Neil Young – Sugar Mountain ….Canadian Week

Today through Friday I will feature nothing but Canadian artists. It will be some left off because I could go on forever. Oh NO…where to put Justin Beiber? Nah, I’ll skip him… I will feature at least 2 artists I’ve never blogged on before and both are huge…and worlds apart. 

Canada Flag

I thought I would start off this Monday with no other than Uncle Neil. Young had no trouble coming up with verses to this song. He has said…he came up with 126 verses and the trouble came with editing it down. His was first released as the B-side of Young’s first single as a solo artist, “The Loner.” He used it as a B-side on a few other singles, but did not put it on an album until his 1977 Greatest Hits compilation Decade.

Young wrote this song in a room at the Fort William’s Victoria Hotel in Ontario. He wrote the song on his 19th birthday on November 12, 1964. The song is about lost childhood but he had a firm grasp on being an adult going by the song.

Joni Mitchell has said that what prompted him to write this was that Neil really soon, could no longer visit an under-21 club that he favored. That is not to say that the said club would be “Sugar Mountain” itself. But being barred from the venue, according to Mitchell, would have been one of the factors that made the singer realize that some of the joys of childhood simply cannot be innocently replicated as we get older.

Speaking of Joni Mitchell. She wrote an “answer” song to this one called The Circle Game. Sugar Mountain is also on his Sugar Mountain – Live at Canterbury House 1968 released in 2008.

Neil Young on his new friend (which he doesn’t name)  at this time: “Mainly, he was the funniest person I’d met in years. He didn’t have another gig until next weekend, so he stayed in Thunder Bay and we played and he took us to see Buffalo. We lived on A&W cheeseburgers and root beer. Very Canadian.”

Neil Young:  “At first I wrote 126 verses to it. Now, you can imagine that I had a lot of trouble figuring out what four verses to use… I was underneath the stairs… Anyway, this verse that I wrote… It was the worst verse of the 126 that I wrote. So, I decided to put it in the song, to just to give everybody a frame of reference as to, you know, what can happen. What I’m trying to say here, by stopping in the middle of the song, and explaining this to you, is that… I think it’s one of the lamest verses I ever wrote. And it takes a lotta nerve for me to get up here and sing it in front of you people. But, if when I’m finished singing, you sing the chorus ‘Sugar Mountain’ super loud, I’ll just forget about it right away and we can continue.”

Neil Young: “I do ‘Sugar Mountain’ really for the people more than I do it for myself. I think I owe it to them, cos it seems to really make them feel happy, so that’s why I do that. They pay a lotta money to come and see me and I lay a lotta things on ’em that they’ve never heard before, and I think I owe it to them to do things they can really identify with. It’s such a friendly song, and the older I get and the older my audience gets the more relevant it becomes, especially since they’ve been singing it for 20 years. It really means a lot to them, so I like to give ’em the chance to enjoy that moment.”

Sugar Mountain

Oh, to live on sugar mountain
With the barkers and the colored balloons
You can’t be twenty on sugar mountain
Though you’re thinking that you’re leaving there too soon
You’re leaving there too soon

It’s so noisy at the fair
But all your friends are there
And the candy floss you had
And your mother and your dad

Oh, to live on sugar mountain
With the barkers and the colored balloons
You can’t be twenty on sugar mountain
Though you’re thinking that you’re leaving there too soon
You’re leaving there too soon

There’s a girl just down the aisle
Oh to turn and see her smile
You can hear the words she wrote
As you read the hidden note

Oh, to live on sugar mountain
With the barkers and the colored balloons
You can’t be twenty on sugar mountain
Though you’re thinking that you’re leaving there too soon
You’re leaving there too soon

Now you’re underneath the stairs
And you’re giving back some glares
To the people who you met
And it’s your first cigarette

Oh, to live on sugar mountain
With the barkers and the colored balloons
You can’t be twenty on sugar mountain
Though you’re thinking that you’re leaving there too soon
You’re leaving there too soon

Now you say you’re leaving home
‘Cause you want to be alone

Ain’t it funny how you feel
When you’re finding out it’s real

Oh, to live on sugar mountain
With the barkers and the colored balloons
You can’t be twenty on sugar mountain
Though you’re thinking that you’re leaving there too soon
You’re leaving there too soon

Oh, to live on sugar mountain
With the barkers and the colored balloons
You can’t be twenty on sugar mountain
Though you’re thinking that you’re leaving there too soon

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball fan, old movie and tv show fan... and a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

50 thoughts on “Neil Young – Sugar Mountain ….Canadian Week”

  1. Cool…so this song was written here in Thunder Bay. Back in the 60s when Neil was here there Fort William and Port Arthur but by ’67 it was decided to combine both and viola Thunder Bay came to be..
    Today though people like myself still refer to Port Arthur and Fort William when going somewhere which is funny…
    Look forward to this week Max!

    Liked by 3 people

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    2. I can totally understand, he has a particular way about him that’s not for everyone. I am guessing since you finishing with … there was a bit of tongue in cheek with regard to others covering his songs? If it helps I don’t thing Iris covered any of Neil’s tunes.

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      2. My apologies for misunderstanding. No judgement on my part, some of my closest friends hate some of the stuff I listen too! There are lots of covers by diverse artists so there’s bound to be some in the over 160 songs and hundreds of versions of his songs. Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt won a Grammy Award for their take on “After the Gold rush” that’s as good a place as any to start.

        Liked by 2 people

  4. I have not seen him play, although I consider myself a fan. He is a brilliant songwriter and one of the best guitar players in Rock music. Nice pick on the song, this one doesn’t get the exposure many of his others do. I really didn’t know much about the background on the song. Great write up Max.

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      1. Indeed he is still going strong. He is one of the most covered artists of all time, definitely in the top 30 for song titles. Without checking the exact numbers, there are covers of over 160 songs he wrote including solo or with one of the several bands he was in, as well as songs originally recorded by other singers.

        Liked by 2 people

      2. He can’t seem to stay in any configuration for long except for Crazy Horse…which really it’s his band. I never realized he was covered that much before…I should have known.

        Liked by 2 people

  5. a great second edition of Canada Week! Neil is a Canadian treasure (even if he resides in the Bay area mostly) and a great songwriter and performer. this is a good song, one of those that even though it wasn’t a single, I know pretty well because radio up there played it. didn’t realize it was so long when he first wrote it – wow, imagine hearing the full-length version he penned!

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    1. Thanks Dave! I never ever get tired of this song Dave…ever. Heart of Gold and Old Man…I like but I’ve heard them quite a bit…this one I love.
      LOL 126 verses…I can’t imagine.

      Liked by 2 people

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    1. Oh I had to included him…and Gordon…and the last one I cover….really only two this week will out there…two I’ve only done one post each and other…never.

      Liked by 1 person

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  7. Back when CB was supporting jeans T shirts and boot runners this song never reached his ear. The dial would be changed. I was in the same club as “halfcyclingclub” After ‘Rust Never Sleeps’ I had a more open mind to Neil and went back and discovered all the music before. I am now a fan and sing along with him on this with my best Neil voice. Lots of great images from this song.

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    1. Personally I do like his voice also….along with Dylan. If someone has a “perfect” voice…it kinda bores me. Many times those artists are pitch perfect but don’t have any soul at all. Rust Never Sleeps is what get me into him…that great hard guitar tone he had…it sounds like death! I mean that in the best way.

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      1. Agree with you. I pretty much like everything he has done or does. I like when he wigs out on the guitar.
        Big Earl (son) sings this song in a high Neil voice. It never fails to crack me up. The lyrics do get stuck in the head.
        Getting good reaction on the frozen north idea.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. That is great…I like doing Dylan…singing something crazy like Bohemian Rhapsody.

        As far as Young…I really like Like A Hurricane and Down by the River…. he is one of the best raw guitar players out there…he doesnt get his due.

        Like

  9. The only thing I have listened to from Justin Bieber that I like is his ‘Between Two Ferns’ interview:

    This song by Neil doesn’t really do it for me…a bit ‘hippified and Jony’ sounding for me, but I can understand its attraction more broadly. But it helps me grasp a little bit more about his music. And I’m thankful for that. Cheers Max

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. I think you are the only person that caught my joke lol about Bieber…as he is a Canadian. Oh that is FUNNY!
      I do like the song because I like the way it relates youth with a carnival…

      Liked by 1 person

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  10. Max, going to his website, I was reminded of the album he did with Pearl Jam. After PJ had some fans crushed to death at one of their concerts (Roskilde, which is also what Love Boat Captain was written about,) the trauma of it had them a little gunshy. Uncle Neil stepped in and they put “Mirror Ball” together.

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  11. Sorry Max, called you Dave in a previous comment! Blame the low energy morning coffee I just sourly worked through for that boo-boo. I saw Neil on tour here in ’85 at the Addington Showgrounds. A good live set as I recall, and his voice was pretty good live, good enough for me to re-listen to his older stuff.
    And yes, Justin may be Canadian but- shhhh, let’s not broadcast that sad fact.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Thats ok obbverse…I’ve been called a hell of lot worse! Dave is ok.
      I saw Neil when he was in his country phase around 86 or so. He stuck with a country style set but that was alright with me.
      I’m glad you caught the reference about the person that shall not be named.

      Liked by 1 person

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  12. Yeah, Max, Neil Young! I love Neil, most of the time!

    I first heard “Sugar Mountain” on Neil’s “Live Rust” album from Nov 1979. That’s the version I came to love and still prefer to this day. I feel this take take has a bit more pep behind it.

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    1. It’s a great version…I’m listening to it now….it’s clearer of course than the 60s one…sounds really good! It’s something about that song I never get tired of.

      Liked by 1 person

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      1. I find the “Live Rust” rendition much more engaging. I remember I was truly underwhelmed when I first listened to the tune’s version on “Decade”, an incredible compilation. I’ve since warmed to it, though I still prefer Neil’s take on “Live Rust.”

        Liked by 1 person

      2. I do like that version now that I hear it. I probably skipped it on the album because I knew it.
        I love the melody…it matches the words.

        Like

  13. Pingback: Neil Young – Sugar Mountain ….Canadian Week – MobsterTiger

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