Album: Rust Never Sleeps (1979)

License This Song 

• They were hiding behind hay bales
  They were planting in the full moon
  They had given all they had for something new
  But the light of day was on them
  They could see the thrashers coming
  And the water shone like diamonds in the dew
  
  And I was just getting up, hit the road before it's light
  Trying to catch an hour on the sun
  When I saw those thrashers rolling by
  Looking more than two lanes wide
  I was feelin' like my day had just begun
  
  Where the eagle glides, descending
  There's an ancient river bending
  Through the timeless gorge of changes
  Where sleeplessness awaits
  I searched out my companions
  Who were lost in crystal canyons
  When the aimless blade of science
  Slashed the pearly gates
  
  It was then that I knew I'd had enough
  Burned my credit card for fuel
  Headed out to where the pavement turns to sand
  With a one way ticket to the land of truth
  And my suitcase in my hand
  How I lost my friends, I still don't understand
  
  They had the best selection
  They were poisoned with protection
  There was nothing that they needed
  Nothing left to find
  They were lost in rock formations
  Or became park bench mutations
  On the sidewalks and in the stations
  They were waiting, waiting
  
  So I got bored and left them there
  They were just dead weight to me
  Better down the road without that load
  Brings back the time when I was eight or nine
  I was watchin' my mama's TV
  It was that great Grand Canyon rescue episode
  
  Where the vulture glides, descending
  On an asphalt highway bending
  Through libraries and museums, galaxies and stars
  Down the windy halls of friendship
  To the rose clipped by the bullwhip
  The motel of lost companions
  Waits with heated pool and bar
  
  But me I'm not stopping there
  Got my own row left to hoe
  Just another line in the field of time
  When the thrasher comes, I'll be stuck in the sun
  Like the dinosaurs in shrines
  But I'll know the time has come
  To give what's mine Writer/s: Neil Young
  Publisher: Hipgnosis Songs Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 18

• Iggi from Woodstock Georgianever thought of this interpretation-been listening to this album for decades and only just now tried to find out what it was about-i'm bookmarking this site...
• Shanemac from UtahYoung needed to grow his musicality and he had to separate from CSNY to do so. Lost in crystal canyons could have meant Crosby's drug addiction or it meant that CSN was resting on their fame and newfound wealth. With the farming theme, in order to grow new crops first you need to separate the wheat from the chaff using a thresher. Young felt that CSN was the chaff and thus dead weight to him. Better on the road without that load. But Young added wonderfully to the songs of CSNY.
  
  After Powderfinger, Thrashed is my favorite song from Rust Never Sleeps. A wonderful album all told.
• Stone from Biggest LittleNeil looked into the future and wrote this song about two friends I lost on a tour in Kabul. Every part of it matches the mood, time, and eternity found by two brave men lost at the end of paved roads.
• Patrick Fun Philly from PennaI mostly agree..my thoughts about"crystal canyons" "aimless blade of science slashed the pearly gates" csn mostly crosbys drug use ....could crystal canyons be cocaine. Could science be the introduction to freebasing cocaine?
• Dennis from Delray Beach FloridaYea this is one of my favorite songs fom a time that I wish that I could return to! I was thinking about the 1970s last night and i remember my friend Scott Hurst had every Neil Young album possible and before he died we were at a carnival in Lampertvill MI. And we were listening to this album and hanging out in my 63 Biscayne over by where the Shriners had a big trailer with beer taps sticking out of the side of it with nobody watching it and we helped ourselves to their beer for two nights before we got caught on the third hich was good I suppose cuz the next day was the first day back to school. That song Sugar mountain makes me think of that episode in my life. Man I wish I could go back and relive those two days and see my friends thathave since died and whom i no longer know!!!
• Greg from Harrington Park, NjI always thought of the line "As the aimless blade of science slashed the pearly gates." as Lightning flashing from the heavens.... you never know where a bolt is going to strike, thus "aimless blade". Or in a more artistic sense, it could also be interpreted perhaps as technology colliding with religion.... open for interpretation.
• Greg from Harrington Park, NjMike - in Carmel, CA - I don't think that line references the Brady Bunch -- considering it goes, "Brings back the time when I was 8 or 9. I was watching my mama's TV, it was that Great Grand Canyon Rescue, episode.... Neil was born in 1945 so 8 or 9 would have put him in 1953 or 54 watching this... not likely it was the Brady Bunch since they weren't even a show yet -- not doubting that Great Grand Canyon Rescue was a Brady episode - but it's not likely being referred to by Neil in this song. I think Amy has it right from the Thrasher's Wheat website that it is about an old 50's Western show -
• Mikko from Townsville, AustraliaI had this song on tape over twenty years ago and it's meaning slowly faded away untill just recently I bought the CD. A gem refound.
• Dan from Winthrop, MaThe they were just dead weight to me he's talking about CSN
• Dan from Gaevle, Sweden"Just another line in the field of time...."
  
  Brilliant.
• Mike from Carmel, CaI also think this is one of Neil's best -- high praise indeed. Believe it or not, Grand Canyon episode refers to an episode of the Brady Bunch TV series!
• Davis from Halifax, CanadaVery Dylanesque in that Neil turns some really great phrases. My favourite is "I burned my credit card for fuel and headed out to where the pavement turns to sand". I first got turned onto Neil Young when I was in my early teens and this song has remained as spiritually important to me for over 25 years. When I die, I want this song played at my funeral and the phrase that I previously mentioned engraved onto my stone.
• Joni from New York, NyI like what he says about the hotels waiting for him with "heated pool and air condition bar". It seems kind of out of place in the verse. Its a long phrase. It makes me laugh to hear it.
• Steve from Fenton, MoThe song is aptly named as Neil is giving a good thrashing to CS&N.
• Paul from Sacramento, CaAn amazing and evocative lyrical excercise, very Dylanesque, but with Young's unique signature style. This song (along with "Powderfinger") was an utter breath of fresh air in a musically bleak 1979 - a very unexpected revival of 1960's songwriting in the era of disco and pompous heavy metal supergroups. Such imagry - I have never been able to get the phrase "aimless blade of science" out of my head!
• Johnny from Los Angeles, CaI just heard this for the first time and I believe it's about Neil Young becoming lost and bored in CSN&Y and nothing left to do there.
• Gerald Mueller from Woodstock, CanadaMy favourite Neil Young song.I get very melancholy when I hear this song. It reminds me of a Canada of my past, before factory farms,and mass consumerism of block stores and urban sprawl.
• Daniel from Cape Breton, CanadaThis is the best piece of writing in Music.
  
  Danielj

More Songfacts:

Don't Let The Sun Go Down On MeElton John

Recording "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me," Elton John was frustrated and sang the line "don't discard me" with an exaggerated American accent, which is why is sounds strange.

King TutSteve Martin

The comedian Steve Martin had a hit in 1978 with "King Tut." The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, who Martin would open for on tour, were his backing band on the song.

Mistress For ChristmasAC/DC

AC/DC's 1990 song "Mistress For Christmas" is about Donald Trump, who was in the news because of his affair with the model Marla Maples.

Hot For TeacherVan Halen

The voice of Waldo in Van Halen's "Hot For Teacher" video was the late Phil Hartman of Saturday Night Live Fame.

No Woman No CryBob Marley & the Wailers

Bob Marley gave the songwriting credit for "No Woman No Cry" to his friend Vincent Ford, who ran a soup kitchen in Trenchtown, the area of Kingston where Marley grew up.

The Long and Winding RoadThe Beatles

"The Long and Winding Road" became The Beatles' last US #1 song on June 13, 1970.

Editor's Picks

Joan ArmatradingSongwriter Interviews

The revered singer-songwriter talks inspiration and explains why she put a mahout in "Drop the Pilot."

American Hits With Foreign TitlesSong Writing

What are the biggest US hits with French, Spanish (not "Rico Suave"), Italian, Scottish, Greek, and Japanese titles?

Is That Song Public Domain?Fact or Fiction

Are classic songs like "Over The Rainbow" and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" in the public domain?

Lita FordSongwriter Interviews

Lita talks about how they wrote songs in The Runaways, and how she feels about her biggest hit being written by somebody else.

Best Band LogosSong Writing

Queen, Phish and The Stones are among our picks for the best band logos. Here are their histories and a design analysis from an expert.

Phone Booth SongsSong Writing

Phone booths are nearly extinct, but they provided storylines for some of the most profound songs of the pre-cell phone era.