Neil Young urges Bush impeachment on protest album

[Guest guest]

http://news./s/nm/20060417/en_nm/leisure_young_dc & printer=1;_ylt=AttT4o\

NJNU.wPUK9ksQZWjHK.nQA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-

 

Neil Young urges Bush impeachment on protest album

 

By Steve Gorman

 

Veteran rocker Neil Young has recorded a protest album featuring an

anti-Iraq war track with " a holy vow to never kill again " and a song

titled " Let's Impeach the President, " the singer said on Monday.

 

The 10-track set, called " Living with War, " was recorded this month by a

" power trio " -- electric guitar, bass and drums -- plus trumpet and a

100 voices, the 60-year-old Canadian-born musician announced on his Web

site.

 

Young's longtime manager, Elliot Roberts, told Reuters the album, which

has been the subject of Internet buzz for several days, will be played

for executives at his label, Warner Music Group's Reprise Records, on

Tuesday.

 

" It's devoted to the state of America, or the direction that America is

moving in, " Roberts said of the album.

 

In a message crawl along the bottom of his Web site, Young drew

parallels to two of the leading protest singers of the 1960s, saying of

his new record: " I think it is a metal version of Phil Ochs and Bob

Dylan ... metal folk protest? "

 

The crawl goes on to reveal the lyrics of the album's title track, with

such lines as: " I raise my hand in peace ... I never bow to the laws of

the thought police ... I take a holy vow ... to never kill again ... " In

the big hotels ... in the mosques and the doors of the old museum ... I

take a holy vow ... to never kill again. " Roberts confirmed that a

separate song on the album is titled " Let's Impeach the President. " He

declined to disclose any further details about the record.

 

But according to some online reports, the song accuses President George

W. Bush of " lying " and features a rap with Bush's voice set against a

choir singing " flip-flop. "

 

One member of that choir, a California-based musician, wrote on a " blog "

entry last Friday that the recording session wrapped with an a capella

version of " America the Beautiful. "

 

Young's latest offering comes just seven months after the release of his

last album, " Prairie Wind, " which has sold about 450,000 U.S. copies as

of last week, according to sales tracking service Nielsen SounScan.

Music from that album was featured in the recent concert film " Neil

Young: Heart of Gold, " directed by Jonathan Demme. " Living with War "

appears to bring Young full circle from a more pro-Bush administration

stance he took in the months following the September 11 attacks.

 

Not long after recording the song " Let's Roll, " a tribute to passengers

who apparently fought back against hijackers on doomed United Airlines

Flight 93 over Pennsylvania, Young came out publicly in support of the

U.S. Patriot Act.

 

The legislation, which gave law enforcement authorities broad new powers

aimed at bolstering the administration's war on terror, was harshly

criticized by some as threatening Americans' civil liberties. " Living

with War " is hardly the first work by Young to take on the political

establishment. As part of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, in 1970, Young

wrote and recorded the song " Ohio, " a song about the four Kent State

University students killed by National Guard troops during an

anti-Vietnam war rally.

-

2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.