Your Jukebox Remembers Neil Young: Heart Of Gold Heart of Gold is a song by Neil Young. Released from the 1972 album Harvest, it is, to date, Youngs only U.S. #1 single. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked it #297 on their list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. The song, which features backup vocals of James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt, is one of a series of soft acoustic pieces which were written partly as a result of a back injury. Unable to stand for long periods of time, Young could not play his electric guitar and so returned to his acoustic guitar, which he could play sitting down. He also played his harmonica during the three instrumental portions, including the Introduction to the song. Heart of Gold was taped during the initial sessions for Harvest in early 1971 at Quadrafonic Sound Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. Ronstadt (who herself would later cover Youngs song Love is a Rose) and Taylor were in Nashville at the time for an appearance on Johnny Cashs television program, and the albums producer Elliot Mazer arranged for them to sing backup for Young in the studio. Originally this song was meant to segue with A Man Needs a Maid, and was therefore played on piano. It was played in this manner during Youngs solo shows in 1971, but he abandoned this approach midway through the tour and began to play it on guitar as it is now known. Additionally, one line that was cut when the two songs became separate entities was Afraid/A man feels afraid An example of the segued version appears on Youngs 2007 release Live at Massey Hall 1971. Young wrote in the liner notes of his 1977 compilation album Decade: This song put me in the middle of the road. Traveling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch. A rougher ride but I saw more interesting people there. This statement was in response to the mainstream popularity that he gained as a result of the number-one status of Heart of Gold.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 08:40:39 +0000
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