Legendary Canadian rocker Neil Young has filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump’s political committee, alleging copyright infringement over the organisation’s ongoing use of his song ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ during midterm election rallies. The 1989 hit is frequently used as Trump’s walk-on music.
Young’s camp is requesting $10 million (approx. €8.9m) in damages and that Trump’s team be barred from playing the song in public.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday and seen by Variety, highlights how Trump 47 Committee Inc.’s unsanctioned use of Young’s song violates the terms of a past settlement, as the musician and his publishing company, Silver Fiddle Music, filed a copyright infringement suit against Trump’s presidential campaign in 2020.
Young later dismissed the lawsuit, but only after reaching a settlement with the Trump campaign – which included the promise that they would not use ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ without permission.
“The Committee does not now have, and did not at the time of the Youngstown Rally or any other rally financed and conducted by the Committee, have a license or Young’s permission to play the Song at any public political event,” states the new lawsuit.
The lawsuit also highlights that Trump has clearly not listened to (or bothered to read) the song’s lyrics, as it is a famously anti-Republican.
Young wrote the track as a critical commentary on politics and American society during the George H.W. Bush years. The song clearly paints the contradictions and pitfalls of the so-called “American Dream”.
“‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ is a blistering anthem that contrasts the hollow promises of American political rhetoric with the harsh realities faced by the poor, homeless and forgotten,” the document states. “The lyrics paint vivid street-level portraits – a mother discarding her baby, addicts lost in despair, garbage piling in the shadows of prosperity -while the repeated chorus delivers a savage irony, celebrating freedom that clearly isn’t shared by all.”
“In short, the song is the opposite of everything that Donald J. Trump stands for.”
The opening lyrics to the song are: “There’s colours on the street / Red, white and blue / People shufflin’ their feet / People sleepin’ in their shoes / But there’s a warnin’ sign on the road ahead / There’s a lot of people sayin’ we’d be better off dead / Don’t feel like Satan, but I am to them / So I try to forget it any way I can…”
For most, it’s hardly a difficult metaphor to grasp…
The suit also alleges that Young “has suffered and continues to suffer from great injury” over the alleged infringement, adding that he also “suffered damage to his reputation and brand as a result of the implication that he supports Donald J. Trump in any way.”
Young has been a longstanding and vocal critic of Trump. Last year, he came to the defence of Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift, both of whom Trump had criticised and even threatened.
At the time, Young shared a new blog post on the Neil Young Archives website, where he defended his fellow musicians.
“Bruce and thousands of musicians think you are ruining America. You worry about that instead of the dyin’ kids in Gaza. That’s your problem. I am not scared of you. Neither are the rest of us.”
He continued: “You shut down FEMA when we needed it most. That’s your problem Trump. STOP THINKING ABOUT WHAT ROCKERS ARE SAYING. Think about saving America from the mess you made.”
“Taylor Swift is right. So is Bruce. You know how I feel. You are more worried about yourself than AMERICA. Wake up Trump!! Remember what the White House is?”
He finished his blog entry by writing: “You are forgetting your real job. You work for us. Wake up Republicans! This guy is out of control. We need a real president!”
Earlier this year, Young even offered Greenlanders free access to his music in the wake of Trump’s threats of annexation.
He wrote on his website: “I’m honoured to give a free year’s access to neilyoungarchives.com to all of our friends in Greenland. I hope my music and music films will ease some of the unwarranted stress and threats you are experiencing from our unpopular and hopefully temporary government.”
Young is far from the only high-profile musician to take legal action against the Trump administration for playing their songs without authorisation.
Everyone from Creedence Clearwater Revival to Tom Petty, via The Rolling Stones, Adele, Foo Fighters, Céline Dion, The White Stripes, ABBA and many more have called out Trump for using their songs without permission.
Other cases include Bruce Springsteen objecting in 2016 to Trump blasting ‘Born in the U.S.A.’ as a patriotic anthem, when it’s actually a scathing indictment of the treatment of Vietnam vets; Rihanna demanding that Trump stop playing ‘Don’t Stop the Music’ after the song played at a 2018 rally; and R.E.M. being outraged that their tracks ‘Losing My Religion’, ‘Everybody Hurts’ and ‘It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)’ were used at rallies.
In 2020, Leonard Cohen’s estate issued a statement criticizing Trump’s unauthorized use of Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ at the Republican National Convention – having specifically rejected permission for its use. The estate, rather brilliantly, added that they would have only realistically considered approving Cohen’s song ‘You Want It Darker’.
In June, Ariana Grande became one of the latest artists to protest Trump’s antics, calling out the White House for using one of her songs in a social media post promoting ICE arrests.
She wrote: “Please do not ever use my music in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense. F*** ICE.”
The 2026 United States midterm elections are scheduled to be held on Tuesday 3 November.