Neil Young says he is "NOT OK" with Trump using his songs at Mount Rushmore event

[groundloop]

Source: CBS News

At a Fourth of July event at Mount Rushmore Friday night, President Donald Trump blasted multiple Neil Young songs for the crowd. Shortly after, the legendary singer reiterated that he is "NOT OK" with the president using his music.

"This is NOT ok with me…," Young tweeted. "I stand in solidarity with the Lakota Sioux & this is NOT ok with me," he added.

<snip>

The Lakota Sioux protested the event in South Dakota, which was held on sacred land they were once violently forced off of. They barricaded the road leading into Mount Rushmore, holding signs that read "Protect SoDak's First People," "You Are On Stolen Land" and "Dismantle White Supremacy," The Associated Press reports.

"Every time 'Keep on Rockin' in the Free World' or one of my songs is played at your rallies, I hope you hear my voice," Young wrote. "Remember it is the voice of a tax-paying U.S. citizen who does not support you."

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/neil-young-not-ok-trump-using-songs-mount-rushmore-event/

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Neil Young became a U.S. citizen in January, although honestly, at this point in history I'm not sure why he wouldn't prefer to remain a Canadian.

[dalton99a]

1. But LAW AND ORDER!

[George II]

2. I doubt he surrendered his Canadian citizenship. At least I hope not.

[MFGsunny]

3. Despicable MF45 has NO right to steal Neal Young's work! SHAMEFUL and below contempt.

The pathetic charlatan DARES come close to sacrilege, IMHO.

~snip from article linked in OP~

The president played both "Rockin' in the Free World" and "Like a Hurricane" ahead of his arrival at the controversial event.

[Paladin]

4. Neil needs to do a revised version of "Rockin' in the Free World."

Something to the effect of "Fuckin' Up The Free World," with lyrics vilifying trump and trump's crime family in the foulest language possible. Hey, I'd buy a few copies.

[flibbitygiblets]

9. I love this idea! "Biden's fighting for a free world!" or something. Change the association!

I was also thinking, if Trump keeps playing Young's music at his Covidiot parties, Young could stage his own "social distancing" concerts right across the street, with mandatory masks and tons of anti-trump protesters. What a burn it would be on trump, and it would be ALL over the media!

[SpankMe]

5. Trump's tone-deaf team

Why the Trump team would use music from Neil Young is beyond me. Given Young's political history, this is like Hitler playing Hava Nagila at his niece's birthday party.

[flibbitygiblets]

10. *snort*

good one

[Bluepinky]

11. Trump has purposely chosen to piss off as many non-MAGAs as possible, just to show that he can.

1. He held his hate rally in a place that’s sacred to Native Americans.
2. No masks or social distancing allowed at rally (chairs were even tied together).
3. He defied environmental regulations by having a fireworks display.
4. Music played during the rally was that of an avowed liberal, anti-Trump musician.
5. Plans to establish a “National Garden of American Heroes” (to honor white supremacists?)

Trump goes out of his way to screw us liberals because he knows he can and no one can stop him.

[Steelrolled]

6. My understanding is that a political campaign can buy umbrella rights

(sort of like a radio station or department store) and they are good to go. So it is more of a PR battle to get campaigns to stop. I am more than a little jaded about celebrities and politics, so this stuff doesn't mean much to me. I just vote.

[BamaRefugee]

14. Venues also buy umbrella rights. So if an artist signs the agreement, they lose any say over who

plays what at that venue.
Artists complaining about the use of their songs, assuming they are under such an agreement, actually have no one to blame but themselves. I understand their frustration, especially as a songwriter and 50 year member of ASCAP, but they wanted the money.

[LiberalLovinLug]

7. Conservatives, for the most part, cannot write good music. Or comedy material. Or act theatrically

Some kind of missing part of the brain, or its weaned out of them. Because to be creative, you must embrace ALL possibilities, be open to other people's perspectives, other ways of seeing things. And be able to laugh at ones self, and those like you.

So they steal liberal artists music all the time, and use it to twist its meaning for their own purposes.

Why not open with Ted Nugent or Kid Rock or Toby Keith?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

13. Liberals & progressives use imagination to overcome reality. Conservatives try to block reality. nt

[LiberalLovinLug]

19. True

[MyOwnPeace]

8. Maybe this:

Tin soldiers and Trump is comin'
We're finally on our own
This summer I hear the drummin'
Four arrested in South Dako......

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are gunning us down
Should have been done long ago
What if you knew them and
Found them dead on the ground?
How can you run when you know?

[IronLionZion]

12. The free world must be somewhere else

so keep on rocking in Canada or someplace where government agents won't tear gas, pepper spray, and shoot it's own citizens for peaceful lawful assembly

[CaptainTruth]

15. Republicans seem to have no concept of intellectual property.

Trump isn't the first Republican to use music at political events without permission.

[former9thward]

21. Permission is not required.

Neil Young signed away the rights to his music. In return for royalty payments. He never should have done that if he wanted "control" over his music. The same with other artists. Greed rules however, and they think, (they are right), they can make more money by signing these agreements.

[Zeus69]

16. Just use Kidd Rock and be done with it...

[Progressive Jones]

17. Young stated publicly that he became a US citizen in order to vote against Trump. nt

[scarletwoman]

18. Interesting choice, considering the lyrics:

https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/neilyoung/rockininthefreeworld.html

"Rockin' In The Free World"

There's colors on the street
Red, white and blue
People shufflin' their feet
People sleepin' in their shoes
But there's a warnin' sign
on the road ahead
There's a lot of people sayin'
we'd be better off dead
Don't feel like Satan,
but I am to them
So I try to forget it,
any way I can.

Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.

I see a woman in the night
With a baby in her hand
Under an old street light
Near a garbage can
Now she puts the kid away,
and she's gone to get a hit
She hates her life,
and what she's done to it
There's one more kid
that will never go to school
Never get to fall in love,
never get to be cool.

Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.

We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder, gentler,
Machine gun hand
We got department stores
and toilet paper
Got styrofoam boxes
for the ozone layer
Got a man of the people,
says keep hope alive
Got fuel to burn,
got roads to drive.

Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.

This song expresses Neil Young's critique of society and government during the time when George H.W. Bush was a President of the USA.

<snip>

This song was written in February 1989 as Neil Young toured the Pacific Northwest. His guitarist Frank Sampedro recalled to Mojo in a 2018 interview, "I said, 'Look, man, tonight, get in your room, think about all this stuff that's going down: the Ayatollah, all the stuff in Afghanistan, all these wars breaking out, all the problems in America… [...] And the next morning, we got on the bus to leave and he says, 'OK, I did it!'" "

"We got a thousand points of light" is a quote from George H.W. Bush inauguration speech in 1989.

It's actually a very dark song, not at all a celebration. "Rockin' in the free world" is meant as irony - but of course, rightwingers never get irony.

[LiberalLovinLug]

20. Thanks for that.

And you are right, they fail to see irony. Just as they also used "Little Pink Houses" and "Born in the USA" as well.