Escrita por Neil Young, foi gravada entre fevereiro e abril de 1974, no Sunset Sound, em Los Angeles, California e lançada no disco On the beach, em19 de julho de 1974. Fala dos críticos, de Richard Nixon e do estado em que estava com a banda CSNY. A frase “You're all just pissing in the wind" foi uma frase proferida pelo manager de Neil sobre a inatividade do quarteto. A canção fala do Riverboat, um pequeno café em Toronto, mais precisamente em Yorkville e que era uma casa que recebia artistas como Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Simon and Garfunkel e Arlo Guthrie. Yorkville era o centro da contracultura canadense nos anos 60s. Era localizado no basement de uma casa vitoriana. Mas já nos anos 70s, Yorkville estava mudando e o Riverboat continuou como um dos últimos ícones da década passada. Sobreviveu à cena hippie, mas foi fechado em 1978. Inclusive Neil lançou um album em 2009 chamado Live at the Riverboat 1969. A frase "Oh, Isabella, proud Isabella, They tore you down and plowed you under" se refere ao 88 isabella Street, uma casa onde Neil e Rick James moraram por um período. Foi demolida no começo dos anos 70 e hoje um prédio ocupa seu lugar. Neil cantou e tocou violão. Ben Keith tocou baixo. Rusty Kershaw tocou rabeca. Ralph Molina tocou bateria.
A letra:
Back in the
old folky days
The air was magic when we played
The riverboat
was rockin' in the rain
Midnight was the time for the raid
Oh, Isabela, proud
Isabela
They tore you down and plowed you under
You're only
real with your make-up on
How could I see you and stay too long?
All along the Navajo
Trail
Burn-outs stub their toes on garbage pails
Waitresses are
cryin' in the rain
Will their boyfriends pass this way again?
Oh, Mother Goose, she's
on the skids
Sure ain't happy, neither are the kids
She needs
someone that she can scream at
And I'm such a heel for making her
feel so bad
I guess I'll call it
sickness gone
It's hard to say the meaning of this song
An
ambulance can only go so fast
It's easy to get buried in the past
When you try to make a good thing last
I saw today in the
entertainment section
There's room at the top for private
detection
To mom and dad this just doesn't matter
But it's
either that or pay off the kidnapper
So all you critics sit
alone
You're no better than me for what you've shown
With your
stomach pump and your hook and ladder dreams
We could get together
for some scenes
Well, I'm up in T.O.
keepin' jive alive
And out on the corner it's half past five
But
the subways are empty
And so are the cafes
Except for the farmer's
market
And I still can hear him say
You're all just pissin' in
the wind
You don't know it but you are
And there ain't nothin'
like a friend
Who can tell you you're just pissin' in the wind
I never knew a man
could tell so many lies
He had a different story for every set of
eyes
How can he remember who he's talking to?
'Cause I know it
ain't me, and hope it isn't you
A versão de Neil Young:
A versão de Chris Cree:
A versão de Lee Leonard:
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