Neil Young – Trans [1983]
Year Released: 1982
Record Company: Reprise
1. Little Thing Called Love (3:12)
2. Computer Age (5:24)
3. We R in Control (3:31)
4. Transformer Man (3:23)
5. Computer Cowboy (A.K.A. Syscrusher) (4:13)
6. Hold on to Your Love (3:28)
7. Sample and Hold (8:03)
8. Mr. Soul (3:19)
9. Like an Inca (9:46)
LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE
See somebody walkin’ down the street
Hangin’ head and shufflin’ feet
Don’t take much to see
What they’ve been thinkin’ of
What makes you hypnotized?
What puts a tear in your eyes?
What makes you have to choose?
What brings you to the blues?
Oh … A little thing called love
Oh … A little thing called love
BRIDGE
Only love puts a tear in your eye
Only love makes you hypnotized
Only love makes you choose
Only love brings you the blues
Wait a minute now honey
Don’t be sad
This may be the best love you ever had
But that don’t mean that you had enough
Oh … A little thing called love
COMPUTER AGE
Cars and trucks
Fly by me on the corner
But I’m all right
Standin’ proud before the signal
When I see the light
I feel like more than just a number
And I stand before you
Or else we just don’t see the others
Computer age computer age
Computer age
Bikes and vans
Fly by me on the desert
But I’m all right
Standing out here in the hot sun
When I see the light
I feel like more than just a number
And I stand before you
Or else we just don’t see the others
Computer age computer age
Computer age
Precious metal lines
Molded into highways
Running through me
So microscopically
Days and nights
Weeks and months and seasons
Rolling through me
Chronologically
I need you
To let me know that there’s a heartbeat
Let it pound and pound
And I’ll be flying like a free bird
And you need me
Like ugly needs a mirror
And day by day
This horizon’s getting clearer
Computer age computer age
Computer age
WE R IN CONTROL
We control the data banks
We control the think tanks
We control the flow of air
We’re controlling the traffic lights
We control computer flights
We control the chief of staff
We control the TV sky
We control the FBI
We control the flow of heat
Computer age in harm’s way.
We will prevail and perform our function
C.C.T.B.
We control
We’re controlling
We control you floor to floor
We control you door to door
We’re controlling while you sleep
[Repeat]
We are in control
We are in control
We are in control
Chemical computer thinking battery
TRANSFORMER MAN
Transformer man, transformer man
You run the show
Remote control
Direct the action with the push of a button
You’re a transformer man
Power in your hand
Transformer man, transformer man
Sooner or later you’ll have to see/learn
The cause and effect
So many things still left to do
But we haven’t made it yet
Every morning when I look in your eyes
I feel electrified by you. Oh yes.
Transformer man, transformer man
Transformer man
Still in command
You’re eyes are shining on a beam
Through the galaxy of love
Transformer man
Unlock the secrets
Let us throw off the chains that
Hold you down.
COMPUTER COWBOY (aka Syscrusher)
Well his cattle each have numbers
And they all eat in a line
When he turns the floodlights on each night
Of course the herd looks perfect
Computer Cowboy
Well he rides the range ’til midnight
And the wild coyotes yowl
As he trots beneath the floodlights
And of course the rhythm is perfect
Computer Cowboy
Ride along computer cowboy
To the city just in time
To bring another system down
And leave your alias behind
Computer syscrusher
Computer syscrusher
Crusher syscrusher
Security
Come a ky ky yippee yi yippee yi ay
Come a ky ky yippee yi ay
Perforation
Protection
Perforation
Syscrusher
Perforation
HOLD ON TO YOUR LOVE
Hold on to your love
Hold on to your love
Though you may feel tired
The things you say,
The things you dream you might do,
Come true if you
Hold on to your love.
How long the day?
How dark the night spent apart?
Is this the way to learn?
Go your own way
Although you may break a heart
Don’t let it start
Hold on to your love
Hold on to your love.
SAMPLE AND HOLD
Sample and Hold
Hair – Blonde
Eyes – Blue
Weight – 100
Disposition – Even
Mood Code – Rotary Adjustable
I need a unit to sample and hold
But not the angry one
A new design new design
I need a unit to sample and hold
But not the lonely one
A new design new design
I need a unit to sample and hold
But not the lonely one
A new design new design
Sample and Hold
We’ll send it out right away
Satisfaction guaranteed.
Please specify
The colour of skin and eye
We know you’ll be happy
Don’t hesitate to give us a call
We know you’ll be satisfied when you energise
And see your unit come alive
We know you’ll be happy
I need a unit to sample and hold
But not the lonely one, the lonely one, the lonely one
Sample and hold
Weight 110
Perfection in every details
Fabricated from the curl of the hair
To the tip of the nail
Because our units never fail
We know you’ll be happy
I need a unit to sample and hold
Don’t hesitate to give us a call
We know you’ll be satisfied when you energise
And see your unit come alive
We know you’ll be happy
I need a unit to sample and hold
We know you’ll be happy 110
We know you’ll be happy
We know you’ll be happy
But not the lonely one
new design
new design
Perfection in every detail new design
Sample and hold
MR SOUL
Oh, hello Mr Soul, I dropped by to
pick up a reason
For the thought that I caught that my head
is the event of the season
Why in crowds just a trace of my face
could seem so pleasin’
I’ll cop out to the change, but a stranger
is putting the tease on.
I was down on a frown when the messenger
brought me a letter
I was raised by the praise of a fan
who said I upset her
Any girl in the world could have easily
known me better
She said, “You’re strange, but
don’t change,” and I let her
In a while will the smile on my face
turn to plaster?
Stick around while the clown who is sick
does the trick of disaster
For the race of my head and my face
is moving much faster
Is it strange I should change?
I don’t know, why don’t you ask her?
LIKE AN INCA
Said the condor
To the preying mantis
“We’re gonna lose this place
Just like we lost Atlantis
Brother we got to go
Sooner than you know
The Gypsy told my fortune
She said that nothin’ showed.
Who put the bomb
On the sacred altar?
Why should we die
If it comes our way?
Why should we care
About a little button
Being pushed by someone
We don’t even know?
Well I wish I was an Aztec,
Or a runner in Peru
I would build such beautiful buildings
To house the chosen few
Like an Inca from Peru
If you want to get high
Build a strong foundation
Sink those pylons deep
And reach for the sky
If you want to get lost
In the jungle rhythm
Get down on the ground
And pretend you’re swimmin’
In the lava river
First you must climb
Then you must stand and shiver
Brother we got to go
Sooner than you know
The Gypsy told my fortune
She said that nothing showed
I feel sad
But I feel happy
As I’m coming back to home
There’s a bridge across the river
That I have to cross alone
Like skipping rolling stone
Like an Inca”.
————————————–
Neil Young: guitar, bass, synclavier, vocoder, electric piano, vocal
Nils Lofgren: guitar, piano, organ, electric piano, synclavier, vocal
Ben Keith: pedal steel guitar, slide guitar, vocal
Bruce Palmer: bass
Ralph Molina: drums, vocal
Joe Lala: percussion, vocal
Frank Sampedro: guitar, stringman
Billy Talbot: bass
Recorded at Modern Recorders, Redwood City, CA and Commercial Recorders, Honolulu, Sept. 24, 1981-May 12, 1982
Produced by Neil Young, David Briggs & Tim Mulligan
Different mixes of Sample and Hold & Like An Inca appear on the CD release