I’ve been obsessing over Neil Young lately, particularly his 1971 Massey hall performance of “Heart of Gold”. The first three minutes of that video is just him fiddling with his harmonica and making small talk with the audience. The simplicity and humility of such artists just strengthens my admiration, and is one of the reasons why I like that kind of music. He reminds me of Nick Drake from the album cover of Bryter Layter as he hunches over his guitar while playing the intro.
I love the intro so much that I’ve been trying very hard to play it on my guitar. The chords are pretty simple – Em, C, D and G and and the intro is pretty much Em and D and I’ve been practicing the chord changes all evening. It’s quite rewarding when it begins to sound like something you’ve heard so many times.
Now this would make a great un-birthday present <wink>
And here’s a great cover by Johnny Cash.
And here’s tabs and a guitar lesson.
Happy strumming!
Neil’s performance of Heart of Gold in his Unplugged concert is stellar.
Yeah, Neil is pretty simple as far as artists go but besides that I don’t see where he and Nick Drake have anything in common.
Great song to play on guitar too.
Bo Bice reminds me of Neil Young.
Hmmm, I think they have quite a bit in common. The whole singer-songwriter/folk connection is big IMO.
rock n roll will never die
Have you checked out the Buffalo Springfield album with Neil Young doing his compositions “Nowadays Clancy can’t even sing’, ‘Burned’, ‘Out of my mind’, ‘Mr. Soul’ and a few others? If not, do. I’m sure you’ll dig the tunes done in the the late 60′s.
Dude, I’ve been recently trippin’ on cowgirl in the sand — Neil Young Live at the Fillmore East. Get it. Get it. Got it?