Neil Young has debuted a brand new song that appears to be about Donald Trump’s economic policies and pulls no punches in regard to how he feels about Elon Musk.
The 79-year-old singer-songwriter played the Greek Theater in Los Angeles over the weekend and sang a number which appears to be called Let’s Roll Again. The song’s opening lines are “Come on Ford, come on GM/ Come on Chrysler, let’s roll again.”
Young then continues with: “Build something special, that people need/ Build us a safe way for us to be/ Build us something that won’t kill our kids/ Build us something that runs real clean/ Come on America, let’s get in the race/ China’s way ahead, they’re making clean cars.”
After a harmonica solo, Young lands the line: “If you’re a fascist, get a Tesla/ It’s electric, it doesn’t matter.” The track concludes with the lines: “If you’re a democrat, taste your freedom/ Get whatever you want, taste your freedom.”
OK, so it’s not the most elegantly-phrased critique of the 47th President. In the pantheon of protest songs it doesn’t look like it’s going to be up there with, well, Ohio.
The Greek Theater gig was also significant for marking the first time in over 35 years that Young played Ordinary People. This was an 18-minute-long track that was originally scheduled for his 1989 album, Freedom but instead ended up on his 2007 release, Chrome Dreams II.
Young is warming up for a busy summer of touring with European dates in June and July, including a Glastonbury-headlining appearance. The Canadian singer-songwriter has already remarked that when he returns to the States he may well find himself barred from entering his adopted home.
“When I go to play music in Europe, if I talk about Donald J Trump, I may be one of those returning to America who is barred or put in jail to sleep on a cement floor with an aluminium blanket,” he wrote on his Neil Young Archives site last month. “That is happening all the time now. Countries have new advice for those returning to America.”
“If I come back from Europe and am barred, can’t play my USA tour, all of the folks who bought tickets will not be able to come to a concert by me,” he wrote. “That’s right folks. If you say anything bad about Trump or his administration, you may be barred from re-entering USA if you are Canadian. If you are a dual citizen like me, who knows? We’ll all find that out together.”
