THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

602-Neil Young and Crazy Horse-My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)

1979-It has never been released a single ‘A’ side in the UK.

Best Bit-At 1.54. A line from this song, ‘It’s better to burn out than to fade away,’ were some of the words written by Kurt Cobain (1967-1994) in his suicide note.

Neil Percival Young (see also best songs 559) was born on November 12th, 1945, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, his often distorted electric guitar playing, especially with the American Rock band Crazy Horse, earned him the nickname ‘Godfather of Grunge,’ leading to him becoming a major influence on bands such as Nirvana, (see also best songs 788 and 9) and Pearl Jam, (see also best songs 458.) The extensive discography of Neil Young includes 46 studio Albums released between 1968-2024, and 62 singles released between 1969-2023, there are also three official compilation Albums, and 12 live Albums available. His most successful single release is the 1971 track ‘Heart of Gold,’ which reached Number 1 in both Canada, and on the Billboard Hot 100 in America, as well as peaking at Number 10 in the UK. Prior to his solo career he had been a member of the American Rock band ‘Buffalo Springfield,’ (see also best songs 559) between 1966-1968, appearing on all three of their studio Albums. He was also a member of the ‘supergroup’ ‘Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, (see also best songs 417) from 1969 onwards, appearing on three Albums as part of that quartet, there is also an Album attributed to ‘The Stills-Young Band,’ from 1976, called ‘Long May You Run.’

‘My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue’) is the first track on ‘Rust Never Sleeps,’ the 10th Album by Neil Young from June 1979, and featuring the American Rock band ‘Crazy Horse.’ The song was written by Neil Young, and Jeff Blackburn, (1945-2023) and produced by Young, David Briggs, (1944-1995) and Tim Mulligan. Jeff Blackburn receives songwriting credits mainly for providing the line, ‘It’s better to burn out than to fade away,’ which had first been used in a song by the short-lived American Rock group ‘The Ducks,’ (1977) which had featured both Young and Blackburn in it’s line up. The Album ‘Rust Never Sleeps’ was recorded live at different concert venues in America between 1976-1978, and overdubbed in the studio in order to remove as much crowd noise as possible. The Album which features both studio and live tracks opens with this song ‘My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue,’) which is an acoustic track, while the final song on side 2 of the Album is an electric version of the track called ‘Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black.’) Neil Young’s often distorted electric guitar playing, of which the electric version is a fine example, earned him the nickname ‘Godfather of Grunge.’

Neil Young wrote ‘My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue’) at a time when he thought his music might not be relevant anymore. His idol Elvis Presley (1935-1977) (see also best songs 954-64-442 and 194) had recently died, and ‘Punk Music’ was the new ‘Rock ‘N Roll.’ The song deal with the fleeting nature of fame, and how hard it is to stay relevant as an artist. The lyrics allude to three specific artists, ‘The king is gone but he’s not forgotten, is a reference to Elvis Presley. The line ‘Rock and roll is here to stay,’ is the title of the 1958 Billboard Number 19 hit for the American ‘Doo-Wop,’ and ‘Rock and Roll’ vocal group Danny & the Juniors, (see also best songs 973) where in that song they proclaim ‘Rock ‘n roll is here to stay, it will never die,’ and the line ‘This is the story of a Johnny Rotten,’ is Neil Young recognising that the next generation of artists were taking his place. Johnny Rotten was the lead singer of the Sex Pistols, (see also best songs 576-92 and 27) who at that time were at the sharp end of ‘Punk Rock,’ that Young felt was replacing him.

In 2005 Neil Young spoke about Kurt Cobain’s suicide note that contained the line from this song: ‘It’s better to burn out than to fade away.’ Young said,’The fact that he left the lyrics to my song right there with him when he killed himself left a profound feeling on me, but I don’t think he was saying I have to kill myself because I don’t want to fade away. I don’t think he was interpreting the song in a negative way. It’s a song about artistic survival, and I think he had a problem with the fact that he thought he was selling out, and he didn’t know how to stop it. He was forced to do tours when he didn’t want to, forced into all kinds of stuff. I was trying to get a hold of him because I had heard some of the things he was doing to himself, just to tell him it’s OK not to tour, it’s OK not to do these things, just take control of your life and make your music. Or, hey, don’t make music. But as soon as you feel like you’re out there pretending, you’re f–cked. I think he knew that instinctively, but he was young, and he didn’t have a lot of self-control. And who knows what other personal things in his life were having a negative impression on him at the time?’

‘The king is gone but he’s not forgotten, this is the story of a Johnny Rotten. It’s better to burn out than it is to rust, the king is gone but he’s not forgotten. Hey hey, my my, Rock and roll can never die.’