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“This is NOT ok with me,” Neil Young tweeted upon learning that his music had, once again, be used for a Donald Trump event.
The Canadian-born singer-songwriter, whose work from the pro-demonstration anthem “Ohio” to the anti-corporate rock opera Greendale, defies everything that the Trump White House stands for, has once again found his music used at a Donald pep rally.
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In addition to the campaign spinning Young’s 1989 anthem “Rockin’ In The Free World,” they also used his 1977 track “Like A Hurricane.” Young, who protested with American Indian leaders against the Keystone pipeline, and who released the sympathetic song “Pocahontas” in 1979, fired off a second tweet, stating “I stand in solidarity with the Lakota Sioux.”
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Trump’s decision to hold a rally beneath Mount Rushmore was no coincidence. During his speech he boasted about signing into law a 10-year penalty for demonstrators “who damage or deface federal statues…that includes our beautiful Mount Rushmore.”
The Black Hills of South Dakota, where the monument to four American presidents are carved, is considered sacred ground to many Sioux.
While Young has requested the Trump campaign cease and desist before, in 2018 he wrote on his website that “legally, he has the right to [use my songs], however it goes against my wishes.
In late June, however, The Rolling Stones pressed upon their publishers BMI to issue a legal warning to get Trump to stop playing "You Can't Always Get What You Want." While the specifics are complex, BMI argues that the Trump campaign has been relying on blanket venue rights, which violates the “Political Entities or Organizations License agreement.”
Earlier in the month, the Tom Petty Estate, which consists of his widow, his ex-wife, and his two daughters, sent the Trump campaign a cease and desist after his use of “I Won’t Back Down” in Tulsa. “Tom Petty would never want a song of his used for a campaign of hate,” their statement read.
If you have nine minutes and thirty-four seconds, check out Neil and his band Crazy Horse performing "Cortez the Killer" in 1991.
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