Random Obscurities: Neil Young, Roskilde & ‘Borrowed Tune’

I’m singing this borrowed tune
I took from the Rolling Stones
Alone in this empty room
Too wasted to write my own

With Roskilde festival 2016 only a month away, and with a certain Neil Young on top of the bill, there’s no end to the excitement to what to expect from the living legend.

Last time I saw Neil play at Roskilde, he so enjoyed his time on the main stage, that he had no intentions of stopping his show at the estimated time of curfew. This however, meant that Danish punk legends, Sort Sol, had to wait and watch in the wings, as their show got more and more delayed. Well, they probably didn’t mind, and neither did the crowd, for who stops Mr. Young, doing what he does best, and better than most living artists on our fair planet.

This was way back in 2001, and he’s played there since, but he’s now coming back to the legendary, dirt pile of a field, Dyreskuepladsen, and with the poster reading ‘Neil Young + Promise of the Real‘ and consisting, among others, two of Willie Nelson’s sons, expectations are high.

We assume that he’ll treat us to a bunch of classics, mixed with new stuff as well. There are a lot of songs to choose from, as his impressive back catalogue is of such a calibre, that it puts most current artists to shame.

The Ditch Trilogy – Time Fades Away (1973), On The Beach (1974), and Tonight’s The Night (1975) – is infamous for being Young’s darkest works to date. Once upon a time highly overlooked, but having since claimed their rights and becoming favourites of both fans and critics alike.

So, Neil! If you read this, I do have a request ;-)

‘Borrowed Tune’ is a beautiful piano ballad, in which Young sings “someone else’s song”, because he’s apparently too wasted to write his own.

Later in the song, he confirms his theft, that he borrowed the tune from The Rolling Stones’ ‘Lady Jane’, already a rather obscure ballad from their very fine album, Aftermath, from 1966.

It might just be me, but I also hear similarities between this song and Mercury Rev’s ‘The Dark Is Rising’ from 2001, released the same year that Neil stole Sort Sol’s slot. They did eventually made it to the stage though, just before 3am, and played among other hits, the brilliant ‘I’ll Take Care Of You’.

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Words: Anders Knudsen