Lookin' for a Leader, Neil Young (2006)

Walkin' among our people
There's someone who's straight and strong
To lead us from desolation
And a broken world gone wrong

I'm making an exception today in my song selection criteria because today is Election Day in the United States of America - a day in which we have a very real, albeit on some level surreal, opportunity as a nation to stop going down the tragic path we've been on for too many years and elect a president worthy of the title.

Neil Young's Lookin' for a Leader with its 100-voice choir crying out in hope, was about as prescient as a rock song can be, tapping Barack Obama as that leader at a time when nothing in the zeitgeist suggested anything of the sort could ever occur. In a few short hours we will learn the results of two years of hard-fought and masterful campaigning to secure what is right for the United States and the rest of the world.

The classic outsider and stranger in a strange land, Sen. Obama is most likely the one person who has what it takes to transcend the noxious and entrenched self-interest that has passed for governing these past 8 years. If he pulls it off, and all indications are that he will, the euphoria that will set in may last for weeks. I - and so many, many others - want to be proud to be American again.

When I'm finished writing this I will be headed out for my late-afternoon shift at the polls, where I'll be handing out sample Democratic party ballots and ensuring that voters are treated properly. Incredibly, it is sunny and in the 70s here in the battleground State of Ohio where, God willing, we will be one of a number of states that will put Barack Obama over the top and into the White House.

Chicago, Graham Nash (1971)

This summer, when the Democratic National Convention nominates its historic candidate for president of the United States, it will be 40 years since the shameful events of the August 1968 convention that turned the streets of Chicago into suffering and mayhem. I was reminded of it the other day when I listened to an interview Fresh Air's Terry Gross did with filmmaker Brett Morgen, whose new animated film, Chicago 10, takes a fresh look at that tragic time in our history.

Bearing in mind that just months earlier both Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy had been assassinated and the outrage at our involvement in the Vietnam War was at its peak, the convention drew many protesters, including the men who would become known as the Chicago Eight - Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, Bobby Seale, David Dellinger, John Froines and Lee Weiner.

Chicago police officers, acting on orders from Mayor Richard Daley, beat protesters to a pulp live on national television which, although hard to believe on one level, on another I have a distinct memory of a certain numbness setting in as our society became more and more polarized and violent.

So why was Graham Nash's powerful solo effort Chicago released in 1971? I've tried to figure it out, but it's not very clear to me, unless Nash just held onto it until he could release it on his first solo album, Songs for Beginners. I've seen some mention made of its purpose being to implore Steve Stills and Neil Young to stop fighting long enough to do a benefit concert in Chicago around that time, but haven't seen anything verifiable on that. Here's the history, though, for those who want to take a trip down memory lane or weren't around and just want to know:

The year after the convention, the Chicago Eight were indicted in federal court on conspiracy charges related to inciting a riot under a new civil rights law. (Said Abbie Hoffman, "Conspiracy? Hell, we couldn't agree on lunch.") Their 5-month-long trial, run essentially as a kangaroo court by Judge Julius Hoffman, degenerated quickly when Seale's various outbursts and lapses in court decorum in seeking to represent himself or delay until his own counsel was available to appear resulted in the infamous decision wherein Seale was bound and gagged for the duration of the trial, an event to which Nash refers in Chicago. (After a point, Seale was severed from the case to be dealt with separately, and the group became known as the Chicago Seven.)

The complicated verdict in early 1970 did result in some convictions, which were eventually overturned by the appeals court in 1972. Anyone interested in the minutiae of the trial has a good resource in law professor Douglas O. Linder's account from the Famous Trials website; it's fascinating stuff.

Getting back to the song ... as I sit here in Ohio waiting for the results of our primary on Tuesday (I stood in line for an hour and a half to vote early yesterday), the anthemic nature of this song taps into my sensibilities right now - a burning belief in Barack Obama, a surrealistically inspiring candidate from Chicago who, if he's given the chance, will - with our help - change the world. Of that, I have no doubt.

The Losing End (When You're On), Neil Young & Crazy Horse (1969)

Most people associate Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (one of the best titles ever) with the title song and with Cinnamon Girl, Down By the River and Cowgirl in the Sand. In terms of sheer tonnage, that's understandable. And I will go on record as saying I love the whole album - if I had to pick just a handful of LPs that automatically remind me of that time of my life when I was transitioning from wide-eyed high schooler to college malcontent, this would unquestionably be one of them.

In Young's maiden collaboration with Crazy Horse - members of a band known as the Rockets whom he met while making his first LP - he and Danny Whitten, Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina created a musical gem of blazing musicality that still gives me thrills and chills.

But from the standpoint of a song that gets in there and gets the job done in about 4 minutes, it doesn't get much better than The Losing End. Today, I love this song about how pathetic unrequited love can make you feel as much, if not more, than I did then. It packs such a punch! "It's so hard for me now / But I'll make it somehow / Though I know I'll never be the same / Won't you ever change your ways? / It's so hard to make love pay / When you're on the losing end / And I feel that way again ... " The combination of mournful country-style lyrics and blistering guitar licks - and let's face it, Young's singular vocals - can't be improved upon.

To my mind, the symbiotic relationship between Young and Crazy Horse has produced some of his greatest work. He'd been sitting in with them from time to time after leaving Buffalo Springfield, and once they got together, they recorded the whole album in two weeks. It does have the feel of a jam session.

Although Danny Whitten died in 1972 of a heroin overdose (the heartbreaking Needle and the Damage Done was, in part, inspired by him), decades later Talbot and Molina were still in the picture, touring with him as recently as 2001; Ralph Molina plays drums on last year's Chrome Dreams II and will tour with him in 2008. When the long-awaited Archives project comes out - only on DVD and Blu-ray - I fervently hope we'll see some footage of these guys giving it their all.

Ohio, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (1970)

The "Ohio" single

Another 1970 song, you say? Well, it was the year I went off to college, so it's fair to say it's a year fraught with memories. And among songs that were emblematic of the times in which we were living, this one is the mother of them all.

What must it have felt like for these guys to cut this record, transforming their molten fury into this? By most accounts it was accomplished with all deliberate speed, and utterly in the throes of creative energy that could not be denied.

An interview I found on wikipedia with CSNY's sound engineer at the time says, "the mood was just very intense ... I've been around those personalities for a long time, and the four of them take over a room. They are four distinct personalities and any one of the four is quite overpowering and together they're a joy to be with. It's just a hoot to see them interact. And they were bent on getting it right and were on a mission." Perhaps a bit of an understatement?

It's not possible to hear the searing opening riff of Ohio without being hurled emotionally back to that time. I was preparing to graduate from a Columbus, Ohio, high school, where Ohio State was already gripped with unrest. I would be entering a small college that was 16 miles down the road from Kent State just 4 months later. I remember coming home from school, turning on the radio as I usually did, and being accosted with the news of the shootings. Granted, by this time I'd already lived through the assassinations of JFK, Dr. King and Bobby. Gun violence seemed to be what we were becoming known for as a country. Yet my mind reeled. This cannot be happening ...

The lyrics and music of Ohio are as close to a perfect storm of genius as the rock world will ever see.