Neil Young’s new album, Living with War, is a remarkable rock album with a bold political agenda and a patriotic tone. Where it is easy to hear criticism of the Bush administration in 2004’s Greendale after a few listens, ‘Living With War’ proclaims “Let’s impeach the president for lying/Thank God/Thank God” on and goes on from there. Where ‘Greendale”s “Leave the Driving [to us]” snarked, ‘Living With War”s “Restless Consumer” attacks without quarter: “Don’t need no Madison Avenue War/…/Don’t need no more lies”.
The songwriting in ‘Living With War’, the rock guitar with Young’s distorted chords and solos accompanied by a good band and occasional backup singers or horns makes for an outstanding collection of rock songs, enjoyable for Neil Young‘s fans but accessible to any fan of rock. “Listening to Bob Dylan singing, in 1963/Watching the flags of freedom flying.”
Sometimes the words can seem powerful set to music, but Young’s lyrics about Iraq are devestating, really because of the weight of the issue and the starkness he portrays:
“Back in the days of shock and awe/We came to liberate them all/History was a cruel judge of overconfidence/…/Thousands buried in the ground.”