Neil Young - Hawks & Doves

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Music reviews of Hawks & Doves

Music Review: Provocative, underrated, and FINALLY RELEASED!!!!
Rating: 4 Stars

The first 4 songs, as mentioned, are acoustic and tend towards mellow Neil. A long harmonica blast that sucks you in opens the album and releases you into the acoustic setting of "Little Wing". The mood doesn't change (except for some interesting mood swings during "Lost in Space") until "Staying Power". Then the electric set and the rock drums come out. From this point on the album is filled with the sort of sloppy danceable country rock that Neil Young is famous for. The songs are not among his absolute best, but Neil Young fans will likely revel in the mood. In a way this album is really two separate albums fused together, which is why it worked slightly better on two-sided vinyl (but don't even try to take away my CD copy!!!!).

"Hawks & Doves" is a great song musically. The lyrics, and the question of how to interpret them, have probably kept this song obscure. It's often taken to be a celebration of Reaganism or Republicanism, but it can easily be read other ways. The opening lines "Ain't getting old, ain't younger though / Just getting used to the lay of the land / I ain't tongue tied, just don't got nothin' to say / I'm proud to be livin' in the USA". It's hard to nail down a definite interpretation of this: is the song supposed to be sung by a character who isn't very insightful? It's possible. Other lines make it harder to know what's going on: "The big wind blows, so the tall grass bends / But for you don't push too hard my friend". This reads more like a metaphor for "don't rock the boat". Also, the chorus reads: "Ready to go, willin' to stay and pay / USA / USA / So my sweet love can dance another free day / USA / USA". Is she dancing alone? Is the "main character" dead or gone? Did he "stay and pay" so now his wife is alone? There's a lot of ways to read this stuff. Lastly, the line "If you hate us, you just don't know what you're sayin'" could very well be tongue in cheek. Neil Young has done tongue in cheek before, so why not here? Regardless of how you read the lyrics, it's still a great and underrated Neil Young song. Put it on and dance.

This album also stands as a sort of companion piece to "Time Fades Away" (when is THAT ONE COMING OUT!!!?!? THAT'S ONE OF HIS BEST!!!) in that both "Hawks And Doves" and "Time Fades Away" were idiosyncratic albums that followed big successes ("Rust Never Sleeps" and "Harvest", respectively). It's one of the reasons Neil Young is an interesting entertainer: you can't always predict what will come next, and success for Neil has never been in excess. It's underrated and less popular albums like "Hawks And Doves" and "Time Fades Away" (RELEASE IT!!) that have kept Neil going for so long.

Description of Hawks & Doves

Classic Rock CDs

• Music > Styles
• Folk
• Pop
• Rock