The song that caused the rift

Bob Dylan, as is well known, has never much cared for compromise, starting with his relationship with the music business and with the public. This blunt, often sharp-edged attitude has also shaped his judgments on fellow musicians. And yet, throughout his career, his respect for Neil Young has never wavered: since the Seventies the two have shared stages, reinterpreted each other's songs, and built a musical dialogue rooted in a shared folk-rock foundation, maintaining over the years a solid relationship grounded in mutual admiration.

There is, however, one curious exception dating back to 1972, when the young Zimmerman found one of the Loner's biggest hits hard to swallow. Not so much a matter of personal taste as of artistic resemblance - almost an act of lese-majesty.

Dylan himself told the story in an interview with Spin, as usual without mincing words: "The only time it bothered me that someone sounded like me was when I was living in Phoenix, Arizona, around '72, and the song of the moment was 'Heart Of Gold'. I hated it every time it came on the radio. I always liked Neil Young, but every time I heard 'Heart Of Gold' it bugged me. I think it stayed at No. 1 for a long time, and I kept thinking: 'That's me. If it's going to sound like that, it should be me.' I was out there, stuck somewhere in the desert, trying to slow down a bit. New York had become too much. Woodstock even more so: people living in trees outside my house, fans trying to break down the door, cars following me up mountain roads in the dark. I needed to stop, catch my breath, forget everything, including myself. And then I'd go far away, turn on the radio, and there I was... except it wasn't me! It felt like someone had taken my thing and run off with it, you know, and I never really got over it. Maybe tomorrow."

Neil Young, of course, had no intention whatsoever of imitating Dylan, and Dylan himself is well aware of that. And yet, beyond the obvious vocal differences, the song's structure and tone do genuinely evoke the Dylanesque universe. Young himself was never truly thrilled with the final result, despite its success - or perhaps precisely because of it. In the liner notes to "Decade", he wrote: "This song put me in the middle of the road." Referring then to the so-called "ditch trilogy" that followed, he added: "Traveling there soon became a bore, so I headed for the ditch. A rougher ride, but I saw more interesting people there."

"Heart Of Gold" still divides Neil Young fans. On one side are those who recognize its flawless craftsmanship and undeniable melodic appeal; on the other are those who see it as a formula that plays things a little too safe.

If there's one song that marked Neil Young's transition from countercultural figure to the new face of mainstream rock, it's surely "Heart Of Gold". The centerpiece of a masterpiece like "Harvest", it stood as one of Young's biggest hits, topping the Billboard 100 and marking the peak of the Loner's commercial exposure — he was the first Canadian artist ever to achieve that feat. The lyrics tell, with utter simplicity, the story of a search for something authentic - a symbolic "mine" to dig through in search of a pure heart. An immediate metaphor wedded to a gorgeous pop melody, carried by Ben Keith's pedal steel, harmonica and acoustic guitar, with backing vocals from James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt adding further charm.

In any case, the episode didn't dent the relationship between Dylan and Young in the slightest, which has remained solid to this day. The two kept collaborating and performing together in the years that followed, right up to their 1994 show at New York's Roseland Ballroom. But they never once played "Heart Of Gold" together...

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07/04/2026