Neil Young anti-war album - full details unveiled

A full tracklisting and biting lyrics have emerged of Neil Young's forthcoming album ‘Living With War’ - and it seems that as had been reported the entire record is a concept album about the policies of George W Bush at home and abroad.

According to the website Down With Tyranny, which claims to have been given a personal playback of the record by Young's manager Elliott Roberts, the album was written and recorded in nine days following a conversation the singer had about the politics of the Bush administration with Steve Bing, a film producer friend who funds radical causes in America and recently donated $10 million to a study of global warming.

The political tone is set by opening track ‘After the Garden’, which kicks off with the lyrics : "Won't need no shadow man runnin' the government." It's followed by the title track, which incorporates part of ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ as Jimi Hendrix famously did at Woodstock in 1969.

‘Shock And Awe’ refers directly to the bombing of Baghdad with the lyrics: “Back in the days of shock and awe, thousands of children scarred for life/ Millions of tears for a soldier's wife, both sides are losing now.”

‘Flags of Freedom’ returns to the theme with the lines: “Today is the day our younger son is going off to war."

‘The Restless Consumer’ is built around the refrain "Don't need no more lies" while ‘Let's Impeach The President’ is even more forthright, with the words: "Let's impeach the president for lying, misleading our country into war/Abusing all the power that we gave him and shipping all our money out the door."

Other titles include ‘Lookin' For A Leader’ and ‘Families’ and the album ends with another Iraq song, ‘Roger and Out’, which includes a 100-piece choir singing ‘America The Beautiful'.

No release date has yet been set but given the topical nature of the material Young is said to want the album out before the summer, and is also reportedly considering streaming the songs on the Internet.

The full tracklisting is:

‘After The Garden’
‘Living With War’
‘The Restless Consumer’
‘Shock And Awe’
‘Families’
‘Flags Of Freedom’
‘Let’s Impeach The President’
‘Lookin’ For A Leader’
‘Roger And Out’