Hi Neil,
I have been looking through a book on my shelf that I have not read in years. It is called “Yakety Yak,” a 1994 book by Scott Cohen. It contains “The Midnight Confessions and Revelations of Thirty-Seven Rock Stars and Legends.”
In it you are asked about “Records I Wish I had Never Lost.”
You answer, The Early Shadows, your old Jimmie Reed collection, Larry Williams—“Boney Moronie,” and all those original 78s, when they first came out, your 45s collection—especially ”Little Star” by the Elements and “Book of Love” by the Monotones and very early Everly Brothers.
Have you been able to replace all or some of these records?
Looking forward to a NYA preview of songs from the new album.
Thanks to Staff and yourself for all the great work at NYA
Gareth
Gareth
That music is in my soul now, so I am OK without the records.
LOVE
BE WELL
Neil
Hi Neil,
I’ve written to you before about our common friend, the late Jim Mazzeo (Mazz). When Mazz stayed with me at my place near Dodgers Stadium years ago (2008–2009) I mentioned to him about the origin of the bear on the California state flag. Later visiting Mazz in Santa Cruz with my wife, Julie, not too long before he departed, I told him about a song I wrote about the real John ‘Grizzly’ Adams, whose bear, Samson, was transposed onto the Cali flag—still seen today. I played Mazz a hghtss included here!ome recording of it then, he said “that’s great, Toddy.” (What he used to call me.) He suggested a better intro verse that I kept, that technically made him a co-writer of the song.
Well, recently I went into a studio near my place in Santa Monica and finally recorded the darn thing. It turned out better than I expected. Could I send you a an e-file (Drop-box) of it? You’ll like the lead part and bear roar at the end. Julie agrees the influence is recognizable.
Hope you and Daryl are doing well. We have a family wedding to attend in Telluride July 25 this year, would be nice to meet you. I’m 68, btw, followed you since Gold Rush, my father was a career newspaper man and author like yours.
I miss Mazz. His art influenced my own work dating way back to the Zuma years. Last thing I said to him was ‘love ya, Mazz’; he countered, ‘love you too, Toddy.’
I was in touch with the gal who stayed vigil with Mazz at the end and know you made it to the hospital to visit him before he left. Beau geste:) ‘Love you too, Neil. Love is everything, it causes peace. We work at getting more of the world to understand this.
Thanks for reading,
Tod
Tod
I miss Mazz too. I like that we have him in Artist perspective every week.
LOVE
BE WELL
Neil
Dear Neil
A promise made
Is a debt unpaid
Robert Service, from the poem The Cremation of Sam McGee
Two weeks ago, I promised to send my masterpiece to the Artist Perspective when it was done. The title is Waiting for the Train.
Lloyd Walton
Muskoka Ontario
*Lloyd
I have an amazing painting of yours I was just looking at. its a pairie twn with an old house in the foregrond. Beautiful. I hope I will be including it in Artist perspective. Can you write something about it?
THANKS
LOVE NEIL
BE WELL
Hi Neil,
I’m sure other Neil Young fans have recently referenced the 2019 Danny Boyle movie “Yesterday” about a struggling musician who wakes up from a bike accident in an alternative universe to discover the Beatles never existed.
As someone who has spent their entire life working for and running nonprofits that strengthen the fabric of under-resourced communities, I salute your lifetime commitment as an artist in human service. However, your decision to remove your music from Amazon has put me in a difficult situation. In addition to be a social justice warrior, I am an endurance cyclist. I ride a 124-mile loop south and west of Chicago twice a week, which is powered by a 1,500-song desert island jukebox with my favorite rock, jazz, blues, soul, folk, world music, hip hop, and everything in between. The playlist is big enough that I never get tired of listening to it on six-hour rides. There are at least 50 Neil Young songs on the playlist.
At any rate, the weather in Chicago got warm enough this week that I was able to go on my first ride of 2026, where I discovered you had removed all your music from Amazon. Listening to my 1,500-song playlist today is like the Danny Boyle movie Yesterday, except it’s like Neil Young never existed, not the Beatles.
As someone who believes that income inequality is the defining issue of our world today, I applaud you giving the middle finger to Jeff Bezos. I could write paragraphs about the harm that Jeff Bezos has done to the world, and I would like to do everything in my power to protest him, but what am I supposed to do about my desert island jukebox? Do you know how long it took me to compile my top 1,500 songs? Should I just move my entire collection of music to Apple and hope you don’t get pissed at Apple for being dicks? Is Jeff Bezos going to stop being a dick because you removed your music? Does he even care? Well, your fans do. I just want to listen to my playlist. I’m already a subscriber to your website and can already access your music, but I occasionally like to listen to all my favorite songs in a greatest hits format. Your protest against Jeff Bezos just feels like a fuck you to all of your fans, not just Jeff Bezos.
In addition to being a lifelong Neil Young fan, I have the distinction of being one of two people in the world who attended the Francis Parker school and Chely horseback riding camp. The other is Daryl Hannah.
Norman
I CANNOT SUPPORT AMAZON NORMAN,
SORRY TO THOSE WHO USE IT AND CANNOT LET IT GO FOR THEIR OWN REASONS. WE CANNOT LET THESE PEOPLE DICTATE HOW WE LIVE.
LOVE
BE WELL
NEIL
I was researching for a post in my political group when I came across some news regarding LiveNation/ Ticketmaster. Apparently, they have managed to circumvent the Antitrust Division of DHS to establish a monopoly in the US. LiveNation has a history of using unsafe practices at their venues that has resulted in a loss of life and injury to concertgoers. I’m going to start a second message to finish this communication.
. . .
My message Part 2. Anyway, to join the No Kings resistance movement, I would like to see artists and entertainers develop alternatives to LiveNation to promote, locate, and sell tickets to their performances. A boycott is in order. This and similar actions would produce real heat for the resistance. We must move beyond protest to concrete action, all nonviolent of course. I hope you will think about this idea. I believe it has merit.
Thank you,
Trayce
Trayce,
I will act on this when I tour again.
TICKETMASTER’S LIKE AMAZON. TOO MUCH POWER OVER US.
LOVE BE WELL
NEIL
It’s a nice feature to have the Outtakes on a separate button on the iOS app, however only a small fraction of them actually play. A lot of them present an error pop-up that states “Sorry this is a pre-released album with only a few tracks released. Please try another track.” What does this mean and will they eventually play as expected?
The fix is in the latest release of the app.
LOVE
NEIL
BE WELL
Hi Neil~
Hope all is well. Currently exploring Qigong and deepening my awareness of Functional vs. Traditional medicine. For how many years, have we been ‘preaching’ about real food? Now it is recommended by the government, finally?
I love the Times and check it daily. We as Americans are bombarded, stressed, overworked and often living paycheck to paycheck. I ponder if you would consider a page dedicated to Peace, Love and Happiness? Perhaps a few healthy recipes … (I just discovered chia seed pudding). Finding peace within is the only way out of this mess. Thankful for the gift of your music and happy to assist.
As always thank you for taking your time to read my words. Times, they are a changing.
Much love,
Linda
Linda,
We are looking at your page idea today!
Please send a recipe article to review.
THANKS
LOVE NEIL
BE WELL