Song of the Week – Unknown Legend, Neil Young

Ignored            Obscured             Restored

At the end of 1992, Neil Young released his 19th studio album, Harvest Moon.  After a couple of hard rock albums – Ragged Glory, Arc, and Weld – the folky, acoustic Harvest Moon was a welcome return to the style of earlier fan favorites like Harvest and Comes a Time.

The album’s lead track is “Unknown Legend.” 

The lyrics are often said to be written for his then-wife Pegi.  But quotes from several of his biographies paint a more complex picture.  Pegi may have been one influence but it appears the woman in the song is an amalgam of several subjects.

It’s a beautiful song with touching lyrics about a waitress in a diner who is raising two kids but doesn’t give up her lust for life.  This portrait of a woman is a much more sympathetic treatment of a woman than some of Young’s other songs like the cringe worthy “A Man Needs a Maid.”

She used to work in a diner
Never saw a woman look finer
I used to order just to watch her float across the floor
She grew up in a small town
Never put her roots down
Daddy always kept movin’, so she did too

Somewhere on a desert highway
She rides a Harley-Davidson
Her long blonde hair flyin’ in the wind
She’s been runnin’ half her life
The chrome and steel she rides
Collidin’ with the very air she breathes


The air she breathes

You know it ain’t easy
You got to hold on
She was an unknown legend in her time
Now she’s dressin’ two kids
Lookin’ for a magic kiss
She gets the far-away look in her eyes

Somewhere on a desert highway
She rides a Harley-Davidson
Her long blonde hair flyin’ in the wind
She’s been runnin’ half her life
The chrome and steel she rides
Collidin’ with the very air she breathes
The air she breathes

Linda Ronstadt provides the backing vocals.

In the Jonathan Demme movie, Rachel’s Getting Married (2008), the song is sung a cappella by the groom (Tunde Adebimpe of the band TV on the Radio) in the wedding ceremony scene.  It is lovely.

Enjoy… until next week.

One thought on “Song of the Week – Unknown Legend, Neil Young

  1. Along with “Harvest,” “Harvest Moon” just may be tied for my favorite Neil Young album. Of course, there are a lot of other great songs along the way as well.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.