After the Gold Rush (song)
Encyclopedia
"After the Gold Rush" is a song written by Neil Young
from the 1970 album of the same name
. In addition to After the Gold Rush, it also appears on Decade
, Greatest Hits
and Live Rust
.
The song contains lyrics associated with the environment in the form of a dream vision
. The three verses are often categorized as a movement from past, present and future. In addition to Young's vocals, two instruments are used in the song: a piano
and a flugelhorn
. The horn
solo in the middle of the song is often replaced by a harmonica
solo from Young in live performances. The line "Look at Mother Nature
on the run in the 1970s" has been amended by Young in concert over the decades, and currently is sung as "Look at Mother Nature on the run in the 21st century."
The song has been covered numerous times, best seen in the 1973 version by Prelude
which was a top 40 hit all over the globe, especially the United Kingdom
where it re-charted in the Top 40 in 1982. Other versions have been performed by artists such as Thom Yorke
, k. d. lang, The Flaming Lips
, Michael Hedges
and Natalie Merchant
; Emmylou Harris
, Dolly Parton
, and Linda Ronstadt
included it on their Trio II album in 1999. (Parton also released a solo version of the song in 1996, though her version altered the lyric " I felt like getting high" changed to "I felt like I could cry" with the permission of Neil Young
) and during Radiohead
's 2003 World Tour, Thom Yorke
occasionally played this song solo, usually segueing it into "Everything in Its Right Place
". The song has also been covered in live shows by Tori Amos
, Dave Matthews
, Neil Finn
during Crowded House
's 2007 tour of the USA, and by Nana Mouskouri
during her 1970s BBC show.
Dolly Parton once commented about the making of her version of the song: "When we were doing the Trio album, I asked Linda and Emmy what it meant, and they didn't know. So we called Neil Young, and he didn't know. We asked him, flat out, what it meant, and he said, 'Hell, I don't know. I just wrote it. It just depends on what I was taking at the time. I guess every verse has something different I'd taken.' " Parton, Ronstadt and Harris' Trio version of the song was also released as a single, and while it received little airplay, a video accompanying the song was popular on a number of cable video outlets, including CMT
.
Shakey: Neil Young's Biography, Jimmy McDonough, published by Random House in 2002, ISBN 0-679-42772-4
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
from the 1970 album of the same name
After the Gold Rush
After the Gold Rush is the third studio album by Canadian musician Neil Young. Released in August 1970 on Reprise Records, it was one of the four high-profile albums released by each member of folk rock collective Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in the wake of their chart-topping 1970 album Déjà Vu...
. In addition to After the Gold Rush, it also appears on Decade
Decade (Neil Young album)
Decade is a triple album compilation by Neil Young, released in 1977, now available on two compact discs. It contains 35 of Young's songs recorded between 1966 and 1976, among them five tracks that had been unreleased up to that point...
, Greatest Hits
Greatest Hits (Neil Young album)
Greatest Hits is Neil Young's third compilation album after Decade and Lucky Thirteen. Eleven of the first twelve tracks appear on Decade, and the disc spans his solo career from 1969 through 1992...
and Live Rust
Live Rust
Live Rust is a live album by Neil Young & Crazy Horse, recorded during his fall 1978 Rust Never Sleeps tour. The show at the Cow Palace, San Francisco was filmed and was the performance used in the concert film, Rust Never Sleeps; however, the album Live Rust was composed of performances...
.
The song contains lyrics associated with the environment in the form of a dream vision
Dream vision
A dream vision is a literary device in which a dream is recounted for a specific purpose. While dreams occur frequently throughout the history of literature, the dream vision emerged as a poetic genre in its own right, and was particularly popular in the Middle Ages. This genre typically follows a...
. The three verses are often categorized as a movement from past, present and future. In addition to Young's vocals, two instruments are used in the song: a piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and a flugelhorn
Flugelhorn
The flugelhorn is a brass instrument resembling a trumpet but with a wider, conical bore. Some consider it to be a member of the saxhorn family developed by Adolphe Sax ; however, other historians assert that it derives from the valve bugle designed by Michael Saurle , Munich 1832 , thus...
. The horn
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
solo in the middle of the song is often replaced by a harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
solo from Young in live performances. The line "Look at Mother Nature
Mother Nature
Mother Nature is a common personification of nature that focuses on the life-giving and nurturing aspects of nature by embodying it in the form of the mother. Images of women representing mother earth, and mother nature, are timeless...
on the run in the 1970s" has been amended by Young in concert over the decades, and currently is sung as "Look at Mother Nature on the run in the 21st century."
The song has been covered numerous times, best seen in the 1973 version by Prelude
Prelude (band)
Prelude are an English based vocal folk group, who in their most famous line-up consisted of Brian Hume , his wife Irene Hume and Ian Vardy...
which was a top 40 hit all over the globe, especially the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
where it re-charted in the Top 40 in 1982. Other versions have been performed by artists such as Thom Yorke
Thom Yorke
Thomas "Thom" Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the lead vocalist and principal songwriter for Radiohead. He mainly plays guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar...
, k. d. lang, The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips are an American alternative rock band, formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983.Melodically, their sound contains lush, multi-layered, psychedelic rock arrangements, but lyrically their compositions show elements of space rock, including unusual song and album titles—such as "What...
, Michael Hedges
Michael Hedges
Michael Alden Hedges was an American composer, Acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter.-Background:...
and Natalie Merchant
Natalie Merchant
Natalie Anne Merchant is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She joined the alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs in 1981 and left it to begin her solo career in 1993.-Early life:...
; Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...
, Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
, and Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...
included it on their Trio II album in 1999. (Parton also released a solo version of the song in 1996, though her version altered the lyric " I felt like getting high" changed to "I felt like I could cry" with the permission of Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
) and during Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
's 2003 World Tour, Thom Yorke
Thom Yorke
Thomas "Thom" Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the lead vocalist and principal songwriter for Radiohead. He mainly plays guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar...
occasionally played this song solo, usually segueing it into "Everything in Its Right Place
Everything in Its Right Place
"Everything in Its Right Place" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, written by lead singer Thom Yorke in 1999. It was recorded with producer Nigel Godrich in Batsford later the same year...
". The song has also been covered in live shows by Tori Amos
Tori Amos
Tori Amos is an American pianist, singer-songwriter and composer. She was at the forefront of a number of female singer-songwriters in the early 1990s and was noteworthy early in her career as one of the few alternative rock performers to use a piano as her primary instrument...
, Dave Matthews
Dave Matthews
David John "Dave" Matthews is a South African–born American musician and occasional actor, best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band...
, Neil Finn
Neil Finn
Neil Mullane Finn, OBE is a New Zealand Pop recording artist. Along with his brother Tim Finn, he was the co-frontman for Split Enz and is now frontman for Crowded House...
during Crowded House
Crowded House
Crowded House are a rock band, formed in Melbourne, Australia and led by New Zealand singer-songwriter Neil Finn. Finn is the primary songwriter and creative director of the band, having led it through several incarnations, drawing members from New Zealand , Australia and the United States...
's 2007 tour of the USA, and by Nana Mouskouri
Nana Mouskouri
Nana Mouskouri , born Ioánna Moúschouri on October 13, 1934, in Chania, Crete, Greece, is a Greek singer who has sold about 300 million records worldwide in a career spanning over five decades, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time. She was known as Nána to her friends and...
during her 1970s BBC show.
Dolly Parton once commented about the making of her version of the song: "When we were doing the Trio album, I asked Linda and Emmy what it meant, and they didn't know. So we called Neil Young, and he didn't know. We asked him, flat out, what it meant, and he said, 'Hell, I don't know. I just wrote it. It just depends on what I was taking at the time. I guess every verse has something different I'd taken.' " Parton, Ronstadt and Harris' Trio version of the song was also released as a single, and while it received little airplay, a video accompanying the song was popular on a number of cable video outlets, including CMT
CMT
- Medicine :* California mastitis test* Certified Massage Therapist* Cervical motion tenderness, a sign of pelvic inflammatory disease* Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease* Chemically modified tetracyclines* Circus Movement Tachycardia...
.
External links
- After the Gold Rush lyrics at Dolly Parton On-Line
- Discussion thread on the meaning of the lyrics to "After the Gold Rush" at Thrasher's Wheat
Shakey: Neil Young's Biography, Jimmy McDonough, published by Random House in 2002, ISBN 0-679-42772-4