neil young - cripple creek ferry - stereo remix
Edit for headphones, June 2025. The source of this edit is the song on the 2009 release of "Neil Young Archives Vol. 1 (1963-1972)" - an eight hdcd box set of remastered songs - cd #6 entitled "Topanga 3 (1970)". (Topanga, California, is the place where Neil Young lived from autumn 1969 to 1970.)
This is the final track on the "After The Gold Rush" album, intended as a soundtrack for a film of the same name that was never made. To Neil Young's memory, the only tracks that were immediately inspired by the script were this one and "After The Gold Rush."
The script that the song was written for has been lost to the dusts of time, with only a few people remembering vaguely (and possibly inaccurately) what it was about. Neil himself barely recalls much about it. So, we'll likely never know what scene or situation this song was written to accompany.
If there's any deeper meaning to the song, it's too buried in subtext to tell. Lyrically and musically it's just a trip on the Cripple Creek ferry. Presumably, it's about Cripple Creek, Colorado - an old gold mining camp that's now preserved as a historic site.
CRIPPLE CREEK FERRY
(Neil Young)
hey hey Cripple Creek ferry
butting through the overhanging trees
make way for the Cripple Creek ferry
the water's going down it's a mighty tight squeeze
all alone the captain stands
hasn't heard from his deck hands
the gambler tips his hat
and walks towards the door
it's the second half of the cruise
and you know he hates to lose
hey hey Cripple Creek ferry
butting through the overhanging trees
make way for the Cripple Creek ferry
the water's going down it's a mighty tight squeeze
hey hey Cripple Creek ferry
butting through the overhanging trees
make way for the Cripple Creek ferry
the water's going down it's a mighty tight squeeze
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