Sunday, September 27, 2009

Song of the Week - Sample and Hold by Neil Young

I have 8,049 songs on iTunes. This is one of them.

This song is from Neil's 1982 album Trans. In the early 80s, Young was experimenting with synthesizers and this is probably his most extreme use. He is singing through something called a vocoder, which is an electronic instrument used to digitize speech. The other guitarist featured in this video is Nils Lofgren.



Sample and Hold
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Weight: 110
Disposition: Even
Mood Code: Rotary Adjustable

I need a unit to sample and hold
But not the angry one
A new design, new design.

I need a unit to sample and hold
But not the lonely one
A new design, new design.

I need a unit to sample and hold
But not the lonely one
A new design, new design.

Sample and hold.

We'll send it out right away
Satisfaction guaranteed.
Please specify
The color of skin and eye
We know you'll be happy.

Don't hesitate to give us a call
We know you'll be satisfied
When you energize
And see your unit come alive
We know you'll be happy.

I need a unit to sample and hold
But not the lonely one, the lonely one, the lonely one
Sample and hold.
Weight: 110.

Perfection in every details
Fabricated from the curl of the hair
To the tip of the nail
Because our units never fail
We know you'll be happy.

I need a unit to sample and hold.

Don't hesitate to give us a call
We know you'll be satisfied
When you energize
And see your unit come alive
We know you'll be happy.

I need a unit to sample and hold.

We know you'll be happy 110
We know you'll be happy
We know you'll be happy.

But not the lonely one
A new design, new design
Perfection in every detail, new design
Sample and hold.

1 comment:

Matt Runyon said...

Believe it or not, I think this was the first time that Neil Young sunk into my consciousness. I probably heard a lot of his earlier hits without knowing who he was. This is the first time I associated the name with a particular song. It got some airplay on Friday Night Videos.