"Mr. Soul" is a song recorded by the Canadian-American rock band Buffalo Springfield in 1967.[1] It was released June 15, 1967, as the B-side to their fourth single "Bluebird" and later included on the group's second album Buffalo Springfield Again.
"Mr. Soul" is about Neil Young's personal problems with fame and disregard for rock stardom.[2] It was written by Young after he had an epilepsy attack after an early show with Buffalo Springfield in San Francisco. (Many in the audience wondered if the attack was part of the act.[3]) While a patient at UCLA Medical Center, he wrote the song once he was awake and recovering and told to return for further tests.[3] The lyrics reflected Young's experience, feeling as though he was about to die.[3] Thereupon, he was advised by his doctor to never take LSD or any other hallucinogenic drugs.[3]
In a contemporary review of the song, Cash Box called it "a rhythmic, funky-filled stanza".[11]
An excerpt of a live version of the song is heard in the song "Broken Arrow" (1967), with the sounds of cheering crowds, taken from the cheering for the Beatles.
Young has frequently performed the song both solo and with various backing bands. Live recordings appear on Sugar Mountain – Live at Canterbury House 1968, 1993's Unplugged and 1997's Year of the Horse with Crazy Horse. In addition, Young re-recorded the song in a synthrock style on his 1982 album Trans, with vocals processed with a vocoder;[12] a live performance of this version also appears in the film Solo Trans. During the 2016 Bridge School Benefit concerts, Young guested with Metallica to perform an acoustic cover of the song.[13]
Cher recorded a cover of the song for her 1975 album Stars. In 1984, new wave band Wire Train covered the song as a bonus track of their album In A Chamber.[14] In 2004, Rush covered the song on their cover EP of songs from the 1960s, Feedback.[15] The song has also been recorded by The Everly Brothers in December 1968, but was not released until 1984 on their studio album Nice Guys.[16]
^Luft, Eric v.d. (2009). Die at the Right Time!: A Subjective Cultural History of the American Sixties. Gegensatz Press. p. 246. ISBN978-1-933237-39-8.
