Neil Young and Crazy Horse have released a music video for their new single “Clementine,” off the upcoming album Americana. The new album marks the first time Young, Billy Talbot, Frank ‘Poncho’ Sampedro and Ralph Molina have worked together since 1996′s Broken Arrow. It is set to be released on June 5th. Like the video for “Oh Susannah,” “Clementine” also features early film recordings.

The song “Clementine”, known as a popular children’s song, is believed to be based on a 1863 song titled “Down by the River Liv’d a Maiden,” by H.S. Thompson but Young credits the song to Percy Montrose and Barker Bradford from around 1884.

In describing his version of the song “Clementine”, Young explains “The Americana arrangement extends the folk process using many of the original words and a new melody,” Young continues to add details of the song by stating “The song tells the story of either a bereaved lover recalling his lost sweetheart, or a father missing his lost daughter. In both cases the daughter has drowned in an accident. The verse about Clementine’s sister has been omitted from most children’s versions. This verse has different meanings depending on whether the point of view of the singer is taken as the lover or the father.”

In addition to the release of Americana on June 5th, Young’s new autobiography titled Waging Heaving Peace, will be released on October 2nd of this year. The new autobiography on Young is slated to be 416 pages, which is half the length of Shakey, the authorized 2002 biography by Jimmy McDonough.

- Jeffrey Hammond / 98.5 WNCX