Girish Mahajan (Editor)

L.A. (Neil Young song)

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Released
  
August, 1973

Genre
  
Rock

Label
  
Reprise

Recorded
  
1973

Length
  
3:11

Writer(s)
  
Neil Young

"L.A." is a song written and performed by Neil Young from the 1973 album Time Fades Away, a live album noted for its abrasive experimentation and its "wild, agonized, deliberately jarring" vocals.

Johnny Rogan in his Complete Guide to the Music of Neil Young tells us that "L.A." was "Young's fantasy vision of the destruction of Los Angeles. There is an underlying glee in his apocalyptic vision that is both intriguing and disconcerting." Rogan also suggests that the song may have been written by Young a full five years before it was debuted during his 1973 Time Fades Away tour. Rogan talks about the song at greater length in the book Neil Young: Zero To Sixty.

The Black Crowes performed the song on some legs of their 2005-2006 reunion tour, with lead guitarist Marc Ford handling vocal duties. Several of these performances saw official release via the band's deal with Instant Live. Although the Instant Live versions are now out of print, several shows have been made available via the band's official live download site, liveblackcrowes.com [1].

Jubilee recorded "L.A." (released in January 2008) as a B-Side on their single "Rebel Hiss" with the participation of guest drummer Troy Petrey.

Lukas Nelson, son of Willie Nelson, released a version of "L.A." on his CD, Promise Of The Real.

References

L.A. (Neil Young song) Wikipedia