Goin' Back(jmj) by jmjiloveyou

jmjiloveyou - Goin' Back(jmj)

jmjiloveyou

Jun 03, 2025 07:57am

<img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ae/NeilYoungalbum-ComesATime.jpg" alt="undefined"><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Nicolette_Larson_1985.jpg" alt="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Nicolette_Larson_1985.jpg">Comes a Time is the ninth studio album by Canadian-American singer-songwriter <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Young" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Neil Young</a>, released by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reprise_Records" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Reprise Records</a> in October 1978. The album is largely performed in a quiet <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_music" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">folk</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_music" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">country</a> style. It features backing harmonies sung by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolette_Larson" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nicolette Larson</a> and additional accompaniment by musicians that had accompanied Young on his commercial pinnacle, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvest_(Neil_Young_album)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Harvest</a>. Like Harvest, the lyrics to many of its songs are inspired by relationships. In his memoir, Waging Heavy Peace, Young describes Comes a Time as one of his best albums ever.<h2>Background</h2>After the success of his 1972 album Harvest, Young famously shied away from his new public image as a sentimental singer-songwriter, and released several albums that embrace contrasting styles. Comes a Time finds the artist re-embracing a more romantic folk style and image once again. The album also features layers of overdubs and a large cast of supporting musicians, a contrast to his typical preference for live in the studio recording.Young would describe the change in a contemporary interview: "After five or six albums going in one direction, my feelings demanded that I really craft an album. It came out outward, clean and appealing. It's the first record I've released where I'm actually facing the audience on the jacket and smiling."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comes_a_Time#cite_note-auto1-5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[5]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comes_a_Time#cite_note-auto3-6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[6]</a><h2>Writing</h2>The songs on Comes a Time were written over the course of the previous five years in a variety of contexts. Young had first played the songs with various other bands, including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSNY" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CSNY</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_Horse_(band)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Crazy Horse</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ducks" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Ducks</a>. The songs' lyrics were inspired by several different personal events and romantic relationships.The lyrics to "Goin' Back" reflect feeling nostalgia for a previous time or place. Young explains in Shakey: "There's something there that's me, that record. It tells a story– "Goin' Back" is sorta like the debris of the sixties. There's nowhere to stay, nowhere to go and nothin' to do. You could go anywhere."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comes_a_Time#cite_note-auto3-6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[6]</a>"Comes a Time" dates from Young's performances in the summer of 1977 with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ducks" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Ducks</a>. When introducing it in concert the following year, he shares that he first remembered singing it with his son Zeke.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comes_a_Time#cite_note-7" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[7]</a>"Look Out for My Love" features imagery of being on an airplane eager to arrive home to one's partner, while pondering if the relationship is a burden on his partner. Singer-songwriter <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Newman" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Randy Newman</a> applauds the song's idiosyncratic lyrics: "It isn't like a love song. It's like, 'My love, it’s really heavy. Watch out! It's in your neighborhood.' Like a stalker."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comes_a_Time#cite_note-auto3-6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[6]</a>"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotta_Love" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lotta Love</a>" was recorded with Crazy Horse in January 1976 with guitarist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poncho_Sampedro" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Poncho Sampedro</a> on piano. Nicolette Larson would release her own recording of the song in 1978, which became a top ten hit. She remembers discovering the song on the floor of Young's truck during sessions for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Stars_%27n_Bars" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">American Stars 'n Bars</a>: "I visited Neil at the ranch, we were driving around in a pickup, there was a cassette on the floor. I picked it up, blew the dust off it, I stuck it in the cassette player and "Lotta Love" came on. I said, 'Neil, that's a really good song.' He said, 'You want it—it's yours.'"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comes_a_Time#cite_note-auto3-6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[6]</a>"Peace of Mind" was first performed on tour with Crazy Horse in 1976."Human Highway" dates from 1973, and was first recorded in the summer of that year in Hawaii by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crosby,_Stills,_Nash_%26_Young" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young</a> for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Highway_(Crosby,_Stills,_Nash_%26_Young_album)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">an album that would have shared the same title</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comes_a_Time#cite_note-8" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[8]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comes_a_Time#cite_note-9" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[9]</a>"Already One" was written about his relationships with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_Snodgress" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Carrie Snodgress</a> and their son Zeke. In a 2020 post to the Archives website, Young states that on Comes a Time, "One of the best tracks (imho) is "Already One". That song still resonates strongly with me today. I wrote it about Carrie, Zeke's mom. She was a very special person and I still see her and love her in Zeke today.""Motorcycle Mama" dates from the sessions for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homegrown_(Neil_Young_album)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Homegrown</a> in January 1975. The month prior, Young went on his first date with his wife <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegi_Young" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Pegi</a>, who he would marry in 1978. Pegi was fond of riding motorcycles, a characteristic Young sings about in his later portrait of her, "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unknown_Legend" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Un</a>