"Just Give Me Som Funky Shit Footage": Neil Young Plays A Glasgow Sidewalk

Neil Young - Old Laughing Lady (1976) by Julos77

This incredibly fantastic footage comes via the irreplaceable Open Culture: 1976, and Neil Young, greeted by filmmakers on arrival in Glasgow, takes them out on the street for some filmmaking -- and then, with banjo, sits on the sidewalk by the train-station entrance to play "The Old Laughing Lady." The whole venture brings a thousand versions of delight — and somem confused looks as well — to both the crowd and to us. One fellow: "Someday this guy'll be a millionaire." And then there's the old laughing lady herself.

A few details from OpenCulture's post:

With a scarf wrapped around his neck and a deerstalker hat pulled down over his face, Young took out his banjo and harmonica and sat on the pavement. Peat, whose forté is observational filmmaking, panned his camera back and forth between the famous street musician and the people passing by. Kramer’s sound recording provided the continuity that made it possible for Peat to move around and cover the scene from different angles. He noticed that Young was singing about an “Old Laughing Lady,” so when he saw one, he filmed her. The whole thing lasted only a few minutes.

But you must go to OpenCulture and read the whole thing, then tell the world of the treasures there. God bless 'em.