The Neil Young song that was always destined to be a hit: “I knew it”
With modern music listeners inundated with subgenres and multi-platform rollouts, predicting a surefire hit feels more elusive than ever. We often talk about “feeding the algorithm” or catering to ever-shifting digital trends, but the essence of what actually gets rewarded remains largely unknown. While success has always been unpredictable, at least in the 1960s, there was a prerequisite to simply be authentic. Would Neil Young have thrived in an era that didn’t value that?
Not to be reductive of the incredibly rich and nuanced output of that decade, but such was the emotional sensitivity and creative openness of the time that an artist simply bearing their heart on a record gave it a fighting chance of being well received. This attribute was so proudly worn in Young’s music that the sonic palette on which it was delivered had the freedom to roam and experiment.
But in 1972, when he released his fourth album Harvest, the essence of his authenticity had been distilled into something potent and readily available to inject into every song. It marked that time in every great musician’s career when their creative prowess knows no bounds and the mere picking up of an instrument inevitably ends in greatness.
And in this instance, the weapon of choice was largely an acoustic guitar. It was a devoted companion to Young during the recording of this record and became the perfect vessel through which he could explore the album’s clear sense of tenderness. ‘Old Man’ still stands out as one of Young’s finest tracks, for its musings on ageing and the passage of time are portrayed perfectly on the very human soundscape of an acoustic guitar.
But it was perhaps his brief diversion to a different instrument that provided a moment of clarity; that rare feeling within the studio that what has just been laid down are the foundations of a hit.
“I knew ‘Heart of Gold’ was a hit when Neil played it,” said Elliott Mazer, the producer of Harvest. He continued, “He wrote it on piano and performed it on some solo shows. His songs are generally an overpowering feeling”.
He added, “Kenny, Drummond, Ben, Teddy and I are in the control room,” he said. “Small space. 12 feet by 20 feet. And Neil plays ‘Heart of Gold’ and I look up and Kenny and I both at the same time put our fingers up as No. 1. We knew it”. It was a premonition that was proven true, as the track reached Billboard’s number one spot in March of 1972.
To this day, the chorus still incites a sing-along from even the newest of listeners and those with a finer-tuned, more experienced ear still marvel at the delicate inclusion of James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt in the mix. But while those attributes make it a retrospective masterpiece, what happened on that day that instilled Mazer to raise a single finger in celebration of a future number one was that alchemic reaction that seems to happen when Young bares his soul to a single instrument.
