Neil Young is a “total hypocrite”, according to the American tycoon Donald Trump. Young recently attacked Trump for using the song Rockin’ in the Free World among the music at the launch of his presidential campaign.
That’s all well and good, but in a series of tweets, Trump said that Young had approached him to invest “on an audio deal” – his music service Pono – and invited him to a concert. He also posted a picture of him and Young together, and a snippet of Young’s letter to him.
For the nonbeliever, here is a photo of @Neilyoung in my office and his $$ request—total hypocrite. pic.twitter.com/Xm4BJvetIa
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 24, 2015
Young had previously admitted attending the meeting, having said in a statement: “‘A picture of me with this candidate was also circulated in conjunction with this announcement [of his presidential campaign], but it was a photograph taken during a meeting when I was trying to raise funds for Pono, my online high-resolution music service.”
Young, who is a Canadian citizen, is supporting the Vermont Democratic senator Bernie Sanders in the nascent presidential race.
Though Young’s camp have insisted Trump did not have permission to use Rockin’ in the Free World, the Trump campaign say they have the relevant licensing agreement with the US music rights body ASCAP.
Politicians using songs by musicians who do not support them has been a thorny issue for decades, since Bruce Springsteen complained about Ronald Reagan appropriating Born in the USA for his 1984 presidential campaign.
In a speech in New Jersey, Reagan said: “America’s future rests in a thousand dreams inside our hearts. It rests in the message of hope in the songs of a man so many young Americans admire: New Jersey’s own Bruce Springsteen. And helping you make those dreams come true is what this job of mine is all about.”
That prompted Springsteen to reply, during a show in Pittsburgh: “Well, the president was mentioning my name in his speech the other day, and I kind of got to wondering what his favourite album of mine must’ve been, you know? I don’t think it was the Nebraska album. I don’t think he’s been listening to this one.”
