FIVE SONGS FOR THE AGE OF DISASTER

Nelson, who will back Neil Young with Promise of the Real at shows this spring and summer, listens to these tunes when he’s feeling apocalyptic.

RAY CHARLES “Come Rain or Come Shine”

The statement of this song is so defiant: I’ll be your rock in a world that’s falling apart. That’s a good sentiment to have in a trying time.

NEIL YOUNG

“Sail Away”

This is from Rust Never Sleeps. He’s got friends he’s lost, but everything is OK as long as he can get to a sailboat. I feel that.

WILLIE NELSON “Roll Me Up and

Smoke Me When I Die”

Pretty self-explanatory: ashes to dust, dust to ashes and so forth. It’s a jovial romp on one’s inevitable demise.

TOM WAITS ”Come on Up to the House”

”The world is not my home/We’re just passing through.” We don’t know what this world is.

ARETHA FRANKLIN “Bridge Over Troubled Water”

How do we lift ourselves out of the times and into a new era of prosperity and hope? Nobody could do it like Aretha.