my side,
I’ll be on your side, baby Be on my side
There is no reason for you to hide
It’s so hard for me stayin’ here all alone
When you could be taking me for a ride
Oooh yeah, she could drag me over the rainbow
And send me away
Down by the river, I shot my baby
Down by the river, down by the river
I shot my baby, down by the river, dead
