Neil Young is not happy with Starbucks, and it’s not because of their shitty coffee. The rocker voices his concerns about the coffee giant not properly labeling some of their products, which could contain Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), in a song called Rock Starbucks.The track is from his forthcoming album The Monsanto Years, out June 16th
Once a huge Starbucks fan, Neil Young boycotted the coffee company after they aligned with the GMO giant Monsanto in a lawsuit against the state of Vermont.
In an interview with CNN in December, Starbucks refuted Young’s accusations, saying that it “is not aligned with Monsanto.” Starbucks stated that it isn’t part of any lawsuit pertaining to GMO labelling.
A Monsanto representative claimed that many at the corporation were indeed fans of the outspoken Young, but, “We recognise there is a lot of misinformation about who we are and what we do – and unfortunately several of those myths seem to be captured in these lyrics.”
Young recorded the album with Willie Nelson’s sons, Micah and Lukas Nelson and debuted Rock Starbucks online on May 22 on the Democracy Now radio show. He played the song for the first time, along with 10 other tracks likely bound for The Monsanto Years, at a secret show at San Luis Obispo, California’s SLO Brewing Co. on April 16th.
Check out the video of the song and a transcription of Nelson’s lyrics below:
Rock Starbucks
If you don’t like to rock Starbucks, a coffee shop
Well, you better change your station ’cause that ain’t all that we got
Yeah, I want a cup of coffee, but I don’t want a GMO
I like to start my day off without helping Monsanto
Monnnn-saaaan-toooo
Let our farmers grow
What they want to growFrom the fields of Nebraska to the banks of the Ohio,
The farmers won’t be free to grow what they want to grow
When corporate control takes over the American farm
The fascist politicians and chemical giants walking our name off
Monnnn-saaaan-toooo
Let our farmers grow
What they want to growWhen the people of Vermont voted to label food with GMOs
So they can find out what was in what the farmer grows
Monsanto and Starbucks through the grocery manufacturers alliance
Sued the state of Vermont to overturn the people’s will
Monnnn-saaaan-toooo (and Starbucks)
Others want to know
What they feed their childrenMonnnn-saaaan-toooo
Let our farmers grow
What they want to grow