"My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)" is a song by Canadian musician
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...
. An acoustic song, it was recorded live in early 1978 at the
Boarding House
A boarding house is a house (frequently a family home) in which lodging, lodgers renting, rent one or more rooms on a nightly basis and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months, or years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and ...
in
San Francisco, California
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
Rust Never Sleeps
''Rust Never Sleeps'' is the tenth album by Canadian American singer-songwriter Neil Young and his third with American band Crazy Horse. It was released on June 22, 1979, by Reprise Records and features both studio and live tracks. Most of the ...
''. Inspired by
electropunk
Electronic rock (also known as electro rock and synth rock) is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s when rock b ...
group
Devo
Devo is an American new wave band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs ( Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a No. 14 ...
, the rise of
punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
and what Young viewed as his own growing irrelevance, the song significantly revitalized Young's career.
The line, "it's better to burn out than to fade away" was taken from one of the songs of Young's bandmate in the short-lived supergroup
The Ducks
The Ducks (formerly known as the Jeff Blackburn Band) were a short-lived American rock group formed in the summer of 1977 by singer-songwriter Jeff Blackburn. The band included Bob Mosley (an original member of Moby Grape), Canadian singer- ...
, Jeff Blackburn. It became infamous after being quoted in
Nirvana
Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...
frontman
Kurt Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – ) was an American musician. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter, and a founding member of the grunge band Nirvana (band), Nirvana. Through his angsty songwriting and anti-establis ...
's
suicide note
A suicide note or death note is a message written by a person who intends to die by suicide.
A study examining Japanese suicide notes estimated that 25–30% of suicides are accompanied by a note. However, incidence rates may depend on ethnic ...
. Young later said that he was so shaken that he dedicated his 1994 album '' Sleeps with Angels'' to Cobain.
Legacy
Young compared the rise of
Johnny Rotten
John Joseph Lydon ( ; born 31 January 1956), also known by his former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a British-born singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. He was the lead vocalist of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols, which was ...
with that of the recently deceased "King"
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...
, who himself had once been disparaged as a dangerous influence only to later become an
icon
An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic, and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, mother of ...
. In 1977, Rotten responded by playing a song by Young on a radio program.
The song may best be known for the line "It's better to burn out than to fade away". The line occurs during the introduction to
Def Leppard
Def Leppard are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drummer), Rick Allen (drums), Phil Collen (guitar, ...
's 1983 song "
Rock of Ages Rock of Ages is an epithet that is used in some translations of Isaiah 26, Isaiah 26:4 and may refer to:
Films
* Rock of Ages (1918 film), ''Rock of Ages'' (1918 film), a British silent film by Bertram Phillips
* Rock of Ages (2012 film), ''Roc ...
Clancy Brown
Clarence James Brown III (born January 5, 1959) is an American actor. Prolific in film and television since the 1980s, Brown is often cast in villainous and authoritative roles.
His film roles include Rawhide in ''The Adventures of Buckaroo Ban ...
) exits a church after meeting the Highlander (
Christopher Lambert
Christophe Guy Denis Lambert (; ; born March 29, 1957), commonly known as Christopher Lambert, is a French-American actor, producer, and writer. He started his career playing supporting parts in several French films, and became internationally f ...
).
Kurt Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – ) was an American musician. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter, and a founding member of the grunge band Nirvana (band), Nirvana. Through his angsty songwriting and anti-establis ...
's suicide note ended with the same line, shaking Young and inadvertently cementing his place as the so-called "Godfather of Grunge".
Ex-Beatle
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...
commented on the message of the song in a 1980 interview with
David Sheff
David Sheff (born December 23, 1955) is an American author. He is best known for his interviews with artists, scientists, and pop culture figures, as well as his non-fiction books. Much of his writing, including his memoir ''Beautiful Boy: A Fat ...
of ''Playboy'':
Young, when asked to respond to Lennon's comments two years later, replied:
Oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentFamiliar to Millions''. The band acknowledged Cobain's attachment to the song by dedicating it to him when they played it in
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
on the sixth anniversary of his death.
It is included on Neil Young's ''
Greatest Hits
A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...
'' album.
The song is the title theme of
Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker, photographer and visual artist. He was considered one of the key figures of New Hollywood. He earned prizes from the Cannes Film Festival and Venice Internatio ...
's movie '' Out of the Blue''.
The song was included at number 93 in
Bob Mersereau
Bob Ellis Mersereau is a Canadian arts journalist.Rockingham, Graham â€"Randy Bachman: lord of the song"''The Spec''
He is a music columnist and longtime arts reporter for CBC Television in New Brunswick.Battleme appeared on season 3, episode 13 of ''
Sons of Anarchy
''Sons of Anarchy'' is an American Action film, action crime drama television series created by Kurt Sutter for FX (TV channel), FX. Originally aired from September 3, 2008, to December 9, 2014, ''Sons of Anarchy'' follows the lives of a close-k ...
''.
The singer
Lana Del Rey
Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1985), known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Lana Del Rey discography, Her music is noted for its melancholic exploration of Glamour (presentation), glamor and Romanc ...
used this song as an entrance to her second set of Coachella 2024, highlighting her connection with country music and her love to the band
Nirvana
Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...