Neil Young recently appeared on Conan O’Brien’s SiriusXM channel Team Coco Radio. The interview saw Young discussing a favorite song from childhood, his landmark 1989 Saturday Night Live performance and more.
The song Neil and Conan discussed was folk duo Ian & Sylvia’s 1963 tune “Four Strong Winds.” While Young recalls being “11 or 12” when he first heard the song, he would have been around 17 in 1963. Nonetheless, the song had a significant impact on the young Neil. “I loved it so much, that I would put nickels and dimes in the jukebox to play it over and over and over again, ‘til I didn’t have any change…It was a beautiful song. For some reason it really got to me. I could feel the magic of the music.”
Young would record a version of “Four Strong Winds” for his 1978 album Comes A Time, on which he dueted with Nicolette Larson and he also performed it at The Band’s legendary Last Waltz concert.
Conan played “Four Strong Winds” (the actual playback is edited out of the video) for the famed discerning audiophile and Neil immediately points out that what Conan played was in stereo and he listened to the original in mono. Ian & Sylvia’s Ian Tyson died on December 29, 2022 at age 89.
Elsewhere in the conversation, Young and O’Brien talked about some of Neil’s famous TV appearances over the years — including being a longtime guest on Conan’s shows — stretching back to his days with Buffalo Springfield in the mid to late 1960s. Neil also discussed his show-stopping 1989 performance of “Rockin’ In The Free World” on Saturday Night Live, which Conan was present for as a young writer on the show.
“[SNL creator] Lorne Michaels has a saying that ‘television is the worst way to experience music,’” Conan said. “I think he’s usually right, except, you and the guys…something happened that night.”
“Something was good, yeah,” Young replied in true Neil deadpan fashion.
“Something was not just good,” Conan said, “it was transcendent and punched through the television. I’m on the floor at 8-H. I’m a kid; I’m in my twenties; I’m watching you do that. The place, you just melted it. I think there was structural damage to 30 Rock. It’s never been quite repaired.”
Watch Neil talk about one of his favorite childhood songs, his SNL appearance and more in clips from the interview below:
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Conan O’Brien Reveals Picks For Top Rock Musicians On ‘Stern Show’
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Watch 25-Year-Old Neil Young Perform ‘Heart Of Gold’ At BBC In 1971
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Neil Young’s ‘Harvest’ At 50: Live Covers Of All 10 Of The Landmark Album’s Tracks
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Neil Young & Crazy Horse Announce New Album ‘World Record’ & Share Single
