“Mr. Soul” by Buffalo Springfield

Neil Young wrote "Mr. Soul" as a hospital patient, and Buffalo Springfield put it out on June 15, 1967, as the B-side of "Bluebird" before it landed on Buffalo Springfield Again. An epileptic attack after one of the band's early shows in San Francisco (some in the crowd wondered if it was part of the act) had put him in UCLA Medical Center, and he wrote the song there once he'd come round: a reckoning with fame and a sneer at rock stardom, colored by the feeling that he was about to die.

He composed it on an acoustic twelve-string in double drop D, a tuning he also used on "Ohio" and "Cinnamon Girl", and it comes out dark and moody. Young sings lead and plays guitar alongside Stephen Stills and Richie Furay, who add vocals, with Bruce Palmer on bass and Dewey Martin on drums; Charles Greene and Brian Stone produced.

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