Neil Young – Homegrown (2020)

Label: Reprise

Released: June 19, 2020
Recorded: June, September, December 1974, January 1975
Studio: Quadrafonic Studios, Nashville, TN;
Broken Arrow Ranch, Redwood City, CA;
Village Recorders, Los Angeles, CA;
Ramport Studios, London, England

Separate Ways (3:33)
Try (2:47)
Mexico (1:40)
Love Is a Rose (2:16)
Homegrown (2:47)
Florida (2:58)
Kansas (2:12)
We Don’t Smoke It No More (4:50)
White Line (3:14)
Vacancy (3:59)
Little Wing (2:10)
Star of Bethlehem (2:42)

“Separate Ways”

I won’t apologize
The light shone from in your eyes
It isn’t gone,
It will soon come back again.

Though we go our separate ways
Lookin’ for better days
Sharin’ our little boy,
Who grew from joy back then.

And it’s all because
Of that love we knew
That makes the world go round.
Separate ways, separate ways.
Separate ways, separate ways.

Me for me, you for you
Happiness is never through
It’s only a change of plan
And that is nothing new.

As we go our separate ways.
Lookin’ for better days
Sharin’ our little boy,
Who grew from joy back then.

“Try”

Darlin’, the door is open
To my heart and I’ve hoppin’
That you won’t be the one
To struggle with the key
We got lots of time
To get together if we try

The waitin’ time is over
No man sees around the corner
Walkin’ in the rain and comin’ home dry
There’s something missin’ there
It’s easier to care and try

And I try to wash my hands (Ooh)
And I try to make amends (Ooh)
And I try to count my friends (Ooh)

Ooh, ooh (Ooh, ooh)
Ooh, ooh (Ooh, ooh)
Ooh, ooh (Ooh, ooh)

I’d like to take a chance
But shit, Mary, I can’t dance
So here’s to lookin’ up your old address
Golly what a mess
We gotta take the rest and try

We got lots of time
To get together if we try
We got lots of time
To get together if we try
(Ooh, ooh)

“Mexico”

Oh, the feeling’s gone
Why is it so hard
To hang on to your love?
Oh, the things we do
To live beyond the fears
And move on through the years

Think I’ll go to Mexico
Gonna take my time, go down slow
Making love in Mexico
Think I’ll go to Mexico

Oh, those sandy beaches
Daddy is a traveling man

“Love Is A Rose”

Love is a rose
but you better not pick it
It only grows when it’s on the vine.
A handful of thorns and
you’ll know you’ve missed it
You lose your love
when you say the word “mine”.

I wanna see what’s never been seen,
I wanna live that age old dream.
Come on, lads, we can go together
Let’s take the best right now,
Take the best right now.

I wanna go to an old hoe-down
Long ago in a western town.
Pick me up cause my feet are draggin’
Give me a lift and I’ll hay your wagon.

Love is a rose
but you better not pick it
It only grows when it’s on the vine.
A handful of thorns and
you’ll know you’ve missed it
You lose your love
when you say the word “mine”.
Mine, mine.

Love is a rose, love is a rose.
Love is a rose, love is a rose.

“Homegrown”

Homegrown’s
all right with me.
Homegrown
is the way it should be.
Homegrown
is a good thing.
Plant that bell
and let it ring.

The sun comes up
in the morning,
Shines that light around.
One day, without no warning,
Things start jumping up
from the ground.

Well, homegrown’s
all right with me.
Homegrown
is the way it should be.
Homegrown
is a good thing.
Plant that bell
and let it ring.

“Florida”

Let’s go to Florida
Palm trees and shit man (okay)
Palm trees (here we go) and humid weather

It was like a town in Florida in the fifties you know
I don’t know, there’s a lotta white buildings, and
They were really white, I could see them
They were about seven or eight stories tall, all of them
All the people were walking around, and
It just looks so good, you know, they all had, uh
Blue dresses and nice pants on, you know, and they’re
All of them are drinking pop from, you know
With straws in the bottles
Things were lookin’, you know, sun was shining so bright
The downtown looked incredible, I couldn’t believe it, there was
Gliders flyin’ around in the sky
These guys flying around in gliders, you know, and they
They’d swoop between the buildings and they
They go down the alley ways, you know
And they make a sharp left and a sharp right
And, uh, it’s like they
I couldn’t believe that it was really happening, you know

So I said, you know, “I don’t believe this; this isn’t real”
And just as I said that, this guy in the glider, was
Coming right through the center of town
And he ran into the building in the middle of town
Fifteen story high building, right in the center of town
He started tumbling through the air, you know
And his glider crashed in the alley and, uh
I noticed this couple on the, uh, on the parking lot
And, uh, they, they were just walking together in conversation, you know
Like, uh, nothing else was happening
And, uh, looking up they noticed a tumbling man coming through the air
And uh, he, he came right down and landed right on them and made an awful sound
And, uh, I ran over there, I could see that they were really gone, you know
But on the ground beside them was this little baby
Dressed in—, it just had a red blanket wrapped around it
So I picked it up and took it to my car
Over on the corner which wasn’t too far away
And I put it in the back seat
I don’t know whether it was a boy or a girl
I didn’t look, you know, I just put it down
It was sleeping and I looked and a crowd had gathered on the parking lot
This beautiful lady was coming down the street
And I, I looked at her and she looked right at me, and
She said, “That’s my baby in the back of your car there”
I said, “Oh no, that baby belongs to that
To that dead couple on the parking lot”
And she said, “No, no you’re wrong, you’re wrong
What happened to them?”

“Kansas”

I feel like I just woke up
From a bad dream
And it’s so good to have you
Sleeping by my side

Although I’m not so sure
If I even know your name
Hold on, baby, hold on
We can go gliding through the air
Far from the jeers and lies

Yeah you are the one
I’m talkin’ to this morning
With your mind so fine
And your friendly body lying

In my bungalow with stucco
With glory and sunset spa
Hold on, baby, hold on
It doesn’t matter if you’re the one
‘Cause we’ll know before we’re done

“We Don’t Smoke It”

We don’t flaunt it, we don’t lick it
We don’t knock it, we don’t kick it
We don’t smoke it no more

We don’t smoke it no more
We don’t smoke it no more

We don’t smoke it no more
We don’t smoke it no more

“White Line”

I came to you,
when I needed a rest
You took my love,
and put it to the test
I saw some things,
that I never
would have guessed
Feel like a railroad,
I pulled a whole load behind.

That old white line
is friend of mine
And it’s good time
we’ve been making
Right now I’m rollin’ down
the open road
And the daylight
will soon be breaking.

I was adrift
on a river of pride
It seemed like such a
long easy ride
You were my raft
but I let you slide
I’ve been down but
I’m coming back up again.

And I’m rollin’ down
the open road
Where the daylight
will soon be breaking
Right now I’m thinking ’bout
these things that I know
But it’s good time
that we’ve been making.

“Vacancy”

Who are you?
Where are you goin’ to?
What’s your name?
Why aren’t you showin’ through?

I look in your eyes and I don’t know what’s there
You poison me with that long, vacant stare
You dress like her and she walks in your words
You frown at me and then you smile at her

Are you my friend?
Are you my enemy?
Can we pretend to live in harmony?

You come through in the weirdest way
You copy her with the words that you say
I need that girl like the night needs the day
I don’t need you getting in my way

Vacancy, vacancy
Vacancy, vacancy
Vacancy, vacancy
Vacancy, vacancy

Who are you?
Where are you goin’ to?
What’s your name?
Why aren’t you showin’ through?

“Little Wing”

All her friends call her Little Wing
But she flies rings around them all
She comes to town when the children sing
And leaves them feathers as if they fall
She leaves them feathers as if they fall

Little Wing, don’t fly away
When the summer turns to fall
Don’t you know some people say
The winter is the best time of them all
Winter is the best of all.

“Star Of Bethlehem”

Ain’t it hard
when you wake up
in the morning
And you find out
that those other days
are gone?
All you have
is memories of happiness
Lingerin’ on.

You might wonder
who can I turn to
On this cold
and chilly night of gloom
The answer to that question
Is nowhere in this room.

All your dreams
and your lovers
won’t protect you,
They’re only passing
through you in the end.
They’ll leave
you stripped of all
that they can get to,
And wait for you
to come back again.

You might wonder
who I can turn to
On this cold
and chilly night of gloom
The answer to that question
Is nowhere in this room.

Yet still a light is shining
From that lamp on down the hall.
Maybe the star of Bethlehem
Wasn’t a star at all.