Memories without anywhere to stay: currently listening to Neil Young

"It's a dream
Only a dream
And it's fading now
Fading away
It's only a dream
Just a memory without anywhere to stay"
Neil Young "Its a Dream"

"Did he give me the gift of voice
so some could silence me?
Did he give me the gift of vision
not knowing what I might see?
Did he give me the gift of compassion
to help my fellow man?"
Neil Young, "When God Made Me"

Saturday afternoon: a languid hot summer afternoon and a quiet house. Neil Young's 2005 CD Prairie Wind is playing on the CD. The album was part inspired by the illness and death of his father and reflections on his own mortality following surgery for a brain anuerism.

For me this is his most accomplished acoustic album. Two songs form the centrepiece of the album- Its a Dream and When God Made Me. It's a Dream is the fifth song on the album, a reflection on childhood and family memories:

"The Red River stills flow through my home town
Rollin and tumblin on its way
Swirling around the old bridge pylons
Where a boy fishes the morning away
His bicycle leans on an old oak tree
While the cars rumble over his head
An aeroplane leaves a trail in an empty sky
And the young birds call out to be fed

It's a dream
Only a dream
And it's fading now
Fading away
It's only a dream
Just a memory without anywhere to stay

An old man walks along the sidewalk
Sunglasses and an old Stetson Hat
The four winds blow the back of his overcoat away
As he stops with the policeman to chat
And a train rolls out the station
That was really somethin'in its day
Picking up speed on the straight prairie rails
As it carries the passengers away

When God Made Me is a piano based ballad with gospel harmonies that closes the CD.

When God Made me

Was he thinking about my country,
or the colour of my skin?
Was he thinking about my religion,
and the way I worshipped him?
Did he create just me in his image,
or every living thing?

When God made me.
When God made me.

Was he planning only for believers,
or for those who just had faith?
Did he envision all wars
that were fought in his name?
Did he say there was only one way
to be close to him?

When God made me.
When God made me.

Did he give me the gift of love
to say who I could choose?

When God made me.
When God made me.
When God made me.

Did he give me the gift of voice
so some could silence me?
Did he give me the gift of vision
not knowing what I might see?
Did he give me the gift of compassion
to help my fellow man?

When God made me.
When God made me.
When God made me.

A clip of Neil Young's stunning live performance of the song can be seen here. There is an interesting debate on the song's lyrics here.