In 1978 during a late-night session at Different Fur Studios in San Francisco, the great Neil Young sat in with DEVO to perform an early but strange version of his now-iconic song “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)”.
In the wee hours of the morning at Different Fur, Young and Devo collaborated musically for the only time on an ultra-twisted version of a new song called ‘Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black).’ (…)
Jimmy McDonough, Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography
The members of DEVO performed in masks and frontman Mark Mothersbaugh as his alter ego “Booji Boy” for the song. As he was singing, Mothersbaugh came up with one of the most now-seminal lines from the song. Young was so impressed that he incorporated it into all his future performances.
‘We saw ‘Rust never sleeps’ as referring to corruption of innocence, de-evolution of the planet,’ said Mothersbaugh. Neil Young would nick Booji Boy’s impromptu mumbling both to rework the new song and for the title of his next album. …Young would interpret the line in his own way. ‘It caught my ear,’ Young told Mary Turner in 1979. ‘I thought, ‘Wow, right off they wrote better lyrics than I did. I can relate to ‘Rust never sleeps.’ It relates to my career.
Jimmy McDonough, Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography
via Boing Boing
