The Elektra audition was a pretty stilted affair – mainly because of the set up. Neil was basically dumped in a cupboard with a portable recording machine and told to get on with it. It’s hard to generate any atmosphere in those circumstances. In a soulless cubby-hole with a machine and no audience.
Even so, I like what came out!
‘Sugar Mountain’ (Neil Young)
This was the demo that clearly demonstrated Neil’s transition into a fully-fledged singer/songwriter. The impact of Dylan and Ochs was evident in the way he used the song to tell a metaphorical story. The fabled Sugar Mountain represents the childhood he was leaving behind now that he had reached 21 and was no longer allowed in his favourite club with his friends – a song of yearning loss.
The lyrical content, sung in a whimsical fashion, concerns the pains of growing up and leaving the security of childhood behind – a lament for lost youth. Clearly, something the 21-year-old Neil was feeling at the time.
In this early version, the song is not yet fully formed: the acoustic guitar, with the capo on the 5th fret, is highly pitched, as it sets up a complex strumming pattern over which the lyrics are sung. The voice is strong and forceful, with depth and nuance. In future, the instrumentation would become more elaborate, varied and sophisticated, but this sets the tone for those later versions.
Joni Mitchell, whom Neil encountered while playing the folk circuit at this time, loved the song and wrote ‘Circle Game’ to complement it.
On this demo version of what is probably Neil’s stand-out track from this period, the atmosphere is somewhat stark and lacking the colour of future efforts. But that works for me. I think it’s a terrific version, a great performance of a great song in difficult circumstances.