All One Song :: James Jackson Toth on "Thrasher"
About this episode
Tyler Wilcox interviews James Jackson Toth about Neil Young's song 'Thrasher' and its rich, poetic lyrics.
Hello and welcome back to season two of All One Song, a Neil Young podcast presented by Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions with your host Tyler Wilcox, a longtime Aquarium Drunkard contributor and Neil Young fanatic. We’re spending some time this spring traveling deep into the Shakey-verse, talking with some great artists about their favorite Neil Young songs. On a recent episode, Brigid Mae Power and Wilcox went deep into Neil’s classic lament “Albuquerque”—both agreeing Neil nailed the stark, lonesome vibe of the American southwest in that song. If you’re going to try to evoke those kinds of landscapes, you don’t need to use a lot of words, right? Right. But also … wrong? A few years after Neil wrote “Albuquerque,” he found himself on a long road trip from Taos, New Mexico, back to the west coast. And as he rolled through the desert, he wrote “Thrasher.” In contrast to “Albuquerque,” the lyrics of this song are rich and poetic, as images of ancient rivers, timeless gorges, crystal canyons and dinosaurs in shrines all float before the listener’s eyes. “Thrasher” unfolds like a stoned, rapturous daydream as Neil muses on lost friendships, the specter of mortality, and of course…
More episodes of Transmissions
- All Song Song :: Scott Bunn on "Boom Boom Boom"
- All One Song :: Brigid Mae Power on "Albuquerque"
- All One Song :: Ira Kaplan (Yo La Tengo) on "Big Crime"
- Transmissions at Big Ears: Thurston Moore & Kramer
- Transmissions :: Cochemea
- Transmissions :: Mike Ayers (The Untold Story of '90s Jam Bands)
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Transmissions podcast page.