The Hollywood Palace was an hour-long American Television variety show which broadcast from January 1964 until February 1970. Unlike the Ed Sullivan Show, this one had a different presenter each week. This classic clip from 1967 features the remarkable Buffalo Springfield. The band had a Billboard top ten hit in the spring of 1967 with For What It’s Worth peaking at number seven. Stephen Stills wrote the protest song in response to the Sunset Strip Curfew riots in Los Angeles in November 1966, during the Vietnam War and a time of widespread civil unrest. As relevant today, or even more so than sixty years ago. Comedian Milton Berle introduces the band to screams of fans reminiscent of Beatlemania.
The band line-up featuring Stills on guitar and vocals, Bruce Palmer on bass, Dewey Martin on drums, Ritchie Furay on guitar, and Neil Young on vocals and guitar was short-lived, morphing into other well-known groups and projects within three years and after only three albums. Along with bands such as The Byrds, they defined a new era of folk rock that became the americana we recognise today.
Berle announces that the band are about to play one of their big hits, and that is how it begins, with them launching into the instantly recognisable For What It’s Worth. In a brilliant transition, Neil Young takes centre stage to play Mr. Soul, a self-penned song about his struggle with fame; there is more than a hint of irony as he confidently steps into the spotlight. Young wrote the song after an epilepsy attack on stage in San Francisco, which some fans thought was part of the act. Similar to Cinnamon Girl, which would later appear on Young’s Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere album, Mr. Soul brings an energy that takes the whole performance up a notch. Whether the television company knew this was going to happen isn’t clear, but once it was happening, there was no doubt they had to go with it. Young’s raw, biting guitar stands in stark contrast to the slick sound of For What It’s Worth.
Mr. Soul was originally a B-side to the single Bluebird. It was then included on the band’s second album, Buffalo Springfield Again (they certainly had a way with titles in the sixties). Young said that this song took only five minutes to write as he lay in a hospital bed recovering after his aforementioned collapse. There are other live versions of the song, but the transition on this old, grainy variety show is nothing short of exquisite. Check out the 2016 live cut with Metallica from the 30th Annual Bridge School Benefit concert. Lyrically, the song is a psychedelic riddle, with hidden meanings that need to be solved, or you can just enjoy the riff. The pivotal lines are “I was down on a frown when the messenger brought me a letter / I was raised by the praise of a fan who said I upset her / Any girl in the world could have easily known me better / She said you’re strange but don’t change and I let her“. Fame and everything that entails were already lying heavily on the twenty-one-year-old Young.
Now for a confessional and somewhat cautionary tale. Up until recently, my knowledge of Neil Young was limited to a copy of the iconic record Harvest, purchased many years ago. Played once, considered okay, and consigned to the “once and done” stack of vinyl. Discovering this clip, and as the years go by, I realise you cannot judge an artist by one album. It can take years for you to suddenly appreciate a singer or band by considering where they came from and all in between, or by seeing wonderful footage like this. Enjoy the clip while I go and search for that discarded copy of Harvest.
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