Neil Young - powderfinger, 1979

"Powderfinger" is the first song of the second, electric, side of Rust Never Sleeps. Allmusic critic Jason Ankeny describes the song, following the album's mellower, acoustic first side, as "a sudden, almost blindsiding metamorphosis, which is entirely the point — it's the shot you never saw coming." The lyrics are the posthumous narration of a young man who attempts to protect his family against an approaching gunboat. He realizes that all of the older men are unavailable, leaving him "to do the thinking". After initial indecision, he eventually takes action, and is ultimately killed. He describes his death with the gruesome line "my face splashed in the sky."