How To Make an Old Guy Feel “Young” Again

I remember back so vividly, it was 1967 and I was 12 years old. My sister and I bought an album for like a $1.95…big money for us…and on that album was the song “Mr Soul” and the lead singer was this skinny scraggly looking Canadian dude (I had never seen one  up to that point in my life…a Canadian that is) with a high squeaky voice singing “well hello Mr Soul I droped by to pick up a reason.” I still don’t know what that means…but I still remember thinking it must have meant something really important to Neil. 

That album, “Buffalo Springfield Again”, pretty well set the course of my music taste for the last 41 years. I always want a song with a meaningful lyric, a crunchy electric guitar, and the very present distinct sound of a Martin acoustic guitar (which my wonderful wife bought me on my 50^th birthday).

So, fast forward 41 years. We are on the trip of a lifetime to see castles and the beautiful Irish landscape,meet wonderful people, and just experience all that is Irish (1/4 of my heritage), when we see that Neil Young is scheduled to play in Ireland while we’re here. Through the power of the Internet (thanks to Al Gore) we book two tickets the night before the concert. 

The concert is north of Dublin at the Malahide Castle. A 16^th century castle, where as one concert goer explained, “there were no battles fought here…it’s really just a large house.” Whatever, it was older than our country.

So imagine our surprise, based on our late ticket purchase, when they hand us a blue wrist badge. Not knowing what it was we asked the castle expert behind us what it meant. “We are in the first 1,000 people” he said, “we get to go right up front.”  

Whoa!!!! We were in the third or fourth row.  So close I could see every freckle on the set up crew’s Irish face.  How did I get so lucky, or blessed, or well…priviledged. To come all the way to Ireland to see a man who has been impacting me for so long, and then to be so close I could almost touch him (fortunately for me the bouncers were keeping whacko’s like me behind the fence).

So when Neil took the stage and his first song was a 19 minute jam of pure electric wailing and crunch…I was a goner. I was so taken back…so blown away. I had waited a long time for this moment…and it was worth every penny we over spent to get here (Dave Ramsey is spinning in his chair right now). Third song in…you guessed it…Mr Soul. I just  dropped by to pick up a reason…a reason for expensive vacations…a reason for recreating…vacations are supposed to renew us and make us feel young again. To make us feel like 12 year olds with their whole lives ahead of them. To make them feel as if something as simple as a song, can change the course or direction of another. Wow…did I need to see Neil Young…what ever the cost…the benefits were priceless.