"Are You Ready for the Country?" | |
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Song by Neil Young | |
from the album Harvest | |
Released | February 1, 1972 |
Recorded | September 2, 1971 |
Studio | Broken Arrow Ranch |
Genre | Country rock |
Length | 3:33 |
Label | Reprise |
Songwriter(s) | Neil Young |
Producer(s) |
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"Are You Ready for the Country?" | ||||
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Single by Waylon Jennings | ||||
from the album Are You Ready for the Country | ||||
B-side | "So Good Woman" [2] | |||
Released | November 20, 1976 | |||
Genre | Country rock | |||
Length | 3:12 | |||
Label | RCA Nashville | |||
Songwriter(s) | Neil Young | |||
Producer(s) |
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Waylon Jennings singles chronology | ||||
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"Are You Ready for the Country?" is a song written by Neil Young and released on his 1972 Harvest album. The track features Young on piano backed by the studio band dubbed The Stray Gators, comprising Jack Nitzsche on slide guitar, [3] [4] Ben Keith on pedal steel guitar, [4] Tim Drummond on bass, [3] and Kenny Buttrey on drums. Backing vocals on the track are by David Crosby and Graham Nash. [3] The recording was made in a studio set up in a barn on Young's ranch. [4] [5]
According to Sam Inglis, the "country" in the title is never made explicit, and while certainly not a country like Belgium and it seems like it could be in the United States south like contemporary Young songs "Southern Man" and "Alabama," the lyrics are not explicitly political like those songs. [4] Rather than addressing issues like racism, the lyrics of "Are You Ready for the Country" are more about generalized dread. [4] Lyrics like "I was talkin' to the preacher, said, 'God was on my side'/Then I ran into the hangman, he said, 'It's time to die'" imply that there is more to the story, and perhaps a more interesting backstory, than what is explicitly stated, and hint at an organized religion theme. [5] [3] The title may be Young asking his audience if they are willing to follow him into country music, although Inglis states that the arrangement is more blues than country. [4]
Allmusic critic Matthew Greenwald states that the arrangement provides a sense of whimsy, highlighting Young's "funky" piano and Nitzsche's "lazy" slide guitar. [6] Ken Bielen describes the melody as "punchy" and says it works well with the song's "sing-a-long vocal character." [3] Bielen also comments on the "rustic" quality added by Nitzsche's slide guitar. [3]
Rolling Stone Magazine critic John Mendelsohn said the song seemed like "an in-joke throwaway intended for the amusement of certain of Neil's superstar pals." [7]
The song was released as a single by American country music artist Waylon Jennings in 1976, the second single from the album named after the song, Are You Ready for the Country . Jennings changed the lyrics of the chorus from "Are you ready for the country/Because it's time to go" to "Are you ready for the country?/Are you ready for me?" The Jennings single reached #7 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. [8]
Chart (1976–77) | Peak position |
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US Hot Country Songs ( Billboard ) [9] | 7 |
Canadian RPM Country Tracks | 3 |
Chart (2015–16) | Peak position |
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US Country Airplay ( Billboard ) [10] | 46 |
Harvest is the fourth studio album by Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released on February 1, 1972, by Reprise Records, catalogue number MS 2032. It featured the London Symphony Orchestra on two tracks and vocals by guests David Crosby, Graham Nash, Linda Ronstadt, Stephen Stills, and James Taylor. It topped the Billboard 200 album chart for two weeks, and spawned two hit singles, "Old Man", which peaked at No. 31 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and "Heart of Gold", which reached No. 1. It was the best-selling album of 1972 in the United States.
Harvest Moon is the 21st studio album by Canadian musician Neil Young, released on November 2, 1992. Many of its backing musicians also appeared on Young's 1972 album Harvest.
Time Fades Away is a 1973 live album by Canadian-American musician Neil Young. Consisting of previously unreleased material, it was recorded with the Stray Gators on the support tour following 1972's highly successful album Harvest. Due to Young's dissatisfaction with the tour, it was omitted from his catalogue and not released on compact disc until 2017. The album is the first of the so-called "Ditch Trilogy" of albums that Young recorded following the major success of Harvest, whereupon the scope of his success and acclaim became so apparent that Young subsequently experienced alienation from his music and career.
"Out on the Weekend" is a song written by Neil Young that was the opening song of his 1972 album Harvest.
Honky Tonk Heroes is a country music album by Waylon Jennings, released in 1973 on RCA Victor. With the exception of the final track on the album, "We Had It All", all of the songs on the album were written or co-written by Billy Joe Shaver. The album is considered an important piece in the development of the outlaw sub-genre in country music as it revived the honky tonk music of Nashville and added elements of rock and roll to it.
Dreaming My Dreams is the twenty-second studio album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings. The album was co-produced with Jack Clement and recorded at Glaser Sound Studio in Nashville, Tennessee, between February and July 1974.
Waylon & Willie is a duet studio album by American singers Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, released by RCA Records in 1978. In the US, it stayed at #1 album on the country album charts for ten weeks and would spend a total of 126 weeks on the country charts.
Are You Ready for the Country is a studio album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings, released on RCA Victor in 1976.
Ol' Waylon is a studio album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings. It was released on RCA Victor in 1977. It eventually became one of Jennings' highest-selling albums, due in no small part to the phenomenal success of the chart-topping "Luckenbach, Texas ." It was also the singer's fourth solo album in a row to reach the top of the country charts, remaining there for thirteen weeks and becoming country music's first platinum album by any single solo artist.
"Cowgirl in the Sand" is a song written by Neil Young and first released on his 1969 album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. Young has included live versions of the song on several albums and on the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young album 4 Way Street. It has also been covered by The Byrds on their self-titled album. Like three other songs from Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, "Cinnamon Girl", "Down by the River" and the title track, Young wrote "Cowgirl in the Sand" while he was suffering from the flu with a high fever at his home in Topanga, California.
"A Man Needs a Maid" is a song written by Neil Young that was first released on his 1972 album Harvest. It is one of two songs on Harvest on which Young is accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra. It has appeared on several of Young's live and compilation albums.
"Can't You See" is a song written by Toy Caldwell of The Marshall Tucker Band. The song was originally recorded by the band on their 1973 debut album, The Marshall Tucker Band, and released as the album's first single. Record World called it "a strong rhythm item that continually builds and builds." A live version was released in 1977 and peaked at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100. Cover versions of "Can't You See" have charted for Waylon Jennings and the Zac Brown Band with Kid Rock (2010).
"No More" is a song written by Neil Young that was first released on his 1989 album Freedom. Although not released commercially as a single, it reached #7 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. Young performed the song live on a Saturday Night Live performance on September 30, 1989.
"Harvest" is a song written by Neil Young that was the title song of his 1972 album Harvest.
"From Hank to Hendrix" is a song written by Neil Young that was first released on his 1992 album Harvest Moon. Young has frequently included it in live sets and it has been included on a number of live and compilation albums.
"Unknown Legend" is a song written by Neil Young that was first released on his 1992 album Harvest Moon. Although it was not released as a single, it reached #38 on the Billboard Magazine Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
"I Believe in You" is a song written by Neil Young that was first released on his 1970 album After the Gold Rush. It has also been covered by other artists, including Linda Ronstadt, Robin Zander and Rita Coolidge. Coolidge's version was released as a single and was a minor hit in Canada.
"Crime in the City " is a song written by Neil Young that was first released on his 1989 album Freedom, although Young had performed longer versions in concert earlier. It was not released as a single but reached number 34 on the Billboard Magazine Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. It is a lengthy song, with a released version of almost nine minutes, but earlier versions were more than twice as long. It has been characterized as a document of moral rot in urban regions of the United States in the late 1980s.
"Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" is a song written by Neil Young that was originally released as the title track of his 1969 album with Crazy Horse, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. The song was written earlier, and a different version was originally considered for Young's 1968 solo debut album Neil Young.
"Tonight's the Night" is a song written by Neil Young that was first released on his 1975 album Tonight's the Night. Two versions of the song bookended the album, with one version as the first song, and the other as the last. "Tonight's the Night" has also appeared on some of Young's live and compilation albums.