Neil Young 'This Corrosion' link?

[deckard303]

Could of course be entirely coincidental, but the following jumped out at me from the Neil Young in the Seventies feature in new issue of MOJO.

He's talking with KMET Los Angeles DJ Mary Turner in October 1979 about his 'Rust Never Sleeps' album/tour (NB this interview was also released as a double LP by Westwood One);

"I can relate to 'Rust Never Sleeps'. The longer I keep on going, the more I have to fight this corrosion. Now, that's gotten to be like the World Series for me... whether I will corrode and eventually not be able to move any more and just repeat myself until further notice or whether I'll be able to expand and keep the corrosion down."

Might Von have heard this interview and made a note of that phrase for future use???

PS Which of us is the wealthy f**ker who shelled out £200+ for the 'Dominion' A/B label 7" promo from the BBC Radio One archive on eBay in past 48hrs?!

[Quiff Boy]

That's entirely possible, given Neil Young's cultural footprint is visible in quite a few places within that scene/circle of friends.

Salvation and The Mish both covered NY songs, for example.

Good find.

[MrChris]

With most songwriters, I'd say 'why think a phrase would stick in their heads for eight years before they finally used it?' With Von, I'd say: very possible! So yes, good find.

[Planet Dave]

Next one of us to bump into Von can ask him, then brace themselves for the withering putdown

[jost 7]

sounds very feasible. inspiration transforms into art, as always

[FadeInto1]

With most songwriters, I'd say 'why think a phrase would stick in their heads for eight years before they finally used it?' With Von, I'd say: very possible! So yes, good find.

But doesn't the story go that "This Corrosion" is used mockingly, as a typical Hussey (or Hussey-esque, in Von's estimation) style bit of nonsense?

[Quiff Boy]

Doesn't mean the title wasn't a phrase he heard elsewhere and repurposed

Or maybe he saw the phrase, and maybe he didn't even like NY, so used it as another layer of dig at Wayne (who seemingly did like NY)

Or maybe we're reading way too much into this

[mh]

There's evidence that Von had the title since at least early/mid 1985, from the "Left on m*****n and Revenge" track list, so the title itself is hardly to be considered a pop at Wayne. I'd definitely consider the Neil Young theory to be at least credible based on that alone.

[Nonesuch]

I've always thought that 'Old Man' by Neil Young had a few lines that sounded like bits of Sisters lyrics.

I can see FALAA, This Corrosion and Lucretia. Maybe...

Old man, look at my life
I'm a lot like you were
Old man, look at my life
I'm a lot like you were

Old man, look at my life
Twenty four and there's so much more
Live alone in a paradise
That makes me think of two

Love lost, such a cost
Give me things that don't get lost
Like a coin that won't get tossed
Rolling home to you

Old man, take a look at my life, I'm a lot like you
I need someone to love me the whole day through
Ah, one look in my eyes and you can tell that's true

Lullabies, look in your eyes
Run around the same old town
Doesn't mean that much to me
To mean that much to you

I've been first and last
Look at how the time goes past
But I'm all alone at last
Rolling home to you

Old man, take a look at my life, I'm a lot like you
I need someone to love me the whole day through
Ah, one look in my eyes and you can tell that's true

Old man, look at my life
I'm a lot like you were
Old man, look at my life
I'm a lot like you were

[FadeInto1]

There's evidence that Von had the title since at least early/mid 1985, from the "Left on m*****n and Revenge" track list, so the title itself is hardly to be considered a pop at Wayne. I'd definitely consider the Neil Young theory to be at least credible based on that alone.

You're the scholar of course, and may be ready to correct me but I think the earliest mention of the title in relation to LOMAR is after LOMAR had pivoted from being "the next Sisters album" to "an Andrew Eldritch solo album", so it doesn't preclude the possibility that it was a post-Wayne title.

I'm not discounting the possible relevance of the Neil Young quote, by the way. My prior comment was more in response to the suggestion that the quote had been in Eldritch's head for 8 years.

Isn't there an interview somewhere, where Eldritch suggests that Wayne had a bunch of meaningless phrases in a lyric notebook, which he'd stitch together to equally meaningless effect (I'm paraphrasing Eldritch here, not taking a position on Wayne's writing)? I suppose I'm imagining a scenario where Eldritch becomes aware of Hussey's (as I understand it, the greater NY devotee of the two) co-opting of the phrase, and then lifts the phrase for himself, derisively. Seems just as plausible to me that the phrase made its way to Eldritch via Wayne, who got it from the Neil Young interview.

Not that any of this matters, of course.

[mh]

Further information here, including dating of the Left on m*****n and Revenge title and proposed tracklist to "summer 85", inclusion of This Corrosion, and inclusion of Garden of Delight as a B-side.

https://sistersfan.blogspot.com/2019/02 ... -pt-3.html

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/i ... howard.jpg

Garden of Delight is, to my mind, conclusive evidence that the title of This Corrosion was not originally an attack on Wayne.

Of course Von having the title is no indication whatsoever that he also had the lyrics at the time. Even the 1986 Sisterhood demos of This Corrosion are very fragmentary in that regard, with just the "gimme siren child" verse, the chorus, and a bunch of chanted "hey now"s. The full lyrics probably came later.

The same applies to the other songs. Wayne himself has described Andrew's ideas as very sketchy, and there's no reason to doubt this. The only ones we definitely know existed at that time (summer 85) are Bury Me Deep, Garden of Delight, and Wide Receiver. Of the others there's no reason to think that they existed beyond being titles. Boyd Steemson wrote the lyrics to Giving Ground in early 86, so we know those didn't exist in 85. Ritual existed by late 85 and eventually became Come Together. Torch existed in some form by the time of the fatal rehearsals that led to Craig and Wayne walking out. Wayne speculates that the Lucretia baseline was the tipping point for Craig, but the lyrical content of that was explicitly "welcome Patricia" so it can't have existed. The bassline, assuming Wayne is correct, is possibly one of the other titles.

The Neil Young theory still seems credible to me.

[DJW]

I've always thought that 'Old Man' by Neil Young had a few lines that sounded like bits of Sisters lyrics.

I can see FALAA, This Corrosion and Lucretia. Maybe...

Twenty four and there's so much more

And Vision Thing / More

[Husek]

I've always thought that 'Old Man' by Neil Young had a few lines that sounded like bits of Sisters lyrics.

I can see FALAA, This Corrosion and Lucretia. Maybe...

Twenty four and there's so much more

And Vision Thing / More

and 1959.

[copper]

I've always thought that 'Old Man' by Neil Young had a few lines that sounded like bits of Sisters lyrics.

And the B-side on the Old Man single was...

The Needle and the Damage Done.

[FadeInto1]

Ok. I buy it now.

[Brad]

There is an old interview as well where Von mentions wanting to be on the Neil Young tour, back in 1991 around the Ragged Glory tour.
Because "he had a lot in common with Neil Young" or words to that effect.