It Took Seconds

Five minutes and forty seconds: What others say about Bob Dylan I feel about Neil Young - I have such a problem with that reedy, accusatory voice that I often can’t get through it to the fine songcraft. But I keep trying, and sometimes reedy and accusatory is what the song needs anyhow: in “Thrasher”, a rambling, judgemental, confessional track, Young seems to be justifying desertion of friends, or from his perspective lamenting the inability of those friends to meet his  standards of commitment and integrity. It’s a cold song, some of its images don’t come off for me, but there’s a steely authority to it I find fascinating as well as slightly repulsive.

What would your 5’40” track have been?