My Top 1000 Songs #822: Mr. Soul

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

It's just occurring to me that I've now snagged all 3 Neil Young contributions on Buffalo Springfield's 1967 sophomore (and arguably final "real") LP Buffalo Springfield Again. And as a trio, they really do map out the astounding breadth of Young's ambition and abilities even in his formative years. You've got the gorgeous balladry of "Expecting to Fly," the sprawling Americana of "Broken Arrow," and now the fierce rock & roll of "Mr. Soul."

This one sees Neil at his most Stonesy--ostensibly inspired by "Satisfaction," then baldly stolen back by the Stones themselves for "Jumpin' Jack Flash" a year later--with one of rock's most critical riffs. And while the song could get by on that riff alone, lyrically it's got Neil at his most acid-drenched. Sure, he'd go this dark many times over the years, but rarely recapturing such a brilliantly druggy haze. Yet for all the rock bluster and era-specific Summer of Love comedown, like the best of Young's work it stands ready to be repurposed, whether as an acoustic folk-adjacent track in his live sets or even as a post-Kraftwerk technopop oddity on 1982's Trans.

Buffalo Springfield live-ish on tv, 1967, as brief medley with "For What It's Worth":

Neil solo acoustic:

Trans version:

Amazing & surprising Everly Brothers version, 1968:

Also surprising--Cher!

And Rush!

Dream Syndicate: