The Losing End (When You're On) - 2009 Remaster

In the book Shakey, Jimmy McDonough describes this song as "a plaintive country ballad with beautiful harmonies," which pretty much sums things up. It's a breakup song that's unmistakably country. Whereas Young frequently mixes country and rock into his own distinctive style, this particular tune has no such ambiguity. If Young hadn't been a counterculture figure with an intentionally unique (and many at the time said "annoying") vocal approach, the song would have fit perfectly well on a country music station.

Young was married to Susan Acevedo at the time (they were divorced less than a year later), and there's a chance that the song is in some way about her. Young did mention that "Running Dry (Requiem For The Rockets)," another track off Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, is about her. Other than happenstance, there's no compelling evidence to support this idea, though. The lyrics are surprisingly generic, considering Young's career-long penchant for wordplay and the insertion of odd phrases to "turn a song on its head," as Bob Dylan would say. The track is by no means a throwaway, however. While it may be largely buried by the dusts of time, it's a solid tune that many hardcore Young fans admire.

Interestingly, the song is placed just before "Running Dry" on the album. In "Running Dry," Young plays the role of user and abuser who has "shamed himself with lies." In "The Losing End," the roles are flipped. In the era in which this album came out, song placement in albums was an art of its own. Decisions were rarely made without some sort of intended artistic intent. Still, beyond that, there's no solid evidence that "The Losing End" holds any greater meaning or deeper significance. By all appearances, it's a solid Neil Young song, and that's about it.