05-05-2025
Neil Young's Latest Single Uses F-Word for Tesla, Critiques Detroit Big Three
Neil Young, like many rockstars, is a gearhead. His book, 'Special Deluxe,' was an autobiographical look back at the 79-year-old folk rocker's life through his cars. At an age when many of his peers are slowing down, Young can still be spotted out and about cruising in his custom cars, such as his 'LincVolt' restomodded 1959 Lincoln Continental. He's also, not surprisingly, penned at least a half-dozen songs about cars. His latest, 'Lets Roll Again,' shows just how much Young is keeping up with the auto industry, and calls out GM, Ford, Stellantis, and Tesla in the wake of increased Chinese competition.
Written to the tune of Woody Guthrie's 'This Land Is Your Land,' 'Let's Roll Again' starts out with shots fired at the Detroit Three. 'Come on Ford, c'mon GM, come on Chrysler, let's roll again,' the song starts, before continuing, 'Build something useful that people need, build us a safe way for us to be. Build us something that won't kill our kids, that runs real clean.'
Young, who is a proponent of cleaner electrified cars, then spends a later verse detailing his wishlist for future product from Ford and GM, singing, 'Build us some small vans for city streets, and spend a clean day delivering. Don't want no loud sounds coming from the back, spewing a buncha poison—it's not a racetrack…'
The song's chorus' discusses a story MotorTrend has been paying particularly close attention to: increased competition from China in the form of the country's electric cars. 'On down the highway from place to place, come on America let's get in the race. Now China's way ahead, they're building clean cars. Some days are like that, it doesn't matter. Some days are like that, so taste your freedom,' he sings.
Young's final verse calls out Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk, the latter of which has been in the news lately for his outsized role in the Trump administration, singing 'If you're a fascist, then get a Tesla. If it's electric it doesn't matter. If you're a democrat than taste your freedom. Get whatever you want and taste your freedom.'
You can listen to the song yourself below:
