“Well, maybe I could do this too.” Neil Young after hearing the Beatles.
Wittgenstein is proud. No doubt.
“Neil Young Inducts Paul McCartney into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions 1999” on YouTube
In this six minute clip, he shares early experiences as a musician, as a musician going solo and the impact of The Beatles, particularly (along with many other musicians) his appreciation for Paul McCartney’s bass playing (“He played it left hand,” says Young. Just like Ziggy!).
As a Southerener (Deep South, to be clear) for over thirty years, The Rolling Stones album, Exile on Mainstreet, Neil Young’s Harvest most closely express the energy of the Dirty South, US. Amusing given neither outfit is American. Whatever an American is. <We were founded on philosophy, not history.>
I still remember the silly outrage I felt, when my father explained Neil Young was from Canada.
Canada?! They already have Joni Mitchell, though! I was so jealous. And disappointed that Young was no longer like me in this sense. Typical adolescent stuff, right? Giggle.
Southern Man and Alabama were outsider views?! Impossible. These had been Songs of Lament I could share in. This owed to me imaging that Neil Young’s perspective arose from living in the gothic American South. Whatever that is.
Suddenly (and without warning. Giggle), they were Songs of Condemnation.
Akin to the this sentiment:
As an older sister, I relentlessly hassle my little sister, but if anyone else so much as looks at her with crossed eyes s/he will be destroyed. That’s my effing sister!
Now I’m older and see the error in my thinking
He still sang the Song of the South.
Genius transcends and understands without experience. He’s in my pantheon of geniuses.
ROLL THE TAPE!
Young understands Wittgenstein’s concept of “the duty of genius,” which, as I read it, boils down to two things:
1. To believe there is no true or real difference between you and the great minds we celebrate (e.g. Abraham Lincoln, M.C. Escher, Johann Sebastian Bach, Umberto Eco, St. Augustine, etc).
2. To try to do your best at persuing a more robust mastery of abilities. Should you find a great passion, engage it and enjoy, but do not be discouraged by the heights others achieved.
It is not that you’ll never be that good. It is that everyone has the potential to be that good.
You just gotta try.
WrittenCasey 
Back when I was a spin instructor, I used to play a live version of Southern Man that went on forever. I think I was the only person in the room who liked that. Neil is as American as any of us. You just gotta listen to his cover of This Land is Your Land. Oh, used that song in spin too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dig it much! Thank you for sharing and spending time here. Cheers.
LikeLike