Album: Ragged Glory
Released: April, 1990
Anybody who loves Neil Young’s music has probably been touched at one
point or another by his 1972 gem, Old Man
off of the ‘Harvest’ album. It’s a
beautiful song, about a young man recognizing himself in someone much
older. Old Man is one of a short list of tunes in Young’s vast catalog
where the story behind it is pretty well established. When he purchased the sprawling, majestic Broken
Arrow Ranch in Northern California after early success, Young met the elderly
caretaker of the place who wanted to know how a hippie like him could afford
it. The musician responded that he was
very lucky and tried to emphasize that he was not much different than anyone
else. The impact of this discussion
eventually lead to Old Man, including
one of the key repeating lines in the song: “Old Man
look at my life, I’m a lot like you were”.
Before doing so, a brief overview is in order. Mansion on the Hill is a hard rocking song on a hard rocking album; ‘Ragged Glory’. The entire package is pretty darn impressive without taking anything else into account, but to consider that Young and his entourage, Crazy Horse, were in their mid-40s when they released this disc makes it even more provoking. In the short history of the middle-aged rocker, there really is no one else to compare to in terms of creativity and spark. Yes, Neil Young and crew had our attention in 1990, but again, the important thing to remember is that this was a unique (mid-life) stage for any rock musician to be achieving such lofty -and deserved - recognition, especially for something as raucous as ‘Ragged Glory’. And they seized the moment, in more ways than one. Much of the album helps explain this, but a few key concepts come together on Mansion on the Hill.
What follows is one man’s interpretation of this song and video.
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I guess I’ll start from the top.
Like many MTV videos in the day, there’s a brief pre-music introduction
to Mansion on the Hill (think Michael
Jackson’s Thriller, the intro of
which was much more expansive overkill).
A deceased Neil Young is prone on a hospital gurney, the doctors and
nurses gearing up to tell the family, when to their shock, he rises -
presumably from the dead - and states that he’ll inform them himself. It’s funny, but what’s going on here? Well, I’ll get to that. Anyhow, the swinging doors to the hospital room
open in front of him to what appears to be the afterlife, and Young steps into
the cloudy mist, just as the Crazy Horse backbeat kicks in.
A few moments later we see a disheveled Young making his way into this
mansion-of-a home through the front door, guitar in one hand, amp in the
other. He’s sporting an Elvis t-shirt
while appearing to have been through the mill (or at least an extremely intense
tour). At first viewing you would think
this is the tail end of the opening sequence.
But it’s not.
Before I go any further, I think it may be helpful (for me at least) to
point out that Neil Young appears to play 4 personas (of himself, or anyone for
that matter) in this video (and since I think it accurately portrays the song,
let’s go with that too). And though it’s
a relatively short tune for NY & Crazy Horse, there’s quite a bit of
complexity playing out with each character trait. To make it easier moving forward, here’s what
I see as the 4 personas:
1. Enlightened Neil: Older
and wiser. This is the Neil who is rising
from the dead on the gurney at the beginning of the video and who later jams on
stage with his band.
2. Frazzled Neil: Naive and
younger, but on the edge of turning it all around. This is the Neil who walks in the front door
of the mansion as the music kicks in (and is not seen again until a bit later
in the video, at the gas station, which I will also get to).3. Preacher Neil: Sees the world in black and white. While conducting a funeral service for an elderly man (in this video), he initially seems obsessed with the notion of towing the line rather than rocking the boat. Preacher Neil and Frazzled Neil have much in common, and could actually be one in the same.
4. Toast Neil: The crazed gas station attendant giving directions. I’ll get to him.
* Note: there is overlap in all these personas, which is refreshing: No multi split-Sybil personalities here.
Ok, so with these character descriptions laid out, I can move
ahead. The next part of the video is my
favorite, which is a fast-moving, dream-like tunnel sequence as we are
introduced to Neil Young’s lead guitar playing (up to that point he can be
heard doing a bit of rhythm-guitar back-and-fourth with Frank Sampedro). Young is accompanied in this sequence by two
EMTs. This appears to be Young
transitioning from Frazzled Neil to Enlightened Neil. It’s fantastic. And when they finally come out at the end of
the tunnel, the lyrics kick in with a jamming, Enlightened Neil, on stage singing:
“ Well
I saw an old man walking in my place
When
he looked at me it could have been my face
His
words were kind, but his eyes were wild
He
said I got a load to love, but I want one more child ”
Preacher Neil makes his introduction in the last 2 verses above
(starting with “but his eyes were wild”).
At this stage, it appears Preacher Neil
is not too happy with how the deceased man’s (lying in front of him) life played
out in his later years, but as the scene switches back over to the band, it’s
clear that Enlightened Neil is reveling in the notion. Here’s where the refrain kicks in:
“ There’s
a mansion on the hill
Psychedelic
music fills the air
Peace
and love live there still
In
that mansion on the hill “
This first time the refrain is sung, it’s by Enlightened Neil. I believe he’s trying to explain that there
was a part of him that never wanted to let that 60s dream go. But now he’s singing about that dream in the
proper context: Something to feed on,
but not to let it feed on him.
After a patented mid-song jam, the second stanza unfolds:
“
Around the next bend take the highway to the sun
Or
the rocky road, it really don’t matter which one
Well,
I was in a hurry, but that don’t matter now
‘Cause
I had to get off of that road of tears somehow “
The first 2 verses are sung by Toast Neil, who is giving an elderly
woman directions to the Mansion on the Hill.
I interpret this persona as a manifestation of what Young believes is
going on in his head when he persists with living in the past. The elderly woman is driving a hearse: Could this be “Mort”, Young’s first road-trip
vehicle back in the 60s (a symbol of living in the past)? This concept is reinforced when Frazzled Neil
makes his reappearance, singing the 3rd verse above from the
passenger seat. Here, the older woman is
now young and beautiful (the passenger’s face is never shown with the older
version of this woman…. too revealing perhaps?). The lyrics fit perfectly; Frazzled Neil is
seeing the light. I think what it’s all
saying is that we age rapidly when we live in the past and stay young and vital
when we live in the present. A nice
added touch is that the preacher comes around too, singing the enlightened
fourth verse above, along with the 2nd refrain.
In all, a perfect blend of fun and brilliance.
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I think Neil Young took a bullet for the team here. In comparison to many of us, he’s had little
problem moving on; not becoming stale. But I’m sure that shedding the baggage
has been difficult for him at times as well. The most inspiring line in Mansion on the Hill is what the older
version of Neil Young says to his younger self in the first verse: “I got a load to love, but I want one more
child”. It’s the line that brought
me back to Old Man. It’s the kind of thinking that keeps us
charging ahead, in spite of our past successes; to never rest on our laurels.
It’s yet another reason why I write these blog entries.
-
Pete
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