Music / Rust Never Sleeps

Rust Never Sleeps, released in 1979 through Reprise Records, is the second live album by Neil Young with his backing band Crazy Horse, and could also be called his tenth studio album. That is, it was mostly recorded live and complemented with studio overdubs, and it introduced a set of new songs in the way a studio album traditionally does. Young had been working on these songs for years, but in final form, some of them are influenced by Punk Rock.

Young got the inspiration for the album title from a meeting with the band Devo of all places, as during their conversation Mark Mothersbaugh uttered the line, referencing a slogan for an auto shop offering chassis treatments he had seen in passing.

Track Listing

Side One

1. "My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)" (Young, Jeff Blackburn) – 3:45
2. "Thrasher" – 5:38
3. "Ride My Llama" – 2:29
4. "Pocahontas" – 3:22
5. "Sail Away" – 3:46

Side Two

6. "Powderfinger" – 5:30
7. "Welfare Mothers" – 3:48
8. "Sedan Delivery" – 4:40
9. "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)" (Young, Blackburn) – 5:18

It's better to trope out than to fade away:

• Album Title Drop: "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)":
  It's better to burn out, 'cause rust never sleeps
• Apocalyptic Log: "Powderfinger" ends with the death of the young narrator figure
• Book Ends: Like many of Young's albums, it opens and closes with the same song. As with Freedom, the opening and closing renditions are acoustic and electric, respectively.
• Braids, Beads and Buckskins: "Pocahontas", about the Indian chieftain's daughter.
• Car Song: "Sedan Delivery" is about a car.
• Courier: "Sedan Delivery" again. From the reference to "chemicals and sacred roots", it sounds like he's in the drug trade.
• Darker and Edgier: The album was written in response to both the death of Elvis and the simultaneous rise of punk rock, in particular the Sex Pistols.
• Death Song and Posthumous Narration: "Powderfinger"
• Distinct Double Album: It's always been a single disc, but the acoustic and electric sides give this impression.
• Has a Type: "Welfare Mothers" make better lovers.
• Live Album: Mostly recorded live at the Boarding House nightclub in San Francisco, with studio overdubs done later. You can only hear audience sounds on a couple of tracks.
• One-Word Title: "Thrasher", "Powderfinger"
• One-Woman Song: "Pocahontas"
• The Power of Rock:
  Hey hey, my my, rock and roll can never die.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: "Thrasher" is an allegorical take on Young's breakup from Crosby, Stills and Nash.
• Shout-Out:
  • "My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)":
    The King is gone, but he's not forgotten
    This is the story of Johnny Rotten.
  • "Pocahontas" makes mention of Marlon Brando, who had turned down his Oscar for The Godfather to protest mistreatment of Native Americans.

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