Heart Of Gold

heart-of-gold chords and lyrics

“Heart of Gold” is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young. From his fourth studio album Harvest (1972), 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, and No. 1 again on May 13. 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.

The song, which features backup vocals by 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 recorded during the initial sessions for Harvest on February 6–8, 1971, at Quadrafonic Sound Studios in Nashville, Tennessee.^[ Ronstadt (who herself would later cover Young’s song “Love Is a Rose“) and Taylor were in Nashville at the time for an appearance on Johnny Cash’s television program, and the album’s producer Elliot Mazer arranged for them to sing backup for Young in the studio.

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