Neil w Young
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3/27/2026 9:53:16 PM
The Inspiration For The Song, "What Difference Will It Make'
Initially when I began writing the lyrics I titled the song ‘Crosses of Revenge’. The inspiration for the lyrics came to me as a result of two separate, but closely related occurrences. First, as a result of 9-11 – the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and the United Airlines flight near Philadelphia, and secondly, from the commencement of the subsequent war in Iraq. The “seed” though for my inspiration for the song flowed out of the question in the lyrics to a song that I had written on Remembrance Day in 1986. That song was initially titled ‘FREEDOM’. I changed the title later to ‘THE PRICE OF FREEDOM’. The haunting question in those lyrics was: “What was the killing for.”
Most of the lyrics were written in one sitting in 2003, however, for some reason, I experienced real difficulty in being able to complete them. There was something missing, some feeling that I just could not put my finger on at that time. I decided to file the uncompleted lyrics away temporarily and readdress them at a later time. They remained filed away for two years until the week of August 7, 2005.
During that week, the words, “What was the killing for?” kept repeating over and over in my head as the terrible events of September 11, 2001and the war in Iraq were running through my mind.
After I had written the words “hellfire and brimstone” into the lyrics, I was driven to do some research on their biblical origin. I also wanted to try to find a related passage in the Bible that I might be able to use as a spoken prelude to the song in much the same reverent and spiritually inspiring manner as the late Johnny Cash had done in his song, “The Man Comes Around”, on the last CD album that he recorded, ‘Johnny Cash ? American IV - The Man Comes Around’.
Interestingly, and quite unintentionally, as I was also writing the words “the beginning or the end’ into the lyrics, I had no idea that those words were to become a beacon for me in my search for the aforementioned biblical passage, leading me quite logically, as well as unexpectedly, to both the Book of Genesis (The Beginning), the first Book of the Old Testament, and to the Book of Revelation (The End), the last book of the New Testament.
After reading both Books, Genesis and Revelation, in the New International Version of the Holy Bible, I still had no success in finding the appropriate verse or words that I was searching for. I then remembered that I had the old family Bible that my grandparents, Neil and Elizabeth Young, had brought with them from Scotland in 1911. It was the “Browns Bible” and was written in the Old English language and style of the time. It was the evening of Thursday, August 11th, 2005, when I sat down to read the Book of Revelation in the family Bible. Strangely, I just had a feeling that somewhere within the chapters and verses of this Book I was going to find the passage or words that had been eluding me. By the time I had finished reading Revelation that evening nothing had yet struck me as being a verse or words that I was hoping to find.
Again on the following evening, Friday, I spent several quiet hours by myself reading the Book of Revelation, and the Book of Genesis. Again I came up empty handed. The next morning, Saturday, I decided to read the Book of Revelation for the third time in the family Browns Bible, and for the third time as I got to Chapter 8 Verse 13, the words reached out to me like a beacon of light reflecting the essence of the message and meaning that I had felt while I was writing the lyrics. This WAS the passage that I had been searching for:
"And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice: “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabiters of the earth.”
As I read the words I felt a chill run down the back of my neck. The significance of the selection of this passage did not register with me until later that Saturday morning while I was doing some other work that required me to check what the date was that day. You can only imagine the thunderbolt that struck me when I realized that the chapter and verse from which I had selected the passage was Chapter 8: Verse13. The exact same numbers as the date, 8-13 … August 13th.
Purely a coincidence you might say that the numbers of the passage were identical to the numbers of the month and day that I had selected them. Then again, perhaps it was no coincidence.
Needless to say, that experience was a “revelation” of some consequence for me – a stirring and deep experience whether it have been by chance, or fate, or otherwise such as divine intervention perhaps.
Well, there was more to come. I took a second look at the lyrics focusing on what I felt were the strongest and most meaningful of the words, “crosses of revenge”. I then sat down to re-write the song with the words from Revelation 8:13 as my beacon calling out to me, “And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven saying in a loud voice: “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabiters of the earth” and I thought, ‘and so what all the woe, if it all comes to an end what difference will it make’ … yes, really, when your number comes up, what difference will it make. There it was – the hook for the chorus and the title for the song, “What Difference Will It Make”.
The lyrics went through a few final touches taking them to the point where they are on the song as it was finally recorded in 2011 ... and to a place and point where the song became an Official/unofficial IMPNation Music Olympics Gold Medal Winner – a product of long-standing IAC/IMP member and Award winning Station Master, Bryon Tosoff, with long-standing IAC/IMP members and station masters, Larree and Steve April serving as judges with Bryon. Thank you, gentlemen for your dedication to making Indie Music People (IMP) the only place for musicians to be on the internet.
Neil
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