“It was such a cliché. I knew I had to use it”: How a joke comment led Neil Young to create the rock anthem that inspired Pearl Jam and started a beef with Trump

Neil Young.

It was an off-the-cuff remark from guitarist Frank ‘Poncho’ Sampedro that gave Neil Young the title for one of his greatest songs.

When Young and his band The Restless were notified of the cancellation of a tour in the Soviet Union, Sampedro joked, “We’ll just have to keep on rockin’ in the free world.”