Recommendations of the Editorial team
Two days after blasting Amazon for Jeff Bezos’ support of Donald Trump, Neil Young is now taking aim at Apple and Verizon for exactly the same reasons. In a new post on the Neil Young Archives, Young writes that he will get rid of his Verizon flip phone and stop giving Apple money.
“I can’t use a Verizon phone,” he writes. “Verizon is a Trump supporter with a lot of money. What should I do? I’m talking to our office right now to see if I can get a T-Mobile flip phone.
“T-Mobile is not a supporter of the fascist Trump regime. I am trying to stop supporting companies that support the regime with huge donations just to save their own asses while people are being shot on the streets of America. Not just in Minnesota, all across America!”
Boycott against Apple and criticism of Tim Cook
Young currently uses an Apple computer, but is less than happy about it. “I have to stop and reevaluate everything,” he writes. “No more upgrades! This is feeding Apple, Apple is supporting ‘the regime’. I’m stopping right now, calling my business manager and making sure I don’t upgrade from Apple anymore.”
“Okay,” he continues, “she says I can keep the computer. It’s already paid for. But no more upgrades. This money now goes to Apple. Tim Cook, the CEO, is going overboard in supporting the regime! He was recently at the Melania premiere in the White House, ingratiating himself. Yuck! What a world.”
“I have to re-evaluate everything I do,” Young concludes. “I’ll sue Apple if my computer stops working without the new expensive upgrade. What about Warner Brothers?”
Call to protest against large corporations and ICE
Elsewhere in the post, Young links to an article with contact information for the CEOs of eleven corporations – Amazon, Meta, American Airlines, AT&T, Microsoft, Home Depot, Verizon, FedEx, UPS, Dell and Apple – and encourages his readers to contact them directly.
“Let them know that you oppose their doing business with ICE and ICE’s un-American and illegal actions – including unjustified killings, the use of tear gas, kidnappings and the arrest of innocent people.”
New songs, Zoom chat and personal insights
On Tuesday, Young held a live Zoom chat with premium members of the Neil Young Archives. He said that he had written six songs for his next album. “One of them is really interesting,” he said. “I call it ‘The Second Song’. I woke up one morning and thought about this melody. I asked myself: Have I already written this or is this already a song?”
“I was trying to figure out what it was. I thought it must be a song of mine, but I couldn’t figure out which one. So I wrote a lot of new lyrics, and now I’ve made a second song out of it. I’m really excited about it. And I like all the others I’m working on too.”
He even shared lyrics to an unfinished song:
“Soon I might be going /
So I wanted you to know /
It was Christmas in the Rockies /
Just like summer with no snow /
The Crimson Pirate was showing at the movies /
It’s the one you really should see /
The water is like diamonds /
And the ships are on the sea /
The answer to our questions is lingering in the mist /
And the revolution is coming like a fighter with a fist.”
Biopic question, humor and a look at the 80th birthday
A fan asked Young if, like Bob Dylan, he would consider a biopic film about his life. “I don’t know how you can do that while you’re still alive,” he replied. “I know a few people who are working on something, but I don’t want anything to do with it. I’d rather make another record.”
“Can you imagine being there while someone is making a movie about you and you’re sitting there saying in a goofy voice, ‘Yeah, that’s a good movie about me’?”
Finally, Young spoke about his recently celebrated 80th birthday. “I thought I would be scared,” he said. “I was afraid of turning 80 the whole time – until I was 80. Then I thought: I’m 80. So what? What the heck?”
“I don’t care now. I don’t care about a lot of things that used to matter. I like being healthy. I like moving. I like going out and walking. I don’t like the gym, but yesterday I ran three miles at 8,000 feet. That’s what I like to do.”
