Neil Young, Cortez the Killer - A Classical Musician’s First Listen and Reaction

hi everyone I get to sit down and listen to yet another name which I have not heard before this is one which has come across um the comments on this channel many times you need to listen to Neil Young Neil Young is a classic Neil Young is something you shouldn't Miss well tonight I am going to sit down and give Neil Young my full attention but before I do let me just remind you that you can always check out my coffee and patreon Pages if you want to support this journey that I'm taking into unfamiliar music for me and you will find there exclusive access to videos which can never be published here on YouTube due to copyright issues things like Jimmy Hendrick and the Eagles and the Beatles 150 series and so on as well as Early Access to all virgin Rock videos and a special music theory course for absolute beginners who've not had any music training before well let's see what I have to read about this piece of music and what the song is actually going to be Neil pil young is a Canadian and American singer and songwriter Canadian and American after embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s young moved to Los Angeles joining the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield okay so originally Canadian and then moving to the US his guitar work deeply personal lyrics and signature High tenor singing voice Define his long career young also plays piano and harmonica on many albums which frequently combine folk rock country and other musical genres young has received several Grammy and Juno Awards the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted him twice in 1995 as a solo artist and in 1997 as a member of Buffalo Springfield in 2023 Rolling Stone named Neil Young number 30 on their list of 2 50 greatest artists of all time young is also on Rolling Stones list of the 100 greatest musical artists according to acclaimed music he is the seventh most celebrated artist in popular history 21 of his albums and singles have been certified gold and platinum in Us by Raa certification young was awarded the order of Manitoba in 2006 and was made an officer of the Order of Canada in 2009 Cortez the Killer okay that's the song I'm listening to tonight from 1975 has since been ranked number 39 on guitar world's 100 greatest guitar solos and number greatest guitar solos sounds like I have something coming up here and number 329 on Rolling Stones list of the 500 Greatest Songs of all time the song is inspired by hernand Cortez a conquistador who conquered Mexico for Spain in the 16th century I remember way back in school learning about Cortez and his conquering of Mexico and the way he treated the people there and I remember being horrified and thinking wow why did he have to do that that was my first impression of him way back then when I first met the name Cortez the Killer also makes reference to the Aztec ruler motis withu and the Spanish conquest of the new world yes all of that swirled together in that lump of history that I first met back in grade school this is going to be interesting Cortez the Killer I suppose somebody else felt the same way I did when I first learned the story [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] l [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] a [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] came dancing across the water with his gallion and guns that was such a long introduction that it had a sort of a solo feeling to it but at the same time it wasn't it wasn't what I would say um would be a virtuostic solo it it's an atmospheric solo and as I was listening I was thinking how what picture is this putting in my mind how is it making me feel it has this kind of kind of well maybe it's because I'm thinking of Cortez and the time period in which he lived but somehow it feels like you know a great a great wooden Spanish ship floating on the water sailing closer and closer and closer and and it has this slow build throughout it starts gently and it never really changes but it builds a little bit Fuller a little bit Fuller it's repeating the same harmonic sequence over and over and each time it repeats it's just a little bit more as if the ships are gradually gradually getting closer and closer and closer I don't know if I would have come up with that that image if I didn't know the title of the piece but thinking of Cortez and his explorations and his Ambitions and where he went and how he went you know I once had the chance to step onto a A reproduction a a a um an attempt at creating an authentic replica of the n and Pinta well those weren't Cortez's ships right but but I remember looking at them and stepping on and looking at the size and thinking I cannot believe it's so so hard to believe that these were the ships that traveled to the new world they're so small and there's so little space and when I thought of all that they had to carry on there and the accommodations were so limited and was really an incredible eye opening experience to step onto the replica and try to imagine try to picture what it was like well I don't know because it's been way too long and I don't even know if I learned these facts when I studied about Cortez I don't know what size his ship was was it bigger was it smaller but anyway it was still one of those old wooden ships that these days we would think you're a fool to go out on the Seas with that but somehow this introductory solo gives me this semi-romantic image of a great wooden ship with sails full and and just moving across the vast ocean the land isn't in sight yet that's what I get from this opening and then when the voice ENT I didn't even realize what happened for a moment because it snuck in there so smoothly and and this Rippling undulating flow of the intro continued so naturally and it gives an incredibly you know it's this complex set of feelings based on what I know of history based on how this music feels to me this feeling of beauty and tragedy at the same time anyway let's keep [Music] [Applause] [Music] listening came dancing across CR the water with his gallion and guns looking for the new world and the palace in the sun on the shorly [Music] monuma with his COC of leaves and pearls and his Halls he often wonder with the secrets of the world and his subjects gathered around him like the leaves around the tree in their clothes of many colors for the angry Gods to see and the women all were beautiful and the men stood straight strong he offered life and SA rice so that others could go [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] on [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hate was just a legend and the lyrics also are painting this romanticized image but I I feel the way that it is kind of presenting it in favor of the natives this feeling th this um picture of everything was a certain way in this world um on the shore lay monuma with his cocoa leaves and pearls in his Halls he often wanded with the secrets of the world and his subjects gathered around him like the leaves around a tree in their clothes of many colors for the angry Gods to see and then the women were all beautiful the men stood straight and strong it's it's setting up this but at the same time on although I'm saying it's a romanticized picture it's not all happy it's not all perfect neither his portrayal of of Cortez nor of monuma and the civilization that existed because he goes on they offered life and sacrifice so that others could go on you feel like there's this reference to to some of the sacrifices that they that they offered and because we know what those were it reminds us that this was just another civilization highly developed um it had its own King its own life but just as any civilization it had its dark s side as well but then hate was just a legend and War was never known the people worked together and they lifted many stones again it's portraying them as kind of these ancient utopian Utopia quite isn't quite the word but but this beautiful scene and Environ enironment they're strong they're beautiful They Carried Stones they built things that we can't even do today that's all true I'm reading ahead in the lyrics just a little bit because I have to and and the music is just carrying on in this in this Ripple in this flow in this progression of it starts to feel inevitable inescapable like time passing like like things changing although the music isn't really changing but we feel that something is approaching that cannot be averted and it's not violent the music itself is not violent it's very warm and soothing and and com com forting but it's just this interesting mix of of ideas and emotions and images and and musical picture painting the music is kind of serving as as the background if I were to if I were to try to describe this in terms of visual art I would say that the music is the background is the ground on which everything else is being um represented and this guitar solo that just came is it a guitar guitar solo or bridge I don't know but um I think it was a guitar solo it carried the same melody in this melody I'm [Music] noticing it's primarily using just two notes back and forth and the guitar used the same Melody just took it a little bit more somewhere towards the end of the solo but it was I guess what I have to say is this feels incredibly natural natural musically natural um very natural in its Transitions and I am going to say also natural in the sense that it well organic would be another another word that I could use now natural in the sense that it portrays nature the course of nature um both the nature of [Music] the the New World before it was touched by the Spaniards and also there's this feeling that it's portraying some bit of human nature as well this interesting mix oh yes I wanted to say also towards the end of this solo section it's interesting to me how the guitar is the tone changes and develops a little bit of a different Sonic quality I want to listen to this solo again let me back up here stood straight and strong he offered life and sacrifice so that others could [Music] go too many things coming to mind um as I'm listening to the melody some more and the singer it reminds me it reminds me of what's his name he did the Box not the boxer um the you mean the hurricane the hurricane yes the hurricane that's Bob Dylan Bob Dylan yeah okay the hurricane this voice is smoother more melodic more more um I could say musical in a sense but it's the same kind of of Storytelling quality here that I remember from Bob Dylan's hurricane where he sings something out it's so I guess I'd have to go back and listen to the hurricane again to see if I'm remembering accurately it's been a couple months since I listened to it but suddenly just now as I was listening I realized I've heard this Style presented a bit differently this is I guess easier for me to listen to it is um is more pleasing to the ear to my ear at least but it's a lot of the same storytelling um I could even say Bic style where you're playing along and and the voice is kind of singing a tune but it's for the service of the it's it's for the carrying of the lyrics and so the lyrics get a feeling of of special importance because it's not so much about a Melody rising and falling and traveling and progressing and shaping and in it's more about the lyrics and the message and the story that is being told through the lyrics and for such a musically comfortable piece that's an interesting thing to have both of those in this setting Pleasant music um this undulating flow and at the same time very subtly all of this is pointing us towards attention to the lyrics to The Story So that others could [Music] go really sing [Music] guitar but it has this sort of straight tone [Music] [Applause] inevitability a little bit [Music] higher and here it changes and I expected to hear the voice enter here then it comes [Music] again hate was just a legend and War was never known people worked together and they lifted many stones and They carried them to through the flat land but they died along the way and they builded up with their bare hands what we still can't do today and I know she's living there and she loves me to this day I still can't remember when or how I lost my [Music] yeah it's a beautiful guitar I have to [Music] [Applause] [Music] admit he came dancing across the water Cortez Cortez what a [Music] killer [Music] I wanted to stop and then I stopped myself from stopping let's go back just a little bit when he said Cortez he came dancing across the water [Music] the water he came dancing across the water and suddenly the music gets low and ominous for a moment as if it's reminding us that this was the the beginning of the end for this entire civilization he came dancing across the water Cortez corz what a [Music] killer and then the guitar picks up to finish [Music] I feel like this piece of music is deceptively simple I mean deceptive it we feel when I look at the score when I think of the chord progressions when I listen to the repetition of the melody and just how it it flows along and it's quite a bit of just repetition with a bit of weaving and variety and and coloration along the way kind of in the in an improv improvisatory Style but there's something there's something special about how this music impacts the story being told and how the two together if one isn't paying attention if I were just let's say I were in a restaurant and heard this in the background I don't know if I would ever hear this in a restaurant but suppose I did and I weren't paying attention I wouldn't think of it as something really profound or grand but when I sit down and pay attention the Artistry and the skill with which these ideas are being pres presented it really becomes all about the lyrics and yet far more than just the lyrics on their own and it's done in such a subtle unassuming gentle manner it doesn't have the the fire and the brassiness and the the hard Edge that Bob Dylan's hurricane has it doesn't have the profound heart-wrenching um frightening bitterness that Pink Floyd gives us in the wall it doesn't have it doesn't have that but at the same time there's something very very polished and very sophisticated in the way the two are brought together and present presented to us now there's something towards the end that caught me by surprise when suddenly it stops with this story they died along the way they build what and they build up with their bare hands what we still can't do today and then suddenly and I know she's living there and she loves me to this day I still can't remember when or how I lost my way where did that come from it feels like it was dropped in out of out of nowhere from from some other song some other story where does that come from and well I'm not exactly sure what I want to make of it yet but I it's intriguing to me and as I'm sitting here just thinking about it right now I I tend to think that it's referring to the civilization that existed um that it's still there we find remnants of it there she's still living there the spirit of that place is still alive and she loves me to this day I still can't remember when or how I lost my way somehow it's about us the conquerors have we H how did we lose our way how did we destroy how did we how did we completely miss all of this beauty that that was there this life that was there and then it cuts back to he came dancing across the water Cortez Cortez what a killer and that's it that's where it leaves us I'm going to have to think about that last bit it might take me a while to really come to a conclusion that makes really natural sense to me but I'm interested to see what you have to say about it maybe there's a backstory that I don't know maybe there's some history that I'm forgetting maybe I don't know but it's an interesting way to kind of just pull us out of the revery out of the reflection on the history past and suddenly bring us to the present and makes us sit up in our seats makes me go wait what where did that come from what is that and well that is the goal of every artist I don't know I shouldn't say every artist but very often the goal of an artist is to get you to pay attention to get you interested in to engage and to to really stop you in your tracks this did that to me now about the music well as I said it's just less than a handful of chords repeated I I didn't do a full cordal an analysis but from what I could tell it was just the same sequence repeated over and over and over and and of course that makes sense with how it's serving the lyrics but but the instruments the players I don't know all the names there's Neil Young and who else there's bass there's drums and I have to say that the balance and the the the emble is one of the things that makes it feel so comfortable so natural it's as if they just live together there a gentleness and yet a a Clarity to the way they work and the way they weave through the different subtle variations a couple extra strikes from the drum here the the guitar moves a bit there the base the bass gives this nice full Rich warm um depth to it which I enjoyed a lot and all of that together is as I said it it's done in a very improvisatory manner where where it just flows out of them so naturally and I appreciate that I appreciate the the the skill and the oh and the singer of course Neil Young himself I enjoyed his vocal tone qu quality and the way he sang there's a cleanness a straightness to the way they do it and at the same time a softness a little bit of a little bit of of Blues softness to the edges and if I were to sum it all up I would say balance balance balance in Rhythm balance in sharing the load balance in the lyrics and the music and it comes across so nicely because of all of that well this has been as you can tell a very enjoyable nice listening experience for me and I'm curious to see what else Neil Young created and so I'm sure I will return to his music in the future and we'll see what goes on from here but there we have Cortez the Killer I'll see you soon

Channel: Virgin Rock

Views: 74,652

Keywords: rock, rock music, music review, rock music review, neil young, cortez the killer

Id: vjc2JmYPdKE

Length: 37min 35sec (2255 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 03 2024