Neil Young has revealed that one the favourite songs of his youth was a classic by Ian and Sylvia Tyson that he went on to record himself.
In a conversation with Conan O’Brien, the 77-year-old Canadian legend reflected on hearing “Four Strong Winds” in Manitoba when he was young. (Young said he was 11 or 12 years old at the time, but the song was not released until he was at least 17.)
Young said he was camping with his friend (and future Squires bandmate) Jack Harper on Falcon Lake when he found the song on a restaurant jukebox.
“I loved it so much that I put nickels and dimes in the jukebox to play it over and over and over again until I didn’t have any change,” Young recalled. “I would just stand there and listen to it.
“It’s a beautiful song. For some reason it really, really got to me and I could feel the magic of the music.”
The song was written by Ian Tyson, who died on Dec. 29 at 89.
Referring to the lyric “Think I'll go out to Alberta,” Young quipped that it was “nice to hear one of the other provinces. It could easily have been Manitoba or Saskatchewan.”
Young recorded his version of “Four Strong Winds” for his 1978 album Comes a Time.