H is For “Heart of Gold”

Fandango

My theme for this year’s A to Z Blogging Challenge is classic rock songs. Each day during the month (except for the first four Sundays, I will post a classic rock song: a video from YouTube, along with a brief bit of background about the song and the recording artist(s).

This is much more difficult than I thought it would be. For every letter of the alphabet there are dozens of fantastic classic rock songs to choose from and picking just one song for each letter is maddening. But this is what I signed up for. My H song is “Heart of Gold” from Neil Young.

“Heart of Gold” was written and sung by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young. From his fourth album, Harvest, it is Young’s only U.S. number 1 single. Billboard ranked it as the number 17 song for 1972. And Rolling Stone ranked it number 297 on its list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

The song 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.

Despite the back injury, Young was in good spirits, which is reflected in this song that he wrote about his then girlfriend, Carrie Snodgress.

James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt sang backup on the recording, although they don’t come in until the end of the song. Young was in Nashville to record a performance for The Johnny Cash Show, as were Taylor and Ronstadt. Young convinced them to lend their voices to this track, and they came in on Sunday, February 7, 1971, the day after the rest of the song was completed.

Young had made no secret that he was a huge Bob Dylan fan, but when Dylan heard “Heart of Gold” he thought this was going too far. Dylan complained, “I used to hate it when it came on the radio. I always liked Neil Young, but it bothered me every time I listened to ‘Heart of Gold.’ I’d say, that’s me. If it sounds like me, it should as well be me.”

Here are the lyrics to “Heart of Gold.”

I want to live
I want to give
I've been a miner
For a heart of gold
It's these expressions
I never give
That keep me searching
For a heart of gold
And I'm getting old
Keep me searching
For a heart of gold
And I'm getting old

I've been to Hollywood
I've been to Redwood
I crossed the ocean
For a heart of gold
I've been in my mind
It's such a fine line
That keeps me searching
For a heart of gold
And I'm getting old
Keeps me searching
For a heart of gold
And I'm getting old

Keep me searching
For a heart of gold
You keep me searching
And I'm growing old
Keep me searching
For a heart of gold
I've been a miner
For a heart of gold

Previous 2023 A to Z posts: A B C D E F G

35 thoughts on “H is For “Heart of Gold””

  1. newepicauthor April 10, 2023 / 6:06 am

    Imitation is said to be the highest form of flattery, so Dylan should not have been that mad. It was nice getting to listen to this today, Fandango.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. bushboy April 10, 2023 / 7:26 am

    Another big tick from me Fandango 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Marleen April 10, 2023 / 9:21 am

    I didn’t know an electric guitar can’t be played sitting down. Such a factoid gave us a great album.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Fandango April 10, 2023 / 9:56 am

      I didn’t know that either.

      Like

  6. John Holton April 10, 2023 / 8:29 pm

    I used to play electric guitar sitting down all the time…

    Liked by 1 person

    • Fandango April 10, 2023 / 10:32 pm

      You’ve got talents that Neil could only hope for, apparently. 😉

      Liked by 1 person

      • John Holton April 11, 2023 / 12:03 pm

        Playing an electric while sitting down isn’t hard at all. Most of the older jazz players did. Neil played a Les Paul, and Les Paul himself played sitting down…

        Liked by 1 person

        • Marleen April 11, 2023 / 1:11 pm

          So there we have it.

          Liked by 2 people

        • Fandango April 11, 2023 / 10:17 pm

          Maybe he was just in an acoustic frame of mind.

          Liked by 1 person

  7. Pingback: I is For “I’ve Seen All Good People” – This, That, and the Other
  8. junedesilva April 11, 2023 / 6:26 am

    Another classic song choice that resonates with me.
    In 1974, I saw Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young perform at Wembley. Joni Mitchell and the Band also played. One of the best live shows I’ve attended.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Marleen April 11, 2023 / 2:01 pm

    I wish he had charted for “Let’s Impeach the President” or for “Living with War” in 2006.

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Pingback: J is For “Just What I Needed” – This, That, and the Other
  11. Pingback: K is for “Katmandu” – This, That, and the Other
  12. Pingback: L is for “Layla” – This, That, and the Other
  13. Pingback: M is for “Magic Carpet Ride” – This, That, and the Other
  14. Pingback: N is for “No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature” – This, That, and the Other
  15. Pingback: O is for “Over My Head” – This, That, and the Other
  16. Pingback: P is for “Peaceful Easy Feeling” – This, That, and the Other
  17. Pingback: Q is for “Question” – This, That, and the Other
  18. Pingback: R is for “Running on Empty” – This, That, and the Other
  19. Pingback: S is for “Sultans of Swing” – This, That, and the Other
  20. Pingback: T is for “Take Me Home” – This, That, and the Other
  21. Pingback: U is for “Us and Them” – This, That, and the Other
  22. Pingback: V is for “Vehicle” – This, That, and the Other
  23. Pingback: W is for “What a Fool Believes” – This, That, and the Other
  24. Pingback: X is for “Xanadu” – This, That, and the Other
  25. Pingback: Y is for “You Can’t Always Get What hhou Want” – This, That, and the Other
  26. Pingback: Z is for “Zanzibar” – This, That, and the Other
  27. Pingback: A to Z Reflections — 2023 – This, That, and the Other

Comments are closed.