Neil Young Drops Blazing New Track ‘Vacancy’

Neil Young has released “Vacancy,” the latest offering from Homegrown, the previously shelved 1975 album he’s finally releasing on June 19th.

One of the seven unreleased tracks on the album, “Vacancy” opens with a churning guitar riff, as Young sings “Who are you?/Where are you going to?” He then addresses an old lover: “I look in your eyes and I don’t know what’s there/You poison me with that long, vacant stare.”

Recorded at Young’s Broken Arrow Ranch Studio in January 1975, the track features Stan Szelest on Wurlitzer organ, Ben Keith on lap slide guitar, bassist Tim Drummond and Karl T. Himmel on drums.

“Vacancy” follows the single “Try,” another previously unreleased track he performed on tour between 2007 and 2008. He recently performed the title track — released off 1977’s American Stars ‘N Bars — during his home concert series in quarantine.

Young, who recently announced a Bootleg Series, dropped a 2019 solo acoustic rendition of “Southern Man” in the wake of mass protests over the police killing of George Floyd. “Have hope,” he wrote in an op-ed on his website on Monday. “I feel a change. … We know black lives matter. My heart goes out to all our black families affected, so that’s all the black families through American history. I feel like we are turning a corner. All Together, all colors on the street. We know our mission is the right one for America and for mankind.”