The Pop Corporation

Neil Young’s post Buffalo Springfield career is a fine one, but it wasn’t until ‘Harvest’ happened on the world that he became a legend. In ’72, the album was everywhere and inescapable on the radio.

One man wasn’t happy about it, and that man was Bob Dylan.

On the LP, fans would find ‘Heart Of Gold’, still one of Young’s most enduring songs. An emotional, gorgeous, fragile piece of work that influenced many, and prompted millions of teenagers to buy one of those braces you put a harmonica in, so they could toot along while strumming an acoustic.

Of course, another man fond of an acoustic and a harmonica is the aforementioned Dylan and it all wasn’t lost on him. In Spin (this is back in ’85, but fuck it, it’s still interesting) he said that he hated hearing the song.

“The only time it bothered me that someone sounded like me was when I was living in Phoenix, Arizona, in about ’72 and the big song at the time was ‘Heart of Gold,’” he said. “I used to hate it when it came on the radio. I always liked Neil Young, but it bothered me every time I listened to ‘Heart of Gold.’ …I’d say, ‘Shit, that’s me. If it sounds like me, it should as well be me.’”

“There I was, stuck on the desert someplace, having to cool out for a while,” he added. “I needed to lay back for a while, forget about things, myself included, and I’d get so far away and turn on the radio and there I am, but it’s not me. It seemed to me somebody else had taken my thing and had run away with it, you know, and I never got over it.”

Eventually, Dylan would get over it and Bob and Neil ended up firm buddies and have appeared on stage with each other, so all’s well that ends well, eh?