the best I have heard in my life. The guy is a spectacular guitarist, those melodies are so marvelous, so calculated, constructed note to note… he must have killed to get those notes. It puts my hairs on end!”. David Downing suggests that this may be an overstatement but that the performance is nonetheless "remarkable." Downing praises the intensity produced by the "straining and stretching notes" that Young plays "almost in slow motion." Downing especially notes the accompaniment to the final line about flying with stone wings, where Downing feels that the guitar playing allows the listener to feel how heavy those stone wings are but still makes the listener believe that the bird will find a way to fly with them anyway. AllMusic critic Matthew Greenwald describes the guitar solos by Young and Crazy Horse rhythm guitarist Frank Sampedro as being "exquisite." Williamson describes the song as representing Young and Crazy Horse "at their brooding best." Young biographer Jimmy McDonough describes "Danger Bird" as "perhaps the most unsettling song Young has created, a soundtrack worthy of those ten-cent portraits of Hell found in a Coffin Joe flick," and also "a masterpiece, a trip inside the darkest recesses of Shakey's mind." Pitchfork contributor Rob Mitchum describes the song as a "triumphantly moody, electric epic" which provides "spacious opportunities for Young to revive his trademark lacerating guitar tone." Neil Young FAQ author Glen Boyd, comparing it to "Cortez the Killer," calls it an "equally stunning, if somewhat more underrated contender for a Neil Young and Old Black hall of fame. Rolling Stone Album Guide contributor Paul Evans describes "Danger Bird" as a "standout" track on Zuma. Village Voice critic Robert Christgau describes the song as "sprawling blockbuster cut" which he considers compromised to some extent by its "relative neatness and control." A 2015 reader poll by Rolling Stone ranked "Danger Bird" as Young's 7th best "deep cut." A year earlier the editors of Rolling Stone rated "Danger Bird" to be the 24th best Neil Young song of all time. Live performances Young almost never plays "Danger Bird" live unless he is performing with Crazy Horse. A live version appears on the 1997 live album Year of the Horse. Bielen describes the guitar playing at the beginning of the song to have an "industrial wah-wah sound" before proceeding to "distorted power chords." This version lasts more than 13 minutes as a result