Oh, no! I just spent, like, the last forty years idolizing Neil Young, and now he says he doesn’t think music can really make a difference in the world. At the Berlin film festival today, where he presented the documentary “CSNY/Déjà Vu”, about his 2006 anti-war concert tour, he told the AFP:

“I know that the time when music could change the world is past. I really doubt that a single song can make a difference. It is a reality.”

He may””unlike Pete Seeger–be pessimistic about the power of song, but Young doesn’t really seem ready to give up on being an agent of change. He’s working on a new film called “Repowering The American Dream,” a documentary about the ‘59 Lincoln he’s converted to a plug-in hybrid, according to the Daily Green, which quotes a more optimistic-sounding Young:

“By drawing on entrepreneurial companies’ advanced technology and good old American ingenuity, we intend to transform one of the largest and heaviest gas guzzling vehicles of our generation into a highly energy efficient vehicle, and demonstrate to the American public that we can re-power the American dream by demanding environmentally-friendly vehicles now.”

Sounds like Young is just looking for new ways to electrify the electorate. Long may he run.

Young gives other musicians who want to express their opinion on the war and related topics a chance to be heard on his Living With War website; give them a listen here  if you’d like to hear from folks who still believe music can make a difference.