When I wrote this, I knew I was on to something. I could feel the world changing. I knew I was into something cool when I got the two sennheiser vocoders to the studio. They enabled me to be a robot, to sing through any thing, present my voice as an envelope to the notes I played with my synclavier keyboard. I saw the factory, the place where replicas and robots were built to order, the rows of old telephones being operated by feminine appearing robots, beautiful, yet mechanical. I started seeing mechanical nurses in a hospital, who came to help me find a way for my child to speak. I saw Trans for the first time. This is a live performance of that first song, Sample and Hold. It blew people’s minds. Almost everyone hated it. I was more worried about getting the right information and help for my beautiful child, lying on his back in his crib, full of gifts from his mother and I, sun streaming through the window on to his new life. How could I help? What could I do? Orders were being taken. I watched the fem-bots answering the requests. Neil Young NYA - Now Showing in the Hearse Theater July 13, 2019

This album has a split personality ... which I think is interesting. Songs like "Like an Inca", that's the future of my music as seen 15 years ago. "Sample and Hold" is the future of my music as seen today. It's more automatic ... it's trans-music. That's why I want to call the album "Trans". Neil Young Musician interview with Cameron Crowe November 1982