I’m Driftin’ Back – Neil Young

Neil Young & Crazy Horse‘s new recording Psychedelic Pill starts with a 27 minute, epic track called, “Driftin’ Back”.

It is trippy and reflective. It is something each of us does, drifting back to thoughts and places we were before.

My favorite lyrics are at the 12:11 mark

I used to dig Picasso

I used to dig Picasso

Hey now now, Hey now now 

I used to dig Picasso

Then the big tech giants came along

and turned him into wallpaper

Hey Now Now, Hey Now Now

I used to dig Picasso

This stanza underscores the main theme of Driftin’ Back. Technology has altered the landscape of art, homogenized it, compressed it for redistribution to the masses.

Listen again at 19:06,

Don’t want my MP3

Don’t want my MP3

I’m Driftin’ Back

I’m Driftin’ Back

I’m Driftin’ Back

I’m Driftin’ Back

I’m Driftin’ Back

When you hear my song now

You only get 5%

You used to get it all

You used to get it all

Blocking out my anger

Blocking out my thoughts

Blocking out my anger now

Blocking out my thoughts

I’m Driftin’ Back……

Copyright 2012 Neil Young and Warner Music

Isn’t that the point here. The music industry settled for publishing and distributing inferior sound through the InterWeb. (Which I feel they truly want to correct this issue) Its time we got ALL our music back.

I applaud Neil Young for both challenging this understanding and championing Pono for 100% high-resolution audio.

This is why Pono is righteous!