Two days before the 52nd annual Grammy Awards an impressive lists of artists will honor Neil Young, as he becomes the MusiCares Person of the Year honoree. This will mark the 20th anniversary of the event.
The Person of the Year award is based on an artist’s career musical and humanitarian contributions. According to GRAMMY.com portions of the Person of the Year event will be streamed live for the first time ever at their website. The event will take place on January 29th, in Los Angeles as part of Grammy week.
Young is certainly worthy of this honor as his highly influential musical career speaks for itself. Not to be overshadowed are his humanitarian efforts. Two longstanding events highlight this part of Neil Young’s work.
Young is a founding member of the long running Farm Aid franchise. Farm Aid began in 1985 as a benefit concert for American family farmers. Farm Aid is now an organization dedicated to creating awareness of the plight of the family farmer in the modern corporate economic climate. An annual concert is held to raise money to benefit this cause.
Here is a clip of Young performing at a Farm Aid Concert in 1987:
Young’s Bridge School Benefit concerts, held annually in Mountain View California since 1986, have contributed greatly to the development of the Bridge School, which specializes in assisting child
children with severe physical impairments and complex communication needs. A staggering list of performers have contributed to this endeavor. Artists that have performed at the Bridge School Benefit concerts include, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Elvis Costello, Willie Nelson, Paul McCartney, and Pearl Jam just to name a few.
CLICK HERE to view highlights from the 2009 concert courtesy of the Bridge School Youtube channel.
Jack Black, Cheryl Crow, Jackson Browne, T Bone Burnett, Crosby Stills and Nash, Patty Griffin, Ben Harper, Josh Groban, Elton John, Norah Jones, John Mellencamp, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Wilco, James Taylor, Lucinda Williams, and K.D. Lang among others.
The past recipients of this honor are:
1991 – David Crosby
1992 – Bonnie Raitt
1993 – Natalie Cole
1994 – Gloria Estefan
1995 – Tony Bennett
1996 – Quincy Jones
1997 – Phil Collins
1998 – Luciano Pavarotti
1999 – Stevie Wonder
2000 – Elton John
2001 – Paul Simon
2002 – Billy Joel
2003 – Bono
2004 – Sting
2005 – Brian Wilson
2006 – James Taylor
2007 – Don Henley
2008 – Aretha Franklin
2009 – Neil Diamond
Congratulations Neil Young!
CLICK HERE to watch Neil Young’s emotional cover of “Pants on the Ground”
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Neil Young – “This Old House” FULL LYRICS
Midnight, that old clock
keeps ticking,
The kids are all asleep
and I’m walking the floor.
Darlin’ I can see
that you’re dreaming,
And I don’t wanna wake you up
When I close the door.
This old house of ours
is built on dreams
And a businessman don’t know
what that means.
There’s a garden outside
she works in every day
And tomorrow morning
a man from the bank’s
Gonna come and take it all away.
Lately, I’ve been thinking
’bout daddy,
And how he always
made things work,
when the chips were down,
And I know
I’ve got something inside me
There’s always a light
there to guide me
To what can’t be found.
This old house of ours
is built on dreams
And a businessman don’t know
what that means.
There’s a swing outside
the kids play on every day
And tomorrow morning
a man from the bank’s
Gonna come and take it all away.
Take it all away,
take it all away,
take it all away.
Take it all away,
take it all away,
take it all away.
Remember how we first came
here together?
Standing on an empty lot,
holding hands.
Later, we came back
in the moonlight
And made love
right where the kitchen is,
Then we made our plans.
This old house of ours
is built on dreams
And a businessman don’t know
what that means.
There’s a garden outside
she works in every day
And tomorrow morning
a man from the bank’s
Gonna come and take it all away.
Take it all away,
take it all away,
take it all away.
Take it all away,
take it all away,
take it all away.
