Neil Young takes aim at Donald Trump in 'Lookin' for a Leader'

Neil Young has released a special ‘Porch Episode’ from his Fireside Sessions acoustic series. The politically-fuelled instalment features a slew of songs from the singers back-catalogue, as well as a reworked rendition of 2006’s ‘Lookin’ for a Leader’ that takes a swipe at Donald Trump.

The set was comprised of a choice selection of Young’s more politically-leaning cuts like ‘Southern Man,’ from 1970’s After The Gold Rush, ‘Alabama,’ from 1972’s Harvest and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s 1970 track ‘Ohio,’. Young also covered he Bob Dylan classic ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’.

‘Lookin’ for a Leader’ was played only once before this performance, at a 2006 Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young concert in Camden, New Jersey. The song was a plea for a leader to guide America during the bleakest days of the Bush administration. “Maybe it’s Obama,” Young wrote at the time. “But he thinks that he’s too young.” (Obama announced his campaign shortly after.)

The reworked version of the track see’s Young yearn for an Obama presidency, whilst condemning Donald Trump as an incompetent, racist leader. “We had Barack Obama and we really need him now,” he sings. “The man who stood behind him now has to take his place somehow/America has a leader building walls around our house/Don’t know Black Lives Matter and we gotta vote him out.”

“We got our election but corruption has a chance,” he continues. “We got to have a big win to regain confidence/America is beautiful/But she has an ugly side/We’re looking for a leader for this country far and wide/Just like his big new fence/This president’s going down/America is moving forward/You can feel it in every town/Scared of his own shadow building walls around our house/He’s hiding in his bunker/Something else to lie about.”

Last month, Neil Young released his long lost record Homegrown. The record was recorded across 1974 and 1975, but was ultimately shelved as Young deemed it too “personal.”

You can watch the full performance via the New Young Archives.