 Harvest (1972) [ larger cover art ] |
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Old man, look at my life
I'm a lot like you were
Old man, look at my life
I'm a lot like you were
Old man, look at my life
Twenty-four and there's so much more
Live alone in a paradise
That makes me think of two
Love lost, such a cost
Give me things that don't get lost
Like a coin that won't get tossed
Rolling home to you
Old man, take a look at my life. I'm a lot like you
I need someone to love me the whole day through
Ah, one look in my eyes and you can tell that's true
Lullabies, look in your eyes
Run around the same old town
Doesn't mean that much to me
To mean that much to you
I've been first and last
Look at how the time goes past
But I'm all alone at last
Rolling home to you
Old man, take a look at my life. I'm a lot like you
I need someone to love me the whole day through
Ah, one look in my eyes and you can tell that's true
Old man, look at my life
I'm a lot like you were
Old man look at my life
I'm a lot like you were
| lissen (Sweet, sweet Oregon) | Posted: Apr 15, 2013 - 13:22 Limited like Dylan, Randy Newman, etc; creators of a whole song -- integrating theme, voice, time, space, and not just words and instrumentation. Let's hope for more limited folks like these. | |
| goozer321 (Maidstone, Kent) | Posted: Apr 15, 2013 - 13:21 dew34 wrote: It's not his guitar playing or his vocal limitations that set Neil Young apart from everyone else. He has vision, empathy and great passion for the songs that he writes and performs. All together an incredible talent and a major Play(er) to be sure, and one has endured for forty years and will continue as long as there is air in his lungs and skin on his fingers. That and being a bit bonkers. | |
| On_The_Beach (The Blue Planet) | Posted: Mar 30, 2013 - 12:34 dew34 wrote: It's not his guitar playing or his vocal limitations that set Neil Young apart from everyone else. He has vision, empathy and great passion for the songs that he writes and performs. All together an incredible talent and a major Play(er) to be sure, and one has endured for forty years and will continue as long as there is air in his lungs and skin on his fingers. What dew34 said!  | |
| gresua (Ukraine, Kiyv) | Posted: Mar 30, 2013 - 10:09 After these slides song "Old Man" felt very sad ...  | |
| dew34 (Wisconsin-quite woodsy) | Posted: Mar 30, 2013 - 10:06 MiracleDrug wrote: one of the handful of this guy's songs that aren't KILLED by his limited vocal abilities...  It's not his guitar playing or his vocal limitations that set Neil Young apart from everyone else. He has vision, empathy and great passion for the songs that he writes and performs. All together an incredible talent and a major Play(er) to be sure, and one has endured for forty years and will continue as long as there is air in his lungs and skin on his fingers. | |
| softjeans | Posted: Feb 26, 2013 - 23:10 johnjconn wrote: Massey Hall in 71 live recording is a great album. Neil's voice is so young (no pun intended) in that recording. It was recorded right when Harvest was being released, so no one clapped for all the hits on it. Yes -- especially Cowgirl in the Sand. Even better acoustic. Believe it or don't. | |
| michaelgmitchell (Stirling, ON) | Posted: Feb 11, 2013 - 17:53 Thanks a bunch! Hmm ... an odd question. I was, actually. westslope wrote: michaelgmitchell: Thanks for sharing! Your daughter has a fine voice. Tell me: You were never a sports journalist, right? ;-) | |
| Elroweho (Cheesehead in Paradise) | Posted: Jan 11, 2013 - 09:35 Overplayed - good song but I need a break from hearing it so often | |
| howton52 (Emerald Coast Bayou & New Orleans) | Posted: Dec 26, 2012 - 07:33 Yeah, me, too.......... but 10....10....10 | |
| bluematrix (confluence of mississippi and missouri rivers) | Posted: Oct 24, 2012 - 14:49 i'm very stingy with 10's, but... | |
| Hannio (Austin, TX) | Posted: Oct 24, 2012 - 14:48 That caricature two posts down is quite possibly the best I have ever seen. | |
| Stratocaster (Bermuda) | Posted: Oct 02, 2012 - 01:40 tulfan wrote: I read that James Taylor and Linda Rodstandt (sp) were singing backup on this one Not sure about Linda Ronstadt, but James Taylor is playing the banjo on this one. Not being a banjo player, but being one hell of a guitar fingerpicker, he tuned the banjo the same as a guitar and played it like a guitar. Really, the song wouldn't be the same without it. | |
| rockpommel16 (rockpommel´s land...dreaming of netherlands) | Posted: Sep 23, 2012 - 02:17  ...a solid 10...still growing...after all these years... | |
| westslope (BC coast) | Posted: Aug 01, 2012 - 13:47 michaelgmitchell: Thanks for sharing! Your daughter has a fine voice.
Tell me: You were never a sports journalist, right? ;-) | |
| coloradojohn (A Mile High and then some, Cherry Creek, Denver) | Posted: Aug 01, 2012 - 13:41 About as awesome as a song can get; one that may be destined to be sung by those hundreds of years from now, like a Folk Hymn... I recall that even as a kid, 10 or 11 when it came out and was all over the airwaves, the rhymes and progressions were simple enough, and yet essential and instantly timelessly CLASSIC. I still feel the same! Headed to see Neil and Crazy Horse THIS SUNDAY AT RED ROCKS AND CAN HARDLY WAIT! | |
| Randomax (Wimberley, TX) | Posted: Aug 01, 2012 - 13:39 64 and there's not much more.....ha - I could NOT resist changing the lyrics to what he'd be singing now! | |
| Easyrider (Portugal) | Posted: Jul 01, 2012 - 03:13 Outstandingly great song. | |
| johnjconn (chicago land) | Posted: Jun 20, 2012 - 16:50 StoneyG wrote: This is great, but his solo performance from Toronto's Massey Hall in '71 is better, in my most humblest of opinions. Massey Hall in 71 live recording is a great album. Neil's voice is so young (no pun intended) in that recording. It was recorded right when Harvest was being released, so no one clapped for all the hits on it. | |
| michaelgmitchell (Ontario, Canada) | Posted: Jun 02, 2012 - 10:18 A nice fellow on the forums suggested I throw out this YTube moment I was lucky to share with my daughter a couple of Christmas evenings ago. One take. Tried to do Mr. Young's tune some justice. /M. | |
| jeremyleo (Canada's Capital City) | Posted: May 30, 2012 - 05:27 A campfire staple on the old gee-tar. I love that my kids sing along and know all the words. | |
| Bobert_ParkCity (Park City Utah) | Posted: May 19, 2012 - 21:44 The older I get the better Neil Young gets. | |
| tulfan (Still in SE MI) | Posted: May 04, 2012 - 07:22 I read that James Taylor and Linda Rodstandt (sp) were singing backup on this one | |
| DeeCee1109 (People's Republic of A2) | Posted: May 04, 2012 - 07:21 Forty years ago! | |
| Stratocaster (Bermuda) | Posted: Mar 17, 2012 - 12:17 Whenever I sit down with my guitar and someone says "play a song for me"....I always start with this one. Been a favourite of mine for 40 years. | |
| oldsaxon (Wales via Vancouver, BC.) | Posted: Mar 17, 2012 - 12:09
Imagine how Neil feels these days... | |
| NuggetNectar | Posted: Feb 14, 2012 - 17:18 StoneyG wrote: This is great, but his solo performance from Toronto's Massey Hall in '71 is better, in my most humblest of opinions.
Absolutely. That is flawless layered guitar in that clip. Going to youtube now to watch | |
| Poacher (Brighton, UK) | Posted: Jan 24, 2012 - 09:01 unclehud wrote: When I first heard this, Neil was singing to some old man. Today, he's singing to me. Oh buggery bollocks, I wish you had not said that, it's now true for me too. Sigh. . . | |
| d-don (Oregon) | Posted: Jan 24, 2012 - 08:59 unclehud wrote: When I first heard this, Neil was singing to some old man. Today, he's singing to me. You and me both, brother. | |
| StoneyG (Just east of The Rockies; north of the 49th) | Posted: Jan 13, 2012 - 22:58 This is great, but his solo performance from Toronto's Massey Hall in '71 is better, in my most humblest of opinions. | |
| old_shep (Iowa) | Posted: Dec 29, 2011 - 11:33 When I listen to this today, I hear my 24 year old self talking to me from my past. We both love this song. | |
| unclehud (300 feet above the planet) | Posted: Dec 29, 2011 - 11:29 When I first heard this, Neil was singing to some old man. Today, he's singing to me. | |
| MiracleDrug (Earth) | Posted: Dec 29, 2011 - 11:28 ozzie1313 wrote: you need another dose of whatever your miracle drug is; Neil is an excellent vocalist, evocative as hell. yeah okay... this guy makes Bob Dylan seem like Pavarotti...  | |
| ozzie1313 | Posted: Nov 11, 2011 - 11:31 you need another dose of whatever your miracle drug is; Neil is an excellent vocalist, evocative as hell. | |
| Hannio (Austin, TX) | Posted: Nov 11, 2011 - 11:31 One of the most beautiful songs ever written. | |
| MiracleDrug (Earth) | Posted: Oct 21, 2011 - 07:14 one of the handful of this guy's songs that aren't KILLED by his limited vocal abilities... | |
| calypsus_1 | Posted: Oct 18, 2011 - 18:46 Neil Young - Old Man Neil Young plays Old Man live in Coburg, August 2008. Featuring Larry on banjo. "Doesn't mean that much to me to mean that much do you..." Genius jwhardin740 Quite sure that's the late great Ben Keith on peddle steel here. Fabulous. MarshallBennett64 pure greatness! wow, neil sounds like it is 71 again here- nice guitar work- oh and the banjo dude is very good- jabb69 | |
| calypsus_1 | Posted: Sep 19, 2011 - 15:59 Neil Young - "Old Man" Live in London (1971) in album Harvest (1972) and Decade (Compilation) (1977) special participation Mr. James Taylor played six-string banjo (tuned like a guitar) and sang on the song, and Ms. Linda Ronstadt also contributed vocals. ** 10 ** | |
| rdo (DC) | Posted: Aug 19, 2011 - 07:01 Peace_tode wrote: I kinda like the banjo in this song. Yes, that does stand out. Neutral Milk Hotel used the same in a great song. | |
| StoneyG (Just east of The Rockies; north of the 49th) | Posted: Jul 18, 2011 - 22:01 You should play the one from his Massey Hall '71 performance. It's amaaaaaaazing. | |
| sirdroseph (Yes) | Posted: Jun 17, 2011 - 05:32 Peace_tode wrote: I kinda like the banjo in this song. Understatement of the year, the banjo is amazing!!  | |
| d-don (Oregon) | Posted: May 16, 2011 - 15:29 jpwright wrote: True story. I am a photographer who shoots live rock n roll and jazz. It's 1985 and I'm driving a convertible with my fiance down the PCH 1 from San Francisco to have dinner with her friends. It's before Map Quest so we are following unmarked dirt roads. Off the majestic Pacific, we come to a simple hut with a pole across the road serving as a road block. Out steps a smiling elderly lady who asks us who we've come to see. We tell her and she says to take a right at the fork while raising the pole and waving us on. While having drinks before dinner I say to our hosts that I feel like I've seen this terrain before. They said their neighbor is Neil Young and that he invites them to a hoe down every summer. So I'm thinking of images of the farm and the barn on Harvest and Ol' Ways. It is called Broken Arrow Ranch and it I believe the same name for his recording company. The "Live at Carnegie Hall" bootleg (1971 approx) , Young talks about this song, "Old Man" he recently wrote about this old man who works on his farm. I can't help but think that the old woman who greeted us that day was his wife. Great story. Thanks for sharing that. | |
| Peace_tode (Atlanta) | Posted: May 16, 2011 - 15:29 I kinda like the banjo in this song. | |
| jpwright | Posted: May 06, 2011 - 14:28 True story. I am a photographer who shoots live rock n roll and jazz. It's 1985 and I'm driving a convertible with my fiance down the PCH 1 from San Francisco to have dinner with her friends. It's before Map Quest so we are following unmarked dirt roads. Off the majestic Pacific, we come to a simple hut with a pole across the road serving as a road block. Out steps a smiling elderly lady who asks us who we've come to see. We tell her and she says to take a right at the fork while raising the pole and waving us on. While having drinks before dinner I say to our hosts that I feel like I've seen this terrain before. They said their neighbor is Neil Young and that he invites them to a hoe down every summer. So I'm thinking of images of the farm and the barn on Harvest and Ol' Ways. It is called Broken Arrow Ranch and it I believe the same name for his recording company. The "Live at Carnegie Hall" bootleg (1971 approx) , Young talks about this song, "Old Man" he recently wrote about this old man who works on his farm. I can't help but think that the old woman who greeted us that day was his wife. | |
| oldman (Lost in Northern Virginia) | Posted: May 06, 2011 - 12:24 It seems like he's speaking......well to me! | |
| Weblizard | Posted: Apr 04, 2011 - 20:48 p2h2d2 wrote: Right on...alas Well said; this song was poignant to me in high school (to which my heart gets unmercifully dragged within the first few chords)- even then I could grasp that we all look back, wishing we'd had more foresight in our later years... then again, I was an old kid in some ways. Like the earlier poster said, this song will never get old for me. | |
| Jeff09 (Gainesville, Florida) | Posted: Apr 04, 2011 - 20:42 helgigermany wrote: Yes, so you like it? 9 | |
| linzie | Posted: Mar 14, 2011 - 14:43 Nostalgic or not, this is one of his finest efforts..and there are many!!! | |
| p2h2d2 (On the Lake) | Posted: Mar 14, 2011 - 14:39 johnjconn wrote: In some strange way, this might be the most meaningful song in a young mans life. ok , sappy , yeah, but think about it, Neils around 22 at the time he wrote this and he got it. I wish my kids would have this perspective. wish I was 22 again Right on...alas | |
| 1wolfy (Mission Viejo California) | Posted: Mar 04, 2011 - 09:30 Probably like most, my 20's were a lot of heaven and a bit of hell. Growing up has its challenges. | |
| Moaner (Island Heaven!!) | Posted: Mar 04, 2011 - 09:27 It must be 1983 and I'm in my dorm room playing Zonk!!! I only wish it were true. |