Neil Young – Mystery Train

I think this album has gotten a bad rap over the years. If you forget about record company politics and just listen to the music, it’s a fun tribute to the early days of rock and roll. Neil wasn’t trying to reinvent Mystery Train or the other covers. He was tipping his hat to the music that helped shape rock in the first place. Sometimes it’s nice to hear an artist simply enjoying himself, and that’s exactly what I hear every time this song comes on.

I’ve always liked it when artists take a chance, even if the fans don’t quite know what to make of it. That’s exactly what Neil Young did with “Mystery Train” from Everybody’s Rockin’. If you were expecting another Harvest or Rust Never Sleeps, you were probably surprised. Instead, Neil stepped back almost thirty years and made a record that sounded like it came straight out of a 1950s jukebox. I have to admit, I’ve always had a soft spot for this album.

I heard this album in the 80s and really liked the song Wonderin’and the video. When I first saw the 80s time-lapse video…I thought Young looked a little like Stephen King around this time…looking at it again…I still do. In the early eighties, David Geffen signed Neil Young to a huge contract with Geffen Records. Neil Young, who will do his own thing no matter what or when, released an album called “Trans” which was his foray into pure electronic music. Geffen wanted another Harvest with another Heart of Gold or Old Man…instead, he got songs like Computer Age and We R in Control with Neil singing through a Vocoder.

After the electronic Trans, Neil turned in a country album called Old Ways (which wouldn’t be released until 2 years later), but Geffen Records rejected it and told him they wanted a rock and roll record instead. Neil’s response was to give them exactly that, just not the kind they expected. He made a genuine 1950s-style rockabilly album. The sessions were cut quickly with musicians having fun in the studio, but before Neil could finish his original concept, Geffen shut the sessions down and released the short album anyway. Before long, the label actually sued Neil Young for making records they claimed didn’t sound enough like Neil Young. This album is full of early fifties Doo-wop and rockabilly-sounding songs in the middle of the 80s (thank you, Neil! We needed it). The record company was not amused…he then released an album full of country music… In his contract, Neil had full artistic freedom.

Geffen had claimed the new albums were unrepresentative of Neil’s music. He sued Neil for 3.3 million dollars, but the case was settled, and Geffen lost and had to apologize to Neil. That shows you…sometimes life is fair. If you look at Neil’s career…it was all about change and evolving, so I don’t know what Geffen expected. Neil rarely repeats himself.  Geffen was expecting early seventies Neil, and that wasn’t happening. Young is not an artist that you mess with.

This song was written by blues singer Junior Parker and producer Sam Phillips before Elvis Presley turned it into one of the defining records of early rock and roll at Sun Records in 1955. Rather than trying to improve on the original, Neil simply had fun with it. Backed by the Shocking Pinks, he captured that rockabilly sound with upright bass, slapback vocals, saxophone, and simple guitar work. The recording wasn’t meant to be polished. It was meant to sound like the records that inspired an entire generation of musicians.

The album peaked at #22 in Canada, #46 on the Billboard Album Charts, and #50 in the UK in 1983.

I’m also going to include the song that connected me with the album….Wonderin’

Mystery Train

Train I ride, sixteen coaches long
Train I ride, sixteen coaches long
Well that long black train took my baby and gone


Train, train, comin’ down, down the line
(Mystery train, mystery train)
Train, train, comin’ down, down the line
(Mystery train, mystery train)
Well it took my baby
But it never will again, no, not again


Train, train, comin’ down, down the line
(Mystery train, mystery train)
Train, train, comin’ down, down the line
(Mystery train, mystery train)
Well it’s bringin’ back my baby
Because she’s mine, all mine


Train, train, comin’ down, down the line
(Mystery train, mystery train)
Train, train, comin’ down, down the line
(Mystery train, mystery train)
Well it’s bringin’ back my baby
Because she’s mine, all mine

You might also like
Everybody’s Rockin’
Neil Young & The Shocking Pinks
Cry, Cry, Cry
Neil Young & The Shocking Pinks
Old Man
Neil Young


(Wooh, wooh)
(Wooh, wooh)
Train, train, train (Mystery train, mystery train)
Train, train, coming ’round, ’round the bend (Wooh, wooh)
(Mystery train, mystery train)

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

35 thoughts on “Neil Young – Mystery Train”

  1. Pingback: Neil Young – Mystery Train – MobsterTiger

  3. So great to revisit Neil’s version of this song. It’s been covered like crazy, honestly can’t recall the numbers off the top of my head. I liked this album a lot as even back then I had an affinity for covers. Especially retro stuff. But it came at a busy time when music was very much in the back seat. So I never really gave it it’s due. You motivated me to start poking around again!

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  4. I remember ‘Wonderin’ and the fun video and all the controversy about his musical swerves. I thought this seemed like a decent fun record and, like you suggest, it was just Neil being Neil. Glad the judge/jury agreed.

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      1. he should have saved all his pennies from signing Neil and not-quite-happening acts like Elton and Donna Summer and put them together to sign AC/DC if he wanted predictability record after record after record…

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  6. Like a lot of Canadians, and yes Americans, Neil Young could not be put into a box…..he’s always followed his own path. I really would love to hear what he sounded like when he and Rick James were in a band together……

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  7. Remember, this is the music industry. It is a business. Creativity has always, unfortunately, been forced to a secondary (if not lesser) position than the all mighty buck.

    I am not a Neil Young fan. I respect him. He has some great songs. But I do respect, highly respect his integrity. Same with John Fogerty. Both horrible victims of the music industry.

    The last band I saw perform live was an a cappella group called the Bobs. You’ve probably never heard of them. They did a handful of records that my wife and I thoroughly, to this day, enjoy. But hits? Naw.

    If I list my favorites, they have no home on the best selling lists. Dave Alvin, John Hiatt, Tom Russell, just to name three.

    The music is great. The industry sucks.

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    1. Yea…I have to respect him…around the same time is when Fogerty was sued for sounding like himself…just crazy. So Neil didn’t sound enough like himself but John sounded too much like himself…thank goodness both of them won.

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  9. I was one of those who didn’t know what to think about this album. This was before I developed a taste for Rockabilly, before I appreciated The Stray Cats. I was late to the party. I like it now. Great write up.

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  10. As you know, Neil Young is among my all-time favorite music artists. Part of Neil’s charm is he doesn’t overthink stuff. While it’s fair to say the outcomes have varied, when Neil is great, he’s really great. While I’m not very familiar with “Everybody’s Rockin’,” based on what I’ve heard, I think the album is fun. “Wonderin'” and Neil’s rendition of “Mystery Train” are great!

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      2. Christian…that is why I love his solos…I like them better sometimes than Page or Clapton…he keeps them exciting like his music.
        I’ll get to your page shortly. We are down to 4 puppies out of 8. Now it’s managable anyway. It’s been a long weekend!

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      1. Once I start taking myself to seriously I’m in trouble and everyone else will be bored to tears. When i read your take it made me think of Cracker’s ‘Teen Angst’ “What the world needs now is another folk singer like I need a hole in my head”

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  13. I didn’t think I knew ‘Wonderin’ but I recall it now, I must have heard it on the radio- we had a University radio station at the time and they played anything from Yello to Pantera to Buck Owens and back again at the time.Now it does insinuate itself into the empty space between my ears don’t it?

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  14. Max, I enjoyed your write-up very much. Sounds like Geffen was trying to power trip and we see where that got him. Ain’t nobody powertrips Papa Neil. Thanks for sharing the playlist. Am listening to it right now and saved it.

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  15. The story behind this anachronistic album is incredible. I love it when Neil Young does what he wants. The album Trans is strange, that’s true, but it contains excellent tracks like ‘Computer Age,’ later covered by Sonic Youth. It’s a very good idea to bring it to light.

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    1. Neil had a great reason to rebel. You want rock and roll? Ok, here you go. You don’t sign Neil Young or David Bowie and expect them to repeat themselves…thats what make them….them.
      I have checked out a few from Trans…I do like a few of them. More than I thought.

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