It was quite something, I must say.

And yes, you may laugh at me, because I almost didn’t go! I was so beleagured with so many things-when Dan Navarro called and said we had to be at Capitol records the next morning for a twelve hour session for Neil Young I hedged –albeit briefly. I think I’d just gotten back off the road and was leaving again, still mixing my cd, not wanting to drop everything and do something that would eat a whole day–yes, I was hesitant– though it didn’t last more than a few minutes.

That’s because Dan pressed me–thanks to the deity of your choice (Kinky Friedman’s phrase of course) and awakened from my stupor, I did indeed go. Forever grateful to my buddy Danny, I might add.
Out of twelve hours I think we were on our feet for ten and a half–when I got home I was so fried I was afraid my boots wouldn’t come off!

My very old friend Niko Bolas is his producer and it was lovely to see him as well. Neil was shy for the first three songs–he stayed in the booth and watched all of us through the glass, kind of talked to us through the session leaders. After that, he started venturing out into the room and directing us himself. In the end, he was really into working with us. Our excitement was also contagious to him. That’s when music making is at its finest.

I don’t know how many of us were there, but it was over 50 singers to be sure–I haven’t seen the final number. We were divided in the traditional fashion, sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses. The lyrics were put up on a big screen in the studio, and several times when they appeared, the whole studio broke out in applause and cheers. I think it really made Neil feel great to see the INSTANT reaction from so many musicians. Several singers, among them some of the black singers, approached him, shook his hand and THANKED him for taking this public stand.

It wasn’t big stars singing there-it was a union date–all the hottest session, film, commercial and tv singers–the ones people don’t know but who sing all the stuff we hear in the big media–and a few songwriters–myself, Bishop, Andrew Gold, Dan Navarro, and Freebo. In some cases we sang all the lines with Neil–talk about a phrasing nightmare!!! Try singing along with him turn for turn–it’s hard enough for one singer, but for a huge studio full of singers!!! He had a great sense of humor about his own work and about how hard some of this was for us. It was hard work, and it was great fun, and everyone felt like we’d been invited to be part of history.