Studio Album · No. 17
This Note's for You Songwriting Credits by Neil Young
Holds writing credit on 10 of 10 tracks
Authorship Breakdown 10 / 10 documented
Scored across the 10 tracks with documented writers, by whether Neil Young carries a lyricist or composer credit.
Share of the 10 tracks where a band member is credited, by role.
By the Numbers
Awards & Recognition 1
Neil Young wrote all ten songs on This Note's for You, fronting a ten-piece horn-driven band billed as the Bluenotes that pushed him into a brassy blues and rhythm-and-blues idiom far from his usual rock and folk. Young co-produced the record with Niko Bolas under their shared "Volume Dealers" credit, and the live-in-the-studio horn arrangements give tracks like "Ten Men Workin'" and "Coupe de Ville" their swaggering big-band feel. The title track is a short, biting satire of corporate sponsorship in music, parodying Budweiser's "This Bud's for You" slogan and naming Coke, Pepsi, and Miller to attack artists who sell their songs to advertisers. Its Julien Temple video was initially banned by MTV over the brand references and a Michael Jackson lookalike, then went on to win the 1989 MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year.
"This Note's for You" is the 1988 album by Neil Young, a heartland rock, blues rock, and jump blues record influenced by classic R&B and big band sounds that marked his return to Reprise Records after his Geffen years. Young produced it with Niko Bolas, and it was originally credited to Young and the Bluenotes before legal action by Harold Melvin over the name forced a change to a solo credit. The title track is a social commentary on concert sponsorship that mocked Budweiser's advertising, alongside "Ten Men Workin'" and "Sunny Inside," backed by a horn section including saxophonists Steve Lawrence, Ben Keith, and Larry Cragg. It peaked at number 61 on the Billboard 200. The title track's music video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Video of 1989 after MTV initially banned it over Michael Jackson legal threats.