Ramada Inn (2012) – Neil Young with Crazy Horse

This song always puts me on I-5 south at the bottom of the Grapevine, heading to LA… It’s a Crazy Horse journey, a long road. There’s a lot to see… a lot to feel out there on I-5. Don’t be scared by this song. It kept me alive. Times were tough. Now times are good. We’re rolling again…”
– Neil Young discussing ‘Ramada Inn‘ on his web site

Ramada Inn is a sprawling epic that captures the essence of a life lived in the slow lane. It is the eighth song to appear here so far from Neil Young and might sit amongst his best. This is a journey through time and memory of an ageing couple who struggle to communicate and resolve their problems. In conjunction with the poignant and unsettling lyric, Ramada Inn comprises of some very fine and epic jam guitar playing – a ‘ragged glory’ (see his 1990 album) variety which oozes Young’s soul and passion.

Frank “Poncho” Sampedro (member of Crazy Horse) more directly addresses the song’s emotion in Uncut Magazine:

“The lyrics are very personal to Neil and Pegi (Young). I told Pegi, ‘I don’t know if you’re gonna like this song or not. It seems like it’s revealing a lot of stuff. I don’t know if it’s good or bad. You should check it out.’ She came back two days later and said, ‘Poncho, it’s just a song about people and relationships. Everybody goes through that stuff.’ I saw it more as, ‘Wow, the writing on the wall has been announced.’ I cried a lot of times in that song, man.”
In July 2014, Neil filed for divorce in California.

Lines like “She loves him so, she does what she has to” and “They don’t want to know, they just want to keep on going” paint a picture of a couple trapped in the monotony of routine, yet holding on to the fragments of love that still exist. The studio development of Ramada Inn is quintessential Crazy Horse—raw, unpolished, and heavily improvised. While Ramada Inn may not have achieved the commercial success of some of Young’s earlier hits, it has been lauded by critics and fans alike as one of his most powerful and poignant works in recent years.

So many years now together?
All those good times, ups and downs
So many joys raising up those kids
Well they’ve moved on now, out of town
So many times she tried
So many times she cried
Every morning comes the sun
And they both rise into the day
Holding on to what they’ve done

She loves him so
She loves him so
She loves him so
She does what she has to
She loves him so (x3)
She does what she needs to

In a Ramada Inn near the grapevine
They stop to rest for the night
Traveling down south looking for good times
Visiting old friends feels right
People they haven’t seen him forever
Since high school, Santa Jose times
Restaurant food and the bottle
Had a few drinks
Now they’re feeling fine
Every morning comes the sun
And they both rise to the day
Holding on to what they’ve done

(Chorus)

Seem like lately things are changing
Seems like lately things are going south
A few drinks now and she hardly knows him
He just looks away and he checks out
And when she says it’s time for him to do something
Maybe talk to his old friends who gave it up
He just pours himself another tall one
Closes his eyes and says that’s enough
Every morning comes the sun
And they both rise to the day
Holding on to what they’ve done

(Chorus)

Every morning comes the sun
And they both rise to the day
Holding on to what they’ve done

(Chorus)

References:
1. Psychedelic Pill – Wikipedia