Born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida, Neil was one of the songwriters who for a time worked out of New York City's famous Brill Building. He has often been called a pioneer of the folk rock & singer-songwriter musical genres; his most frequently cited disciples are Tim Buckley, Harry Nilsson, and the Jefferson Airplane, but his most prominent descendants have been Stephen Stills, James Taylor, Paul Simon and Joni Mitchell. In concert appearances, as well as the liner notes for his 2003 album, Meet Me In Margaritaville: The Ultimate Collection, Jimmy Buffett called Neil "one of my heroes." Some of Neil's early compositions were recorded by Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison; he played as a session guitarist on hits by Bobby Darin and Paul Anka. In 1968, Nilsson recorded a cover version of Neil's song "Everybody's Talkin'," which became a huge hit a year later when it was featured in the film Midnight Cowboy.
Neil was an accomplished professional musician atypically inclined to a very modest frugality. "Candy Man", his first of two Top-40-hit compositions, substantially introduced him to a sufficient income stream for life in his early 20's; he became increasingly disinclined to work if he did not feel like it. Consequently his two fully realized albums (see next paragraph) are remarkable for their singularly unpretentious authenticity. His combination of baritone vocal and 12-string guitar remains unusual, and his combo recordings provide his shimmering melodies with muscular grooves; but his exemplarity is that of resolving the apparent opposition between aesthetic integrity and commercial value almost entirely in favor of aesthetic integrity, which gives all of his recordings a unique historical resonance.
He had debts to previous singer-songwriters such as Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, Chuck Berry and Hank Williams (Senior); but his approach to melody was more in the manner of Cole Porter and to rhythm very much in the school of Ray Charles. His popularly acclaimed albums are "Bleecker & MacDougal" (also known as A Little Bit of Rain) without drums (1965) and "Fred Neil" (also known as Everybody's Talkin') in (1966), made during his residences in the Greenwich Village section of lower Manhattan in New York City and in Coconut Grove, Florida, respectively.
The reigning web expert in (October) 2005 has been Richie Unterberger. The Rick O'Barry interview at the dedicated website (fredneil.com) claims that a third fully realized album, Neil's "Stuff Sessions" of 1978, was never released by Columbia. The unreleased "Walk on the Water" album was recorded at Bayshore studios in Coconut Grove, with a second set of sessions taking place in NJ with the group Stuff.
After the mid 1970s he ceased to maintain a residence in Woodstock, New York, and spent his remaining decades enjoying life on the shores of southern Florida. His last public performance was in 1981 coffeehouse concert in Coconut Grove where he joined Buzzy Linhardt onstage.
Fred Neil died of natural causes in 2001.
Merry Go Round
Fred Neil Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
On this merry go round
I just can't find the back
Where's the Jim Crow section
On this merry go round
For a boy who's black
Like a blackbird
Tell me
Tell me where
Did you spin last night
In the pines
Where the sun never shines
And she shiver the whole night long
My daddy was good engineer
Killed a mile
And a half
From this town
His body was found
Underneath the driving wheel
His head
Ain't never been found
Blackbird blackbird
Don't you love me
Tell me where did you spin last night
Where's the Jim Crow section
On this merry go round
I just can't find the back
Where's the Jim Crow section
Of your merry go round
For a boy who's black
In "Merry Go Round," the singer ponders where the Jim Crow section on the merry-go-round is, expressing frustration with the segregation that was prevalent during his time. Jim Crow laws were state and local statutes that enforced racial segregation in the Southern states of the United States from the late 1800s through the 1960s. The song's lyrics express that the singer, a black boy, cannot find the back of the merry-go-round, which is where he expected to find the designated area for black people.
The singer then shifts to a different line of questioning, posing a series of queries related to love and travel. He asks if the listener (represented by the blackbird) loves him and where they traveled the previous night. The imagery of the pines where the sun never shines and the shivering indicate that this might not have been a pleasant experience. The final verse reveals a tragic story about the singer's father, who worked as an engineer and was killed in a train accident. His body was found but his head was missing.
Line by Line Meaning
Where's the Jim Crow section
Where is the segregated area designated for black people?
On this merry go round
On this carousel of life
I just can't find the back
I can't locate the designated place where black people belong
For a boy who's black
For someone of African American ethnicity
Like a blackbird
Similar to a bird that is black in color
Don't you love
Do you not appreciate
Tell me
Share with me; let me know
Tell me where
Inform me of the location
Did you spin last night
What experiences did you go through yesterday?
In the pines
In the forests
Where the sun never shines
In an area where sunlight does not reach
And she shiver the whole night long
And she was trembling throughout the entire night
My daddy was good engineer
My father was a skilled worker, employed as an engineer
Killed a mile
Passed away from some accident or event at a distance of one mile
And a half
And an additional half-mile away from this location
From this town
From the place we live in
His body was found
His corpse was discovered
Underneath the driving wheel
Beneath the steering wheel
His head
The upper part of his body containing his brain and sensory organs
Ain't never been found
It was never located; it was lost forever
Blackbird blackbird
A bird that is black in color, used as a symbol of freedom and survival
Don't you love me
Do you not have compassion for me, as a fellow being suffering under the same oppression?
Of your merry go round
Of your life journey
Contributed by Bailey D. Suggest a correction in the comments below.