New Song: Neil Young + The Chrome Hearts Deliver Epic “Second Song,” New LP Title Track
Neil Young and his latest backing band the Chrome Hearts: Micah Nelson (guitar), Corey McCormick (bass), Anthony Logerfo (drums) and old time cohort Spooner Oldham (keyboards), have announced their follow up to 2025’s Talkin’ To The Trees, and released the title track for the album, Second Song.
“Second Song” is a track that Neil Young and I mean only Neil Young could deliver. It is an epic 11 minute twenty second acoustic, folky masterpiece. Homer’s Odyssey has nothing on Neil Young.
I haven’t heard Neil stretch out on tracks like this since 2012’s excellent Psychedelic Pill recorded with Crazy Horse. Alas, that was the last album Crazy Horse guitarist Frank Sampedro performed on before retiring. Three songs on that album were over 15 minutes and one of those songs was almost half an hour long. But those were full on electric firestorms.
Epic, extremely long rocking songs are nothing out of the ordinary for Young. Even in the early days he was delivering “Cowgirl In The Sand” and “Down By The River.” But a long rock song makes sense for Neil and especially when he’s with Crazy Horse as they stretch out on extended guitar workouts.
“Second Song” is a completely different animal. It’s an 11 minute acoustic strummer. There’s some harmonica, hushed drums and some keyboard treatments but this is mostly just Neil strumming and singing like he’s on his front porch. The Chrome Hearts do sparingly lend some nice backing vocals as well.
I’ve got to tell you, “Second Song” is a stunning song. It’s absolutely breathtaking in its beauty. There’s something about the melody that harkens me back to “Goin’ Back” from Comes A Time but that may be just me. Even though it’s 11 minutes long, it doesn’t seem like it’s that long. It never drags.
It seems to be about the passing of time, “Their moms and dads remembered, ‘Cause they had seen a different time, A time of sunny mornings…” but also maybe the environment, “Somehow the smoke is calling, Somehow the embers will decide…” It’s like a long Rorschach test I suppose, we see/hear what we want… set to acoustic guitar.
When I saw this was an 11 minutes song I couldn’t help but think, if Neil’s old producer David Briggs was still alive he’d have reined Young in a bit. Maybe he’d have got him to do some editing on this song. But after obsessively listening to this song – after I’d gotten done being smitten by the new Greta Van Fleet songs – I’ve come to the conclusion that this song is perfect the way it is. Perfect.
Here’s a sample:
This new album with the Chrome Hearts Second Songs is said to be made up of a mix of new songs and three tracks that Neil wrote in 1963. After hearing this title track I can barely wait until mid-September to hear the rest of this album.
I liked Talkin’ To The Trees, I mean it was no After The Gold Rush, but it was a damn good record for a man entering his 80s. This new backing band seems to have Neil fired up. I love this song and am optimistic for Second Song, and these days I’m not optimistic about anything.
Cheers! “Make it up on another day, Baby, I don’t care…”
What a gentle and georgious song. I’ve always loved Neil with acoustic guitar and a lonely blowing harmonica. And the lyrics are great too. I have been walking with Neil since 1970 and will continue to do so. There were ups and downs, but never a dull moment.
And yes, this song is perfect the way it is. Well said Kenneth.
I’m with you Guy, I love Neil’s acoustic side. I was surprised to hear him play for over 11 minutes but I’ll take as much of this style of music from Neil as we can get! I had a feeling you might like this one! Cheers!
I know that most artists, and Neil for sure, don’t want to keep repeating themselves and reinvent themselves time and again. But personally, I wouldn’t have minded if Neil had made five times albums that in style were comparable with Everybody Knows, After The Goldrush, Harvest, Time Fades Away, Tonight’s the Night, On the Beach, Zuma, Rust Never Sleeps, Freedom and Ragged Glory, because they were already varied, innovative, and diverse enough.
I absolutely do not mind that the song First Fire of Winter is a second cousin of Helpless on Talking to the Trees or that this Second Song is a standard Neil track he could have made 50 years ago – on the contrary. But that’s just not how life works.
I will support any artist exploring his muse and stretching out his sound, reinventing himself etc. But there are just certain artists who do certain things so well. The Stones playing bluesy rock, AC/DC playing well, hard bluesy rock, and Neil with an acoustic guitar. These are styles that just suit the artist so to speak. Of course I also love Neil’s electric side, especially with Crazy Horse. He seems to be inspired working with the Chrome Hearts, so more power to him!! Great tune!