Neil Young & Crazy Horse Revive Alternate ‘Cortez The Killer’ Lyrics At Love Earth Tour Opener In San Diego

Neil Young & Crazy Horse are riding together again on the Love Earth Tour, which launched last night with a concert at Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre in San Diego. The concert began with “Cortez The Killer” and featured Neil Young singing a previously “missing” verse.

Joining Young on the Love Earth Tour is a Crazy Horse lineup consisting of the rhythm section of bassist Billy Talbot and drummer Ralph Molina, with guitarist Micah Nelson also on board (Crazy Horse guitarist Nils Lofgren is on tour with Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band). Wednesday’s concert in San Diego was Young’s first public performance of 2024 and comes ahead of this Friday’s release of the Neil Young & Crazy Horse live album, FU##IN’ UP, which was recorded at a private event last November and consists of retooled versions of the songs on the 1990 album, Ragged Glory.

“Love And Only Love” was the only Ragged Glory song played at the tour opener. The setlist also included selections from the 1969 album, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, 1979’s Rust Never Sleeps, 1976’s Zuma and 1996’s Broken Arrow. Young also pulled from his solo catalog and offered solo acoustic versions of “Comes a Time,” “Heart of Gold” and “Human Highway.”

“Cortez The Killer” originally appeared on Zuma, which was co-produced by Young and the late David Briggs. In September 2019, Young recalled the circumstances surrounding the recording of the song, writing on his website:

“The power went out in the control room while we were recording ‘Cortez The Killer.’ Briggs cranked it up as soon as control room power returned, 30 seconds or so later, and continued recording. We kept playing. We had power … so we lost a verse. We cut it together with the missing verse gone forever. Those are some of my most vivid memories of Zuma. The Horse was reborn.”

The “missing verse” was reborn at Wednesday’s show. The alternate lyrics sung by Young for the first time last night were:

But I floated on the water
And I ate that ocean wave
Two weeks after the slaughter
I was livin’ in a cave

If I came too late to get one
But there’s no one here to set me free
From this rocky grave
To the snow-capped ocean wave

Neil Young & Crazy Horse return to Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre for another show tonight. Watch audience-shot videos capturing Neil Young & Crazy Horse kicking off the Love Earth Tour with the missing verse added to “Cortez The Killer” and most of the rest of opening night below: