Neil Young Top Ten: Sugar Mountain (#2)

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Along with Abba, and maybe as a counterbalance to Abba for those who don’t like them, I’m counting down favorites by the legendary Neil Young. I’m sure the Neil Young fans are going to give me grief for tomorrow’s #1 song, so enjoy today’s tune! #2: Sugar Mountain This is a very sad song, if you think about it, as it details the fleeting passage of childhood innocence. From the fun at the beginning to the teenage rebellion (“it’s your first cigarette”) to leaving (“‘cause you want to be alone”), Young stuffed childhood into a five and a half minute song. And that’s about how fast if feels like it goes by. A few fun facts about this: Young said he wrote “126 verses” for the song, but distilled it down to what we have today. He claims (per Wikipedia) that the “you’re underneath the stairs” (where he was sitting when he wrote it, on his 19th birthday) was “the lamest verse” of the 126 he wrote. (His opinion: I think it’s the “transitional” verse, where childhood starts to disappear.) He also said the bit about not being 20 referred to a teenage club he frequented when he was young, and they had an age limit (so it really was just for teens). He really couldn’t be 20 there! Enjoy one of Neil’s greatest songs. Sugar Mountain Written by Neil Young Released as a single, 1969 From Decade, 1977 It’s so noisy at the fair: