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Good Sunday Noontime my RP Brothers and Sisters!!!
Somewhere out there is an unknown legend and the song I chose for a Noontime Music Interlude covers who this unknown legend may be... For your Noontime enjoyment, I present THe one and Only Neil Young with "Unknown Legend"
Background:
"Unknown Legend" is a song written by Neil Young that was first released on his 1992 album Harvest Moon. Although it was not released as a single, it reached #38 on the Billboard Magazine Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
Although "Unknown Legend" was not released until 1992, it was written earlier, closer to the release of Young's 1978 album Comes a Time, and several critics have noted a similarity between the style of "Unknown Legend" and the material on Come a Time, particularly the song "Motorcycle Mama." Allmusic critic Matthew Greenwald describes the song as being based on a "simple, folksy guitar riff and melody."[3] As with several other songs on Harvest Moon, Linda Rondstadt provided backup vocals in the refrains. Ben Keith plays pedal steel, in a performance that Young biographer Jimmy McDonough describes as provding "proud but sad" accents.
The lyrics describe a woman who had worked in a diner and rode a Harley Davidson, but now is raising two children.[1] The lyrics were inspired by multiple people. Nigel Williamson feels that the lyric about how the woman used to work in a diner was inspired by Young's first wife Susan Acevedo and that the lyrics about an "unknown legend" who is raising two kids but still has "the far away look in her eyes" were inspired by his later wife Pegi Young, and music critic Johnny Rogan agrees that the character described by the lyrics seems to be a combination of the two. Young biographer Glen Boyd similarly sees a portrait of Pegi in the lyrics about working in a diner and raising two kids, as well as in a line about "her long blonde hair flowin' in the wind." Nonetheless, Young has described his inspiration as being more expansive, stating:
It's inspired by some people I know and some people I don't know and all kinds of things put together...They're just pictures, people's lives. A lot of the common thing is survival, not losing what it is you were when you were young, but take it with you, take it with you into your own age. Don't leave it behind.
Young biographer David Downing sees the song as one of several on Harvest Moon that describe Americans feeling a deep sense of loss for unknown reasons in 1992.
Somewhere out there is an unknown legend and the song I chose for a Noontime Music Interlude covers who this unknown legend may be... For your Noontime enjoyment, I present THe one and Only Neil Young with "Unknown Legend"
Background:
"Unknown Legend" is a song written by Neil Young that was first released on his 1992 album Harvest Moon. Although it was not released as a single, it reached #38 on the Billboard Magazine Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
Although "Unknown Legend" was not released until 1992, it was written earlier, closer to the release of Young's 1978 album Comes a Time, and several critics have noted a similarity between the style of "Unknown Legend" and the material on Come a Time, particularly the song "Motorcycle Mama." Allmusic critic Matthew Greenwald describes the song as being based on a "simple, folksy guitar riff and melody."[3] As with several other songs on Harvest Moon, Linda Rondstadt provided backup vocals in the refrains. Ben Keith plays pedal steel, in a performance that Young biographer Jimmy McDonough describes as provding "proud but sad" accents.
The lyrics describe a woman who had worked in a diner and rode a Harley Davidson, but now is raising two children.[1] The lyrics were inspired by multiple people. Nigel Williamson feels that the lyric about how the woman used to work in a diner was inspired by Young's first wife Susan Acevedo and that the lyrics about an "unknown legend" who is raising two kids but still has "the far away look in her eyes" were inspired by his later wife Pegi Young, and music critic Johnny Rogan agrees that the character described by the lyrics seems to be a combination of the two. Young biographer Glen Boyd similarly sees a portrait of Pegi in the lyrics about working in a diner and raising two kids, as well as in a line about "her long blonde hair flowin' in the wind." Nonetheless, Young has described his inspiration as being more expansive, stating:
It's inspired by some people I know and some people I don't know and all kinds of things put together...They're just pictures, people's lives. A lot of the common thing is survival, not losing what it is you were when you were young, but take it with you, take it with you into your own age. Don't leave it behind.
Young biographer David Downing sees the song as one of several on Harvest Moon that describe Americans feeling a deep sense of loss for unknown reasons in 1992.
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Posted >1 y ago
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Thank you, my friend Sgt (Join to see) for posting the music video of Neil Young performing "Unknown Legend"
Song Background "The woman in "Unknown Legend" is Neil Young's wife (at the time), Pegi Morton Young. The two met in 1974, while Morton was working as a waitress at a diner near Young's ranch.
The song talks about a waitress, now mother of two, who had once lived a life of travel and restlessness. The chorus harks back to her years of riding a Harley Davidson through the desert, with its chrome and steel "Collidin' with the very air she breathes." The song sounds both triumphant and sad. It laments the woman's situation ("Now she's dressin' two kids, lookin' for a magic kiss") while celebrating the wild rambling imagery of her past, all while sweetly observing her graceful movements across the diner floor.
Young and Morton were married from 1978 to 2014. They had two children together, Ben and Amber, both born with cerebral palsy, which inspired Neil and Pegi to start a non-profit called the Bridge School.
A historically interesting note is that "Unknown Legend," which is an ode to Pegi, appeared on an entire album Young had made about keeping marriage alive. "This album here [Harvest Moon], it's about making things last, how to keep that interest, how to keep the fire burning," Young told New Musical Express in 1992. "Never get bored with the fact that you've been with someone for a long time, it's a good thing, not a bad thing. Relationships should enrichen with age, that kind of thing."
The marriage did indeed enrichen for over a decade after the song's release, but then collapsed. In that same New Musical Express piece, writer Gavin Martin prophetically wrote, "No marriages are easy, rock 'n' roll relationships are particularly fraught. Placid and healing on the surface, Harvest Moon doesn't try to deny the troubles and heartbreak beneath."
Pegi spoke a lot about her divorce from Young on her album Raw. It's an interesting dynamic - the "Unknown Legend" herself singing candidly about the harsher aspects of being married to the man who once immortalized her in song."
"Unknown Legend" written by Neil Young
Lyrics
"She used to work in a diner
Never saw a woman look finer
I used to order just to watch
her float across the floor
She grew up in a small town
Never put her roots down
Daddy always kept movin',
so she did too.
Somewhere on a desert highway
She rides a Harley-Davidson
Her long blonde hair
flyin' in the wind
She's been runnin' half her life
The chrome and steel she rides
Collidin' with
the very air she breathes
The air she breathes.
You know it ain't easy
You got to hold on
She was an unknown legend
in her time
Now she's dressin' two kids
Lookin' for a magic kiss
She gets the far-away look
in her eyes.
Somewhere on a desert highway
She rides a Harley-Davidson
Her long blonde hair
flyin' in the wind
She's been runnin' half her life
The chrome and steel she rides
Collidin' with the very
air she breathes
The air she breathes."
FYI MSgt David HoffmanSFC (Join to see)SGT Forrest FitzrandolphCW3 Matt HutchasonLTC (Join to see)SGT Robert R.CPT Tommy CurtisSGT (Join to see) SGT Steve McFarlandCol Carl WhickerSSG Michael NollCPT Daniel CoxSFC David Reid, M.S, PHR, SHRM-CP, DTMSFC Jack ChampionA1C Ian WilliamsCpl James R. " Jim" Gossett Jr
Song Background "The woman in "Unknown Legend" is Neil Young's wife (at the time), Pegi Morton Young. The two met in 1974, while Morton was working as a waitress at a diner near Young's ranch.
The song talks about a waitress, now mother of two, who had once lived a life of travel and restlessness. The chorus harks back to her years of riding a Harley Davidson through the desert, with its chrome and steel "Collidin' with the very air she breathes." The song sounds both triumphant and sad. It laments the woman's situation ("Now she's dressin' two kids, lookin' for a magic kiss") while celebrating the wild rambling imagery of her past, all while sweetly observing her graceful movements across the diner floor.
Young and Morton were married from 1978 to 2014. They had two children together, Ben and Amber, both born with cerebral palsy, which inspired Neil and Pegi to start a non-profit called the Bridge School.
A historically interesting note is that "Unknown Legend," which is an ode to Pegi, appeared on an entire album Young had made about keeping marriage alive. "This album here [Harvest Moon], it's about making things last, how to keep that interest, how to keep the fire burning," Young told New Musical Express in 1992. "Never get bored with the fact that you've been with someone for a long time, it's a good thing, not a bad thing. Relationships should enrichen with age, that kind of thing."
The marriage did indeed enrichen for over a decade after the song's release, but then collapsed. In that same New Musical Express piece, writer Gavin Martin prophetically wrote, "No marriages are easy, rock 'n' roll relationships are particularly fraught. Placid and healing on the surface, Harvest Moon doesn't try to deny the troubles and heartbreak beneath."
Pegi spoke a lot about her divorce from Young on her album Raw. It's an interesting dynamic - the "Unknown Legend" herself singing candidly about the harsher aspects of being married to the man who once immortalized her in song."
"Unknown Legend" written by Neil Young
Lyrics
"She used to work in a diner
Never saw a woman look finer
I used to order just to watch
her float across the floor
She grew up in a small town
Never put her roots down
Daddy always kept movin',
so she did too.
Somewhere on a desert highway
She rides a Harley-Davidson
Her long blonde hair
flyin' in the wind
She's been runnin' half her life
The chrome and steel she rides
Collidin' with
the very air she breathes
The air she breathes.
You know it ain't easy
You got to hold on
She was an unknown legend
in her time
Now she's dressin' two kids
Lookin' for a magic kiss
She gets the far-away look
in her eyes.
Somewhere on a desert highway
She rides a Harley-Davidson
Her long blonde hair
flyin' in the wind
She's been runnin' half her life
The chrome and steel she rides
Collidin' with the very
air she breathes
The air she breathes."
FYI MSgt David HoffmanSFC (Join to see)SGT Forrest FitzrandolphCW3 Matt HutchasonLTC (Join to see)SGT Robert R.CPT Tommy CurtisSGT (Join to see) SGT Steve McFarlandCol Carl WhickerSSG Michael NollCPT Daniel CoxSFC David Reid, M.S, PHR, SHRM-CP, DTMSFC Jack ChampionA1C Ian WilliamsCpl James R. " Jim" Gossett Jr
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LTC Stephen F.
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Sgt (Join to see)
LTC Stephen F. , Thank you for such a wonderful & detailed response regarding Neil Young & His wife Pegi... The strain of having two children with cerebral palsy is very difficult for any husband & wife... I know this, because my Mom & Dad reared my sister who had a form of cerebral palsy & I know the strained effects on their marriage... I see that my sister is properly cared for today... No one knows unless they are effectively "in the picture". It does surprise me that their marriage lasted as long as it did... I am sure both Neil & Pegi are still dealing with the effects. I now have a new appreciation for Neil Young & his former wife, Pegi...
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PV2 Mark Zehner SGT Mark Anderson SFC Jay Thompson SrA Elizabeth Fontenot SSG Shavonde Chase PO3 Phyllis Maynard Lt Col Jim Coe SrA Edward Vong Sgt Dale Cusack SSgt Rilene Ann LTC John Mohor ssgt-terry-kohler cpl-tony-lee-hamilton CW3 Michael Bodnar SPC Deborah Root-White SFC Jay Thompson po3-craig-phillips MSgt Ken "Airsoldier" Collins-Hardy
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