Only Castles Burning Playlist
for hours and hours and hours
As I was making my way through every Neil Young album, I kept a running list of my favorites songs from each release. My intention was to distill his entire discography down so that I could just put on a playlist while working and get the songs I particularly liked from his career. Well, it turns out I like an awful lot of his songs. I took that list, compared the widely available versions of each songs, and came up with this 81 82 strong playlist, which runs a bit over 8 hours. This isn’t exactly reflective of the Top 3 I did for every album, though. I put them basically in order of recording, but since some of these are from live albums, they aren’t necessarily in order of composition. It will be fun to put this on shuffle and see what happens.
I made Apple Music, Qobuz, Amazon Music, and YouTube playlists. Spotify is not here for obvious reasons. While I will also make a playlist on Neil Young Archives, I’m not prioritizing it here because NYA user playlists aren’t shareable for some reason (and they really should be, hint hint).
Apple Music: Only Castles Burning playlist
Qobuz: Only Castles Burning playlist
Amazon Music: Only Castles Burning playlist
YouTube: Only Castles Burning playlist (may be missing songs)
Below is a list of the songs included. I’m not going to go deeply into my reasons for what’s included, but suffice it to say, this is a very subjective list, and I’m sure there are things not here that other fans would be pretty disappointed to see missing. For the most part, these are the studio versions from their original albums. When I’ve used an alternate or live take, I’ve noted it.
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
The Losing End (When You’re On)
Running Dry (Requiem for the Rockets)
Cowgirl in the Sand
Everybody’s Alone (with Crazy Horse)
Dance Dance Dance (with Crazy Horse)
Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown
Tell Me Why
Southern Man
Don’t Let It Bring You Down
Cripple Creek Ferry
Helpless (Massey Hall)
Ohio (Massey Hall)
Out on the Weekend
Words (Between the Lines of Age)
Time Fades Away (12/15/72)
Don’t Be Denied (Tuscaloosa)
Last Dance
World on a String
Albuquerque
Walk On
Revolution Blues
For the Turnstiles
Ambulance Blues
Bad Fog of Loneliness (with Crazy Horse)
Separate Ways
White Line (Homegrown)
Danger Bird
Barstool Blues
Hawaii (with Crazy Horse)
Stringman
Pocahontas (Hitchhiker)
Powderfinger (Chrome Dreams)
Give Me Strength (Hitchhiker)
Captain Kennedy (Chrome Dreams)
Too Far Gone (Songs for Judy)
Sugar Mountain (Songs for Judy)
The Old Country Waltz
Sail Way (with The Ducks)
Little Wing (with The Ducks)
Human Highway (Comes a Time)
My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)
Thrasher
Comes a Time (Live Rust)
Grey Riders
Don’t Take Your Love Away From Me (Lucky Thirteen)
Ordinary People (Bluenote Cafe)
Country Home
Over and Over
Roll Another Number (For the Road) (Way Down in the Rust Bucket)
Homegrown (Way Down in the Rust Bucket)
Mansion on the Hill (Way Down in the Rust Bucket)
Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black) (Weld)
Crime in the City (Weld)
Cortez the Killer (Weld)
Like a Hurricane (Weld)
Old King (Dreamin’ Man ‘92)
Change Your Mind
I’m the Ocean
Truth Be Known
Scenery
Big Time
Scattered (Let’s Think About Livin’)
Slip Away (Year of the Horse)
Prisoners (Year of the Horse)
Goin’ Home (Toast)
Timberline
Daddy Went Walkin’
No Hidden Path
Love and War
Peaceful Valley Boulevard
Rumblin’
Travel On
Ramada Inn
Born in Ontario
Walk Like a Giant
Show Me
Help Me Lose My Mind
Song of the Seasons
They Might Be Lost
Welcome Back
Chevrolet