"Broken Arrow" is a song written by

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

singer-songwriter

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...

and recorded by

Buffalo Springfield Buffalo Springfield was a rock band formed in Los Angeles by Canadian musicians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin and American musicians Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely known for the song "For What It's Worth", relea ...

on their

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

album '' Buffalo Springfield Again''. It was recorded in August and September 1967 at Columbia Recording Studios and Sunset Sound Recorders. It incorporates musical ideas from "Down Down Down," a demo Young recorded with Buffalo Springfield (now available on the

box set A box set or (its original name) boxed set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists and bands ...

). "Broken Arrow" was confessional

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...

. It consists of three parts in three different

time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

s interspersed with snippets of sounds, featuring

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

, a jazz combo with piano, bass, drums, and a clarinet. The song begins with audience applause (taken not from a Buffalo Springfield show, as some expect, but rather from a concert by the

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...

) and the opening of "

Mr. Soul "Mr. Soul" is a song recorded by the Canadian-American rock band Buffalo Springfield in 1967. It was released June 15, 1967, as the B-side to their fourth single "Bluebird" and later included on the group's second album ''Buffalo Springfield Agai ...

" (which opens the album) recorded in the studio. The second verse begins with the sound of an audience booing, while the Calliope plays a version of the song " Take Me Out to the Ball Game", before sound effects bring on the verse. There is also the sound of a military snare drum that plays drum rolls, first quietly, and getting louder and louder, until the fifth time, an unusual sound effect brings the song to the third verse. The Jazz combo plays an improvisation, first taken up by the clarinet, and followed by the piano, until it fades out. The beating of a heart is then heard until it fades out as well. Each of the three verses uses surreal imagery to deal with emotions (emptiness of fame, teenage angst, hopelessness), and contains self-references to Buffalo Springfield and Young. They all end with the same lines: An acoustic solo version of the song appears on the Neil Young live album ''Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968'' which was released on Reprise Records in 2008. Of the members of the band, only Young was present at the recording. Background vocals from Richie Furay were added on later.

Historical references

The Creek Indians held a ceremony after the Civil War that included a breaking of an arrow to symbolize the war's end.

References

External links

Allmusic Review AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

1967 songs Buffalo Springfield songs Neil Young songs Songs written by Neil Young Songs about Native Americans Song recordings produced by Jack Nitzsche Song recordings produced by Neil Young Song recordings produced by Stephen Stills {{1960s-rock-song-stub