Neil Young- Down By the River REACTION & REVIEW 

You’re really gonna love Cowgirl in the Sand from this album if and when you get to it. Do you really think that when he sings about shooting his baby he means with a gun? What else might he “shoot” his baby with down by the river where you might go for a little privacy?

Huge Neil head here. Thanks for doing this.

One of Neil Young's best songs.

Danny Whitten one of the most underated rhythm guitarist........RIP

What is there not to like about this . Classic Neil . Look at Cortez The Killer ❤❤

I never took this song literally. Down by the River, start again, die to be reborn into something new, better (baptism). Too much sorrow, to much madness, let's start over down at the riverside. Kill the old to let the new grow. Classic track.

Killer guitar solo and the tone is perfect also a great bass riff too. Great song.

There is a version of this with his country band, The International Harvesters, live on Austin City Limits that transforms them into something very very heavy and features some of Neil's best work.

This is an exceptional song, I'm glad you got around to this!

Neil perfecting his one-note guitar solo. 🎸

One of Neil’s most memorable tunes!

Amazing song, beautiful guitars. Cortez the killer is a must listen !

She could drag me overrr the rainboaooe… Great song, great album, love it. Another one I love is American Stars N Bars.

Neil is a master of controlling the atmosphere and emotion of a song. That solo perfectly expresses the madness and obsession of a betrayed lover. There is a brilliant subtelty to the arrangement.

JUST ( 55 ) YEARS AGO JUSTIN!!! 😮LMAO 😊 INSANELYYYY GOOD!💯

Purrrrfection

COOL! You played one of my requests! Glad you liked it 😁

I'm so glad you can put together what I'm thinking without me exposing myself as old. Because we've heard the same stories

Because this is Neil, I wouldn't be suprised if this was about making eggs by a campfire and the eggs are his baby.

Ah. I see Justin has been sent to another classic. '...She could drag me over the rainbow. Send me away...' 🎵 Ain't it how it is?!

For those who deemed "Jump Into The Fire" monotonous, this must have been a hellacious listen. I, however, am a fan of both songs, this having been the first Neil Young "epic" I heard so long ago.

Epic

This song always reminds me of Chris Farley.

YEAH JUSTIN, ( COWGIRL IN THE SAND ) IS THE OTHERRR GREAT NEIL GUITAR RANT ON THIS ALBUM! 👍😊

He’s my favorite male singer songwriter, next to David Sylvian.

I saw Neil Young and Crazy Horse in London's Hyde Park 10 years ago this summer and they performed this song as the encore. Let me tell you, it wasn't 10 minutes long... it was almost half an hour!

Great song off another great album from that era. Was this one of the fever dream songs? The lyrics, like Hendrix's "Hey Joe" are jarring (they were jarring then) but the song is amazing. Laid back and yet so powerful. Two solos in one song is a rare thing. It was the era of the jam. Ah, I got to the end of the video so it was one of the fever songs.

Gold

Very old theme (and strange how popular it's remained). I suppose what you have over the decades long existence of this song is perhaps a move from keeping things of the 1890's in the 1890's box, to be judged (if at all) by the standards of those times - and allowing a fair amount of room for the strangeness of the past, and the wildness of the West to just be what they were. To be what they were. And today there's a bit of a tendency to schoolmarm all those naughty people from far beyond the grave up to the front of the class to scold them for not being perfectly moral, like we now are. We move from something between letting the Wild West be what it was, and then-contemporary caveman residue attitudes, such as being understanding of "crimes of passion" in cases where the passion's already stone cold, and all that's left is hurt dignity to avenge, to times in which (thank goodness) there are no excuses for the caveman, but also no excuses for people being of their times either. And then there's this singer protecting this song he gave birth to out of his throat once, and understanding it in whatever way is most understood as the times roll on. So to begin with, "I was stoned, man" explains anything to updated explanations after that becomes "no excuses for being a wife beater" (or something of that sort). You start in the Restoration, and move back to the time of the Puritans, somehow.

It's a doing drugs down by the river song... shot a day, shot a day

He is referring to his dog that he had to put down.

Such a great song. I hope one day that you react to his 'On The Beach' album. Never bettered imo.

The '93 MTV unplugged version is superb imo.

Reminds me of breathe by pink Floyd meeting um, James brown in a bring & buy sale in a Sunday Jam Market Square in either California or... Yes, I've been watching telly, Marseille. Loved the live lo-fi Ness of it all and the harmonies. The version of Roadrunner you didn't play two years ago echoes the same vibe but if I'd heard this first I wouldn't have freaked out about Richman as much. I got into late eighties Neil but have a mental block towards the earlier stuff. I admire living with war and Monsanto recordings but have given up on protest singers since Lkdn. Loved the harmonies and the Guitars on this. Shirley time for Love is a Wonderful Colour by the Icicle Works JP? U can work out the link too!! Diolch.

Not my favourite Neil Young track, but still pretty good. Have you reviewed Like a Hurricane yet?

Really, only one Neil.

Shades of Floyd in the instrumentals!

Please give a listen to Buddy Miles live version of this song on his Them Changes album other horns. My favorite version of this song

Surprisingly, there is an entire sub-genre of music conventionally know as "murder ballads" going all the way back to traditional folk music. Notwithstanding Neil Young's notable efforts here, my personal favorite is Colter Wall's "Kate McCannon".

Try to find the cover of this song by McKendree Spring, I think it’s actually better than this.

Not for me. So boring!