SONG Sugar MountainWRITTEN BY Neil Young
PERFORMED BY Neil Young
APPEARS ON Decade (1977); Live Rust (1979); Sugar Mountain: Live At Canterbury House 1968 (2008); Neil Young Archives, Vol. 1: 1963-1972 (2009)
NOTE According to Joni Mitchell, the line "you can't be twenty on Sugar Mountain" stems from Young's realization that he would soon no longer be allowed into the teen-only hangouts that had been the staple of his social life.
Perhaps because they must thrive in a decidedly unsentimental environment, rock stars from Jackson Browne to The Kinks have looked back on innocence of childhood with a wistfulness and nostalgia unusual for the genre. None, perhaps, did this to better effect than Neil Young, who wrote "Sugar Mountain" at the ripe old age of 19.
Using an amusement park as a metaphor for childhood, Young retraces his youth beginning with vague memories of "the barkers and the colored balloons," the hoopla of the park, and eating candy with his friends and parents. In later years, he catches the eye of a girl and even sneaks his first cigarette "underneath the stairs." Finally, he eagerly heads out on its own only to discover that "real" isn't what he had imagined.
Young maintains that he wrote 126 verses to "Sugar Mountain" and that -- in the process of paring them down to four -- he included the worst verse he ever wrote (the third). To me, though this image of teen-aged boy huddling under the stairs, nervously smoking after having given some offense -- epitomizes adolescent anxiety. Although it does not depict growing up with the same fondness as the first two verses, it's a perfect bridge to the uncertainties of adulthood evoked in the final verse.
LYRICSOh, to live on Sugar Mountain
With the barkers and the colored balloons
You can't be twenty on Sugar Mountain
Though you're thinking that you're leaving there too soon
You're leaving there too soon
It's so noisy at the fair
But all your friends are there
And the candy floss you had
And your mother and your dad
Oh, to live on Sugar Mountain
With the barkers and the colored balloons
You can't be twenty on Sugar Mountain
Though you're thinking that you're leaving there too soon
You're leaving there too soon
There's a girl just down the aisle
Oh, to turn and see her smile
You can hear the words she wrote
As you read the hidden note
Oh, to live on Sugar Mountain
With the barkers and the colored balloons
You can't be twenty on Sugar Mountain
Though you're thinking that you're leaving there too soon
You're leaving there too soon
Now you're underneath the stairs
And you're giving back some glares
To the people who you met
And it's your first cigarette
Oh, to live on Sugar Mountain
With the barkers and the colored balloons
You can't be twenty on Sugar Mountain
Though you're thinking that you're leaving there too soon
You're leaving there too soon
Now you say you're leaving home
because you want to be alone.
Ain't it funny how you feel
When you're finding out it's real?
Oh, to live on Sugar Mountain
With the barkers and the colored balloons
You can't be twenty on Sugar Mountain
Though you're thinking that you're leaving there too soon
You're leaving there too soon
I've always loved Neil Young, but I just never connected to this song. Now I know why not: I've never been sentimental about my youth. In fact, I wasn't even sentimental about youth when I was young. Heh, heh! I'm pulling off a Benjamin Button - I was born old and I'm getting younger as I age.
ReplyDeleteStill, an interesting post; you made me think about why I've always passed over this song.
I actually wonder how sentimental some of these guys are about their youth. I suspect it has to do with suddenly being cast adrift in a world of agents and cut-throat record execs.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I've always respected SM as a nice piece songwriting for the smooth transitions from one phase of youth to the next.
ReplyDeleteI would be interested to read all 126 verse of this song. I wonder if they are written down somewhere or just forgotten?
ReplyDeleteYour explanation of the notorious third verse, which Neil has called the lamest that he has ever written, is, I believe, spot-on: "it's a perfect bridge to the uncertainties of adulthood evoked in the final verse."
ReplyDeleteLet me see if I can help salvage a defense of that third verse. Sure: the notion of a kid sneaking a smoke is commonplace, banal. But isn't that Neil Young's point? The move fron the magic, wonder, and delight of childhood -- the innocence and clarity of Sugar Mountain -- to the banality of everyday adult life is a tremendous letdown.
Only poetry can take the mature man back to Sugar Mountain -- with a heavy dose of wisdom, one hopes, thrown in.
I think Neil knows this. But his off-the-cuff criticism of his own songwriting sounds unnecessarily defensive. He needn't feel bad. His great song never fails to return me to Sugar Mountain.
I enjoy neils music. But did not understand colored balloons
ReplyDeleteI 've always connected with this song as more of a coming of age and having to face the decisions that come with adulthood.
ReplyDeleteWhat the "barkers" refer to?
ReplyDeleteA barker is a carnival worker who stands outside of an attraction urging people to check it out.
DeleteIt doesn't really set in until you feel what he says about growing up: "now you say your leaving home, because you want to be alone; ain't it funny how ya feel when your finding out it real: Being alone for the first time, after everyone's gone and loneliness sets in for the first time in your life....
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know if Sugar Mountain was a real amusement park?
ReplyDelete