Written by: Neil Young
Released: 1972
US Charts: #1 (1 week)
UK Charts: #10
Other Charts: #1 (Canada)
The reason why I’ve chosen Neil Young’s classic song “Heart of Gold” as the topic of today’s article is because I’ve gained a much greater appreciation for the beauty of this song while listening to it yesterday. I’d heard the song only once before, and while I thought it was a great song, I never went crazy over it. However, as I skimming through a list of Billboard number 1 hits, I saw this song and thought I’d listen to it again. This time, it grabbed by the neck, bringing me closer to the lyrics and implanting its tune into my head for the rest of the day.
At the same time, it prompted me to read up on Neil Young’s music career as I didn’t know too much about him. The most amazing thing about him is his longevity in the music business. After 4 decades, his albums still continue to reach the top 20s of the Billboard Charts. In addition, Bob Dylan admires him as an artist and that’s saying something.
Focusing on the song, it deals with someone’s search for a person who is truly caring and loving, someone with a heart of gold. Young explores the difficulties involved in finding such a person in a society where there is a lot of malice, lies and betrayal. He says that he has crossed the ocean and been as far as Hollywood but hasn’t found that person despite growing old. Many people including myself can easily relate to such feelings and the desire to find that someone special who will truly love and care for us.
In addition, the song has a nice, soft and easy-to-follow rhythm dominated by the acoustic guitar. Young’s vocal performance also gives the song a touch of authenticity and sentiment. “Heart of Gold” became Neil Young’s only number 1 hit on the Billboard charts and one of a few to become mainstream hits. This song stayed in the head all day yesterday and I hope it does the same to you. Enjoy!
Lyrics can be accessed here.
Chords can be accessed here.
Feel free to comment on this song and/or my review below.
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Well the song is compelling to a certain extent for me though im no big fan of neil, yet i find this song or more rather the lyrics to paint a picture about life.
Now i dont mean to sound all philosophical but i think (metaphoricaly speaking) we are all miners, and we are searching for something, although we find things in life we still feel like there’s something else out there something making us feel incomplete, in this case its a heart of gold, something valuable, something priceless.