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Neil Young — Southern Man
Album: Harvest
Avg rating:
7.6

Your rating:
Total ratings: 648









Released: 1972
Length: 5:28
Plays (last 30 days): 0
(no lyrics available)
Comments (20)add comment
This song wasn't on 'Harvest', it's from 'After The Gold Rush'. Just sayin
Southern man
better keep your head
Don't forget
what your good book said
Southern change
gonna come at last
Now your crosses
are burning fast
Southern man

I saw cotton
and I saw black
Tall white mansions
and little shacks.
Southern man
when will you
pay them back?
I heard screamin'
and bullwhips cracking

How long? How long?

Southern man
better keep your head
Don't forget
what your good book said
Southern change
gonna come at last
Now your crosses

are burning fast
Southern man

Lily Belle
your hair is golden brown
I've seen your black man
comin' round
Swear by God
I'm gonna cut him down!
I heard screamin'
and bullwhips cracking
How long? How long?
My parents over played Neil Young and CSN&Y when I was a wee lass.

Much prefer the response song by LYNYRD SKYNYRD now I'm all grown up. 
Context Matters.
Authenticity does as well. 
Definitely iconic but I can see where a Southern Man might be tired of being clunked over the head with it. (50 years now?) Maybe play Old King instead once in a while. 
Where's the lyrics?
 eileenomurphy wrote:

ICONIC!!!



I was just about to share the same exact word, in CAPS and with !!! too.  !!
 PhoenixArtDj wrote:

How many NY songs are many decades old and as relevant as when he wrote them? It's more than a few. 

And, as a fan of his whole "journey", not a one of 'em will EVER grow old! Not just a hella guitarist but, lyricist as well.  ALWAYS a good time for any "mode" of NY! 

 kenneth.kazia wrote:

Born northern, now southern since 71 by the grace of God. Great song and should be followed by Lynard Skynard

Pay attention now... It's a catchy one... It's LYNYRD SKYNYRD! No *a's" in the band name. 

Southern Man is not from Harvest but from  After the Gold Rush.
How many NY songs are many decades old and as relevant as when he wrote them? It's more than a few. 
Born northern, now southern since 71 by the grace of God. Great song and should be followed by Lynard Skynard
 eileenomurphy wrote:

ICONIC!!!




I agree!
ICONIC!!!
Genuinely, I question the mental state and taste of anyone who can give this a 1 out of 10.
There's something gone very wrong somewhere....lol
They have my sympathy.
A true classic More pls BillG!
 floydoftherocks wrote:
Neil Young is such a turd.
 
Nah, but you sure may be.  Name calling like an 8 year old.
Good to hear what Southern Men think every now and again.

floydoftherocks wrote:
Neil Young is such a turd.

 

Neil Young is such a turd.

Crosby Stills Nash & Young - "Southern Man" Live (2000):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB_qmRjetdE

Neil Young touches a nerve in many people, for me, its the pulse of my life. Having lived in the south, and the north, I find a lot in this song. "Southern man better keep your head Don't forget what your good book said Southern change gonna come at last Now your crosses are burning fast Southern man I saw cotton and I saw black Tall white mansions and little shacks. Southern man when will you pay them back?" Yeah, as James Brown used to say, where is the "big pay back," if ever?