How a Massive Hollywood Scandal From 1973 Helped Inspire This Neil Young Deep Cut

Neil Young has long lived on the liberal side of history, and he’s spent his decades-long career translating this political ideology into his music. That’s true of commercial hits, like “Ohio” and “Southern Man”. But this also pertains to deep cuts, like “Pocahontas”, which Neil Young wrote after being inspired by a major Hollywood scandal that divided Tinseltown into liberal and conservative camps on March 27, 1973.

That night, the 45th Academy Awards were being held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. Marlon Brando was nominated for and won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Godfather. However, Brando wasn’t in attendance, as he was protesting the mistreatment of Native Americans in the United States. To represent his message, Brando sent Sacheen Littlefeather, an American actor and activist, to speak for him.

There were reports that John Wayne had to be restrained by security so as not to charge Littlefeather on the stage. Though others have refuted these claims. In any case, Littlefeather’s appearance created a massive stir in the Hollywood community and caused the Academy Awards to change their rules around proxies accepting awards. And, of course, it also helped inspire Neil Young’s “Pocahontas”.

Neil Young Wrote “Pocahontas” After Reading This 1930 Poem

Pocahontas is a notable Native American woman associated with the colonial settlement of Jamestown, Virginia. She was a member of the Powhatan tribe. After being taken for ransom by colonists, eventually converted to Christianity and married a white man. Pocahontas died a celebrity, but she also died young. She was in her early 20s when she died of unknown causes in England, having been presented to English society as a “civilized savage.”

Pocahontas’ story has been romanticized in the centuries since her time on earth. She has appeared in numerous books, films, television shows, and poems. Young was reading one such poem called “The Bridge” by Hart Crane while visiting London in the early 70s. (355 years after Pocahontas had walked the streets of that same city under her Christian name, Rebecca.) The poem, paired with the events at the 45th Academy Awards in 1973, inspired Young to write “Pocahontas”. 

In the first verse, Young sings, “Aurora borealis, the icy sky at night, paddles cut the water in a long and hurried flight / From the white man to the fields of green and the homeland we’ve never seen.” In the final one, he concludes, “And maybe Marlon Brandon will be there by the fire / We’ll sit and talk of Hollywood and the good things there for hire / and the astrodome and the first teepee / Marlon Brandon, Pocahontas, and me / Marlon Brandon, Pocahontas, and me.”

The song appeared on Young’s 1979 album Rust Never Sleeps. Speaking of his creative flow and band at the time, Young said, “It’s really flying off the ground. F***ing unbelievable,” per Neil Young, Long May You Run: The Illustrated History. 

Photo by Tom Copi/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images