Anyone who’s a fan of the songs by Neil Young, Joni Mitchell & Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young think the same thing: They must be intense. They all happen to be at the top of my ‘playlist’ along with the Beatles, of course, and Pink Floyd. I like a lot of music, but when it comes to the art of songwriting, the three at the start of this blog are certainly the most influential. And though we’ve aged since their heyday in the early 1970s, I still respect them not only for their song style, wordcraft, instrumentation, voices and melodies but also for their social views. Maybe they’re not the most politically renowned, but I know where they stand. How? Because I’ve listened to their songs … for years.
When Neil Young called on Spotify to stop ‘airing’ his songs alongside one major podcaster whose views Young believed to be dangerous for society as a whole—even possibly contributing to deaths—I knew where he was coming from. Then Mitchell joined Young along with his pals CSN and even a folkie singer/songwriter from modern times India.Arie.
Their collective ire was not over the free speech of big-time podcaster Joe Rogan but his continued insistence against the Covid-19 vaccine. That was the focus of these songwriters and others, with India.Arie calling attention to Rogan’s use of racial epithets. Rather quickly Spotify developed some sort of compromise allowing Rogan to continue his extremely popular and big-budget podcast but with a content warning.
I say a lot about how none of us really knows the famous people, those who move about in circles to which most of us have no link or entrance. But it’s different with singer-songwriters. They bare their souls poetically and capture our attention. If they are truly talented, musically innovative and lucky, their songs and the message of each one air nationwide and nowadays are easily heard around the world.
So I wasn’t surprised to hear Neil Young and colleagues gave Spotify an ultimatum.
Yeah, a lot of people didn’t know who they are or were, not even one song by Joni Mitchell. The Baby Boomer generation, the largest loudest strongest of American seniors, knows these singers and their music, a lot of it played routinely on classic rock stations. The words & melodies are seared into the hearts & minds of a generation like snapshots in black-and-white and fading color. Don’t knock music fans. The bond is stronger than politics. Singer/songwriters say—and beautifully so—what millions of people think and feel and know to be true.
And the most important thing to remember about Neil Young, Joni Mitchell & CSNY is they are paid nothing every time their songs are played on Spotify.
Again we see how the great Baby Boomer generation, with the first batch now in their mid to late 70s, keep rockin’. They called out Spotify. They got fans to wake up to what’s going down. And it’s not about money.
Free speech is a beautiful thing. No one knows that more than these singer-songwriters. But all of us Boomers know free speech does not mean someone can yell “Fire!” in a crowded theater when there is no fire, you know as a joke. Why? Because people will get hurt running over each other to leave the fire that does not exist. Only sociopaths would laugh at the outcome. It’s irresponsible. It’s mean. It endangers society, other people.
Like it or not, we can’t say whatever we want whether true or not. Boomers have learned that the hard way … as we’ve rebuilt relationships with loved ones when politics got too divisive, as we’ve raised children and grandchildren, as we’ve pursued our life’s work and hobbies, as we live beside neighbors of various ethnicities and cultures and spiritual practices, as we deal each day with other people one on one.
Somewhere along the line in this internet world, our right of free speech has been … abused. Today it’s hard for people to know what is true and false, real and fake, even good and bad. With every click, anything we read or see or hear has to be vetted, checked and checked again to substantiate: Is this the truth?
When it came to just sitting back and allowing misinformation to spread unchecked and unchallenged, old Neil Young, who is the father of two children with cerebral palsy, had to take a stand. Nothing new. Songwriters do it all the time, whether or not anyone is listening.