When Neil Young proclaims that music can't change the world, you can't help but sit up and take notice.
Back in the '70s, Young (and pals Crosby, Stills and Nash) set a course to change the world with songs like "Find the Cost of Freedom" and "Ohio" and their no-holds-barred antiwar message.
Young is still protesting musically, most recently with his 2006 album, Living With War.
But now, much to the dismay of past and future protesters everywhere, Young says, "I think that the time when music could change the world is past. I think it would be very naive to think that in this day and age."
Young was speaking to reporters at the Berlinale Film Festival in Germany, where the movie CSNY Deja Vu (directed by Young, alias Bernard Shakey) was screened on February 8, 2008.
The film was shot during CSNY's Freedom of Speech Tour in 2006 in which all of the songs were, as Young describes them, "about war and politics and the human condition."
Even though Young says music can't change the world, it's comforting to know that he hasn't quit trying.
