Neil Young – Heart Of Gold

“Heart of Gold” is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young. From his fourth album Harvest, it is Young’s only U.S. No. 1 single. In Canada, it reached No. 1 on the RPM national singles chart for the first time on April 8, 1972, on which date Young held the top spot on both the singles and albums charts. Billboard ranked it as the No. 17 song for 1972. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked it No. 297 on their list of the 500 greatest songs of all time,  No. 303 in an updated 2010 list, and No. 259 in 2021.

With a straightforward metaphor and complete lack of pathos, this is not a typical Neil Young song. It finds him mining for a “heart of gold,” which depending on your perspective, is either a touching and heartfelt sentiment, or a mawkish platitude. Rolling Stone took the churlish view, complaining that the album evoked “superstardom’s weariest clichés.” The listening public and Young’s fans were far more accepting, and the song became his biggest hit.

Young wrote this in 1971 after he suffered a back injury that made it difficult for him to play the electric guitar, so on the Harvest tracks he played acoustic. Despite the injury, Young was in good spirits (possibly thanks to the painkillers), which is reflected in this song. The next few years were more challenging for Young, as he suffered a series of setbacks: His son Zeke was born with cerebral palsy, his friend Danny Whitten died, and he split with his girlfriend, Carrie Snodgress. His next three albums, which became known as “The Ditch Trilogy,” expressed these dark times in stark contrast to “Heart of Gold.”

This song was recorded at the first sessions for the Harvest album, which took place on Saturday, February 6, 1971 and were set up the night before.

By far, this was the biggest hit for Young as a solo artist, reaching #1 on the Hot 100 on March 18, 1972 (the Harvest album went to #1 a week earlier, supplanting Don McLean’s American Pie).

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Neil Young - Heart Of Gold

Neil Young - Heart of Gold (Live at Farm Aid 1985)03:09

“Heart of Gold” este un single de pe albumul Harvest din 1972, fost în topul dre albume SUA. De departe, această piesă este cel mai mare hit pentru Neil Young, ca artist solo. Neil Young este primul canadian, care a avut un album pe prima poziție în  SUA.

Neil s-a născut în Toronta, și s-a mutat când era adolescent în Winnepeg, după divorțul părinților săi.

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