Well, I used to drive a cab, you know; [then] I heard a siren scream: pulled over to the corner, and I fell into a dream. There were two men eating pennies, and three young girls who cried, “The West coast is falling – I see rocks in the sky!”

I was chopping down a palm tree, when a friend dropped by to ask if I would feel less lonely if he helped me swing the axe. I said “No, it’s not a case of being lonely we have here – I’ve been working on this palm tree for eighty-seven years!”

He said “Go get lost!” – and walked towards his Cadillac; I chopped down the palm tree, and it landed on his back.

I was always about two or three years behind everybody. There was nothin’ new about white bucks by the time I started wearing white bucks. They were like, out. No one was wearing them. That’s when I got mine. They were enough of a statement to piss people off. They set me apart.

- Neil Young in an interview with Jimmy McDonough; specific date unknown

Reference: McDonough, J. (2002). Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography. UK: Vintage Press. “Mr. Blue and Mr. Red”, p.62.

Revenge of the Nerd? Great. [...] Because to achieve nerd status with only homegrown knowledge of nerddom is a fuckin’ great accomplishment – and I’m proud.

- Neil Young in an interview with Jimmy McDonough, in response to McDonough’s statement that many see Neil’s childhood as a classic case of “Revenge of the Nerd”; specific date unknown

Reference: McDonough, J. (2002). Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography. UK: Vintage Press. “Mr. Blue and Mr. Red”, p.62.

There’s one guy in class that nobody fuckin’ likes, that is a total weirdo. I just have to have some conversations with this person, y’know?

- Neil Young in an interview with Jimmy McDonough; specific date unknown

Reference: McDonough, J. (2002). Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography. UK: Vintage Press. “Mr. Blue and Mr. Red”, p.61-62.

[...] I had a sandbox and it was all full of turtles. Then I’d let ‘em out or forget about ‘em – which has sometimes been my history with pets.

- Neil Young in an interview with Jimmy McDonough; specific date unknown

Reference: McDonough, J. (2002). Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography. UK: Vintage Press. “Mr. Blue and Mr. Red”, p.42.

I don’t really have the confidence to stand behind things that I say – because I really don’t think I know that much. [...] That’s better than somebody who’s confident they they know what they’re talking about and they’re sure – because that leads them down a path. [...] Even the things I believe in the most, I doubt. And so when I see something that I’ve said, or hear it – it makes sense to me that I might not feel the same way next time. Because that’s the way I am.

- Neil Young in an interview with Jimmy McDonough; specific date unknown

Reference: McDonough, J. (2002). Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography. UK: Vintage Press. “Mr. Blue and Mr. Red”, p.38.

I don’t mind the suggestions about what are good songs… But the pieces of shit should be there, too, [...] so you know the difference. Some of it is good, some of it is crap that wasn’t released – there’s a reason… [...] That’s what a fuckin’ archive is about, not “Here’s Neil Young in all his wonderfulness – the great, phenomenal fucking wonderfulness.” That’s not what I want. I want people to know how fuckin’ terrible I was. How scared I was and how great I was. The real picture – that’s what I’m looking for. Not a product. And I think that’s what the die-hard fans want – the whole fuckin’ thing.

[...]

Y’know, I don’t give a shit whether anybody BUYS it or not. I just wanna do it. And there may only be two hundred copies, signed by me. But it’s gonna fuckin’ exist. When it’s done, people can do whatever the fuck they want, make any fuckin’ order they want out of it. But they’re gonna have the whole fuckin’ thing to choose from. They’re not gonna get part of it. Everything – the good, the bad, the ugly.

- Neil Young discussing his potential Archives in an interview with Jimmy McDonough; specific date unknown

Reference: McDonough, J. (2002). Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography. UK: Vintage Press. “Innaresting characters”, p. 10

See also: “You have to be ready to give everything you have…”

Got mashed potatoes; ain’t got no T-Bone.

The stuff I did, I’d get so into it that I missed a lotta shit. I can see that now. I’d get into things so deep that if I didn’t get into it, I didn’t even know about it. And I think that it’s still the same way. I don’t think that’s changed at all… and now I have to try and find that joint I left somewhere. Nothing’s changed.

- Neil Young to Tony Pig, KSAN radio interview, 11th December 1969

Reference: McDonough, J. (2002). Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography. UK: Vintage Press. “Mr. Blue and Mr. Red”, p. 54

See also: “I guess I’m an extremist…”; “You have to be ready to give everything you have…”