![]() ![]() Bob Bonn of the Beaver County Times compared it unfavorably to Young's earlier song about European conquest of the Indians, " Cortez the Killer," in that the lyrics do not match the "brilliant, melancholy and haunting" quality of the earlier song, nor is Young's guitar playing as evocative. Rolling Stone critic Nelson describes "Pocahontas" as being "simply amazing, and nobody but Neil Young could have written it." Music critic Johnny Rogan called the song "one of Young's most accomplished acoustic tracks from the period and a perfect example of his ability to mix pathos and comedy." Author Ken Bielen calls it "a classic piece of music in Young's body of work. According to Greene, the melody borrows from Carole King's 1963 song "He's a Bad Boy." Critical reception Allmusic critic Matthew Greenwald describes the song as having a "strong folk/ country melody. Young accompanies himself on acoustic guitar. Nelson and others have commented on the effect of the "bawdy pun" on sleeping with Matoaka to "find out how she felt." Finally, in what critic Jim Sullivan calls "a biting surrealistic twist", in the last verse the narrator sits with Matoaka and Marlon Brando, discussing Hollywood and major modern technological milestones from the mid-1900s such as the Astrodome and the first television. The time period fast forwards, moving from the settlers massacring the buffalo to a bank on the corner in a single line, and then to the present day where the narrator sits in his room with an indigenous rug and a "pipe to share." The following verse then provides a flashback, which Nelson calls "so loony and moving that you don't know whether to laugh or cry," and challenges the listener to try to reduce that verse to a single emotion: According to Rogan, Young's "casual" delivery adds to the horror even more. ![]() The listener is also unsure whether to be relieved that the soldiers might have shown some small degree of mercy to these babies, or whether to feel even greater anger that the defenseless babies were left to probably die slowly out in the open. While the tragedy is described in the first person, the word "might" also creates a more disinterested tone. The narrator appears to be in the middle of the situation with the word "might" in the lines "They killed us in our teepee," but then undercuts that appearance with the lines "They might have left some babies/Cryin' on the ground." Rogan discusses the disorientating effect of these lines. According to music critic Johnny Rogan, Young describes the tragedy with restraint. "Pocahontas" begins with an image that evokes "a cold breeze whistling by": Rolling Stone author Andy Greene describes the song as a "surreal journey through time from the 17th century" to modern times. However, by the end of the song the lyrics have jumped to modern times, with a fictional meeting in the Astrodome between the narrator, Pocahontas (actual name, Matoaka) and indigenous rights activist actor Marlon Brando. Rolling Stone critic Paul Nelson claims that "Young sails through time and space like he owns them." The lyrics of "Pocahontas" primarily describe the massacre of an indigenous tribe by European colonizers. Rolling Stone contributing editor Rob Sheffield finds "Pocahontas" to be "an agonizingly lonely ballad." The themes of "Pocahontas" include passage of time, travel through space and companionship. ![]() Ĭommentators over the years have noted the song's similarity to Carole King's "He's a Bad Boy." Lyrics and music The seventeenth-century Indigenous heroine Matoaka (white name, Pocahontas) is a central character in The Bridge. ![]() Young may have been inspired to write the song after reading Hart Crane's 1930 poem The Bridge, which Young read in London in 1971. The same recording, with additional overdubs, was released on Rust Never Sleeps. Young originally recorded a version of "Pocahontas" in the mid-1970s for his planned but unreleased album Chrome Dreams, and an early recording of the song is included on Young's 2017 release Hitchhiker. ![]()
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