“He was, he was a friend of mine ”

On "Live to Ride" (from Harvest Moon), Neil Young sings “He was, he was a friend of mine”. After reading this article, Neil could have been singing about Mike Wolf, a model train executive.

An AP news story "Soured Friendship Underpins Lionel Woes" lays out a detailed history of Neil's involvement with Lionel model trains which many are familiar with.

"Mike Wolf remembers the night rock star Neil Young came to a party at his house and stayed up all night writing a song.

'He woke up in the morning and said, 'Hey man, I was feeling so good last night and I wrote a song,'' Wolf recalled in an interview. ''It's a great song. I don't know what I'm going name it yet but I'll let you know.''

Wolf, the founder and chief executive of MTH Electric Trains, is sitting behind his desk in his Columbia, Md., office. He reaches up to a shelf behind his desk and pulls down an autographed Neil Young CD. It says: 'Mike, I wrote 'Harvest Moon' at your house.''"

UPDATE 1/15/08: Since the publication of this article both Neil and Mike Wolf have disavowed the article's premise. They are on cordial speaking terms, according sources in the model train community.

Also, see Lionel Trains and Neil Young.