(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
Sun 20 April 2025 18:00, UK
Neil Young is the kind of man who likes to move on. In recent tours, he showed that in his setlist, as he denied his crowds the hits to instead focus on new material, reminding them that he’s still working away and will never be stuck in the 1960s or ‘70s.
He refuses to fall victim to the stifling freeze that hits so many other artists from that era. For those still performing and working, it must get incredibly frustrating to have people only want to hear the same selection of hits they’ve been playing for decades now. It’s a common thing. So many artists get hit fatigue and become absolutely sick of the sound of the best-selling song, sometimes landing them in a bitter mood like Thom Yorke yelling at fans who want to hear ‘Creep’. That song is only from the ‘90s, so surely Young is absolutely exhausted of his early 1970s stuff.
That’s exactly why he refuses to pander to it. Especially on his Coastal tour in 2023, he packed his setlist with new tracks and deep cuts. He barely even came near his greatest hits beyond allowing audiences’ ‘Heart Of Gold’, right at the end, as a treat.
But despite that being his attitude on the road and despite wanting people to recognise him as an artist that is still forging forward with constant new music, his own personal favourite track from his discography shows that really, he’s not too different from his fans.
“’Harvest’ is one of my best songs. That’s the best thing on Harvest,” he said to Shakey. It’s an opinion that a lot of people would agree with. While not quite as big as ‘Harvest Moon’ or ‘Old Man’ or ‘Only Love Can Break Your Heart’, it’s still a track plucked from what is undeniably his most famous and well-known album.
It was a song he loved enough instantly to name that album after, giving it pride of place as the titular track, partly due to its emotional core for him. Inspired by the life and childhood of his then-girlfriend, Carrie Snodgress, the song holds a tender story, ending with a sweet sentiment of love as he sings, “Dream up, dream up, let me fill your cup / With the promise of a man.”
Despite the relationship not working out, the couple had a son together and Young feels towards Snodgress and this song he wrote for her have stayed caring enough to allow the song to endure as a firm favourite.
Still, in spite of Young’s love for the track, it rarely gets a live outing. As another track was brushed off in favour of new material or lesser-known cuts, ‘Harvest’ now hasn’t been played for over five years and has only been performed 79 times by the singer. But, for a man so intent on moving on and moving forward, it speaks to the power of this simply country slow-dance song that it has endured as a deeply precious song in his eyes and remained in his mind as one of his finest musical moment, despite clearly being dedicated to the new music he’s still making today.
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