Editing Sleeps with Angels (section)

==Writing and recording==
In contrast to his other albums, Young has been loath to discuss the album's content and the inspiration for its songs in interviews. In 1995 he told ''[[Mojo Magazine]]''{{'}}s [[Nick Kent]]: "''Sleeps With Angels'' has a lot of overtones to it, from different situations that were described in it – a lot of sad scenes. I've never really spoken about why I made that album. I don't want to start now. I just don't want to talk about that. That's my decision. I've made a choice not to talk about it and I'm sticking to it."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kent |first1=Nick |title=I Build Something Up, I Tear It Right Down: Neil Young at 50 |journal=Mojo |date=December 1995 |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/i-build-something-up-i-tear-it-right-down-neil-young-at-50 |access-date=December 10, 2023}}</ref> He repeated his stance in a later 1995 interview for ''[[Spin Magazine]]'': "I'm not doing anything with that album. It stands on its own. That's why I made the record. Too sensitive of a subject to isolate comments on. When you speak to someone who can write things down, you have to remember that they only write what they select. And it appears next to something that they can't control, like an ad. And then that article can be quoted, and over time...I've seen the way things happen."<ref>"Not Fade Away: Our 1995 Neil Young Cover Story". Eric Weisbard. ''Spin''. September 1995. https://www.spin.com/2021/10/neil-young-september-1995-cover-story/</ref>

The lengthy "Change Your Mind" was debuted during the 1993 tour with [[Booker T. & the M.G.'s]]. The other songs on the album were written during the recording sessions.<ref>Mcdonough, Jimmy. 2003. ''Shakey: Neil Young's Biography''. New York: Anchor Books.</ref> The album features a variety of unique instruments, including bass marimbas, vibes, synthesizers and a tack piano on "My Heart" and "A Dream That Can Last". "Prime of Life" and "Safeway Cart" feature Young playing flute; ''Sleeps with Angels'' is the only Neil Young album on which he plays that instrument.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://music.apple.com/us/album/sleeps-with-angels/72797981 |title=iTunes - Music - Sleeps With Angels by Neil Young |publisher=[[iTunes]] |date=1994-08-05 |access-date=2013-05-27}}</ref> The songs "Western Hero" and "Train of Love" feature the same music with different lyrics, "like identical twins. The same song with two completely different stories. But it brings you back to this theme. It's almost like a Broadway play."<ref>Mcdonough, Jimmy. 2003. ''Shakey: Neil Young's Biography''. New York: Anchor Books.</ref> "Safeway Cart" is featured on the soundtrack during a marching sequence in [[Claire Denis]]'s 1999 film ''[[Beau Travail]]''.

The title track was inspired by the death of Kurt Cobain, who quoted Young in his suicide note, with the rest of the album having been recorded before that event.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/neil-young-sleeps-with-angels/|first=Nick|last=DeRiso|title=How Neil Young Mourned Kurt Cobain On 'Sleeps With Angels'|website=Ultimate Classic Rock|date=August 6, 2015|accessdate=December 29, 2021}}</ref> "When he died and left that note, it struck a deep chord inside of me. It fucked with me. I wrote some music for that feeling: "Sleeps with Angels"," Young remembers in his memoir, ''Waging Heavy Peace''.<ref>Young, Neil. 2012. ''Waging Heavy Peace''. Penguin Publishing Group.</ref> He continues in ''Shakey'': "What that suicide has done is return me to my roots. Makes me go back and investigate where I started. Where I came from. Why am I here and why is he not here? Does my music suffer because I survived?"<ref>Mcdonough, Jimmy. 2003. ''Shakey: Neil Young's Biography''. New York: Anchor Books.</ref> Young wrote the first lyrics to the song on a matchbook during a charity golf tournament hosted by [[Eddie Van Halen]]. The song was the last to be recorded for the album.<ref>Durchholz, Daniel, and Gary Graff. 2012. ''Neil Young: Long May You Run: The Illustrated History''. Minneapolis, MN: Voyageur Press.</ref>