Is Neil Young’s Throwback Photo a Reaction to Beck’s ‘Old Man’ Cover For NFL Sunday Night Football?

Beck premiered a spot-on cover of Neil Young‘s “Old Man” on Sunday night (Sept. 25) to promote the upcoming marquee match-up between NFL iron man Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs. And, in classic Neil fashion, the rock hall of famer took the opportunity to double-down on his stance about using his music to promote products.

While Young did not specifically mention the Beck take on his 1972 Harvest song, an Instagram post on Monday (Sept. 26) from the rock icon’s Archives feed featured a screen-grab from the video for Neil’s 1988 anti-product placement track “This Note’s For You,” in which he’s holding up a beer bottle with a label that reads: “Sponsored by Nobody.”

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On the chorus for that song, Young sings, “Ain’t singin’ for Pepsi/ Ain’t singing for Coke/ I don’t sing for nobody/ Makes me feel like a joke,” as part of a rail against pop and rock musicians selling their music for commercials.

Beck’s take in an NFL commercial that aired on Sunday night to hype the Oct. 2 prime-time game was notable for the song’s line “Old man, take a look at my life/ 24 and there’s so much more,” which, it’s worth noting, was the age both Brady and Mahomes were when they won their first Super Bowls. The preview of the song — which was released in full digitally on Monday — featured footage of Mahomes and Brady in action.

Listen to Beck’s cover, the TV ad and check out Young’s post below.

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