Best Neil Young Songs

Deserves to be #1. Neil's best work. He probably feels the same. One of the all-time great rock songs ever sung and played. The guitar work is unbelievable.

The title gives me the feeling of awesomeness. How on God's Earth can you hate it?

Yes, #1. Got to see Neil play this at five different concerts. Each time was amazing.

Even Bob Dylan himself said he couldn't stand listening to this song because it reminded him of himself. Dylan was very jealous of this song.

The harmonica and guitar in this song are just legendary. One of the best songs ever written!

Brilliant use of chords on guitar, and the harmonica is excellent! Listen to the lyrics closely. NUMBER 1.

Haunted and haunting, sublimely wistful, each syllable floated high into the ether on his utterly unique coyote soprano. This gets my vote for not only the best song of Neil's, but maybe the best song ever, by anyone. - Rob S, NorCal but sadly not on a ranch

All his songs from this time are great. Seeing someone so young but writing a song with so much wisdom is incredible.

I think this should be at the top. The chords, the lyrics, the tone, they're all awesome. The perfection to describe a life full of misfortune.

The bootleg versions of this song are better than most of the other hailed rock songs from then or now. Great song with all the elements of awesome rock and roll. Casual listeners are not aware that Neil is the only guitar player on the song, and Poncho is just draping the high, simple, sustained organ sound fill.

Wow, just wow! Everything in the rock powerhouse masterpiece is amazing! A brilliant vocal from Shakey, and to top it all off, one of the best guitar performances in rock history!

Who would not get 'blown away' by two absolutely out-of-this-world solos!

The long slow build-up instrumental brilliantly conjured up an image of Cortez the Killer crossing the ocean. A masterpiece, should be number one.

Other than the totally incorrect line "Hate was just a legend, and war was never known" (the Aztecs were one of the biggest warmongers in history), this is a beautiful song with some of Neil's best laid-back and soulful guitar work. "Cortez, Cortez... What a killer."

Neil's original comeback album, Zuma. Cortez, leading song on the album. Thanks, Neil, for helping me come back so often.

Beautiful, haunting song. Sitting in a burned-out basement with the full moon in my eyes.

This is arguably his best song. I can't believe people forgot about this one.

Thinking about what a friend had said, and I was hoping it was a lie...

"It's better to burn out than to fade away." Such sad lines to a song, they are full of emotion. And also, Kurt Cobain, lead singer of the band Nirvana, put those words in his suicide note... directly from this song.

This is my favorite Neil Young song, thanks to the guitar melody and lyrics.

Though Rockin' In The Free World is #1 for me, this song gets my comment. The first time I saw Neil in concert, he came on stage playing this song. It was amazing. The amps were about to explode, it sounded so loud and powerful. It was an experience I will never forget, and I realized why some people used to fear rock and roll.

While my real love is actually with this song's counterpart "My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)," which, in my opinion, has much more of Neil's passion and feeling in the vocals, this song changed me as a person and as a musician. One of the greatest songs ever written. Without a doubt his best work, in my opinion.

This is classic Neil. Deserves more respect on the list. Great song in the electric version, or in the acoustic version.

Love this song. Fun to play, fun to listen to, fun to jam with - just a fun song.

Great guitar work. One of the best jams in rock history.

If there is such a thing as a perfect song, this is it. Young people love it. Old people love it. Top ten? This is top five, easily. Or at least it would be with most artists. Neil's songwriting is so great that it is hard to choose a top five. Come a little bit closer, hear what I have to say...

It's so different from his other songs, yet perfect for him at the same time. Neil can rock out on a song like "Free World," yet come back and sing an incredibly tender love song like this. He's been going strong since 1967! Incredible career.

I believe Howard Stern said this was his favorite song, and he played it for Robin who said it was so depressing. Howard said, I think Neil is some kind of genius. Killer guitar with Crazy Horse.

EASILY Neil's best work. No song is more fun to jam to than this! In fact, the whole album is awesome!

The best two minutes in rock. I need not say more, but I will. Written to perhaps ease the pain Neil and the rest of Crazy Horse felt upon the heroin deaths of guitarist Danny Whitten and a member of the band's crew. Anyone near to addiction can feel the pain delivered in a sad and perfectly executed message. It's real -- all too real. And one of very few songs you can say is actually perfect.

Your top 10 is more Freedom songs, which are good but not in this song's class, and the expected Cowgirl and Down by the River. Those are fairy tales next to this song, which can jolt you the first time you hear it -- you know it's special right away.

Classic hard-hitting guitar and great lyrics. And it inspired another great song by Lynyrd Skynyrd. One of my all-time favorites.

Seriously, the definitive song of the Nixon presidency can't crack the Top 15? How very sad. My, My, Hey, Hey -- really? Cortez, nada. Even Cinnamon Girl and Harvest Moon should fall below Ohio, an anthem of its time that resonates to this day. Other than Dylan, who has stood the test of time with a consistent run of pure power, such as Ohio, to super folky mellow to cool alt-country? I'm a sucker for Once an Angel. Neil, and no one else I can think of. And to many, Neil started with Ohio.

This is by far his greatest song. I knew someone who was at the Kent State shooting. Sad story.

This is the song I involuntarily start playing when I'm on a long bike ride. What a simple but beautiful song.