The title song from Neil Young's 1970 album After the Gold Rush is a version of the apocalypse -- either from the consequences of environmental neglect or nuclear holocaust. Based on the title of a screenplay written by Young's friend, actor Dean Stockwell, all cinematic similarities end there. The surreal imagery in the lyrics is among what would fill Young's songs for the next 30 years: archers (arrows), spaceships, and the omnipresent sun. Singing in his most desperate, melancholic tones and accompanied only by his piano and an unidentified horn or keyboard sound (there's a solo before the final verse), the song has an overwhelming sadness about it. Artists as diverse as Flaming Lips to Dolly Parton have reworked it, but no one has done it to greater effect than Young who also re-recorded it nine years later for Live Rust (1979). Throughout the '90s, he usually delivered it in concert on pump organ; by keeping the song alive, he's managed to turn it into yet another one of his many signature songs.
Neil Young
After the Gold Rush
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Song Review by Denise Sullivan
Appears On
| Year | Artist/Album | Label | Time | AllMusic Rating | |||
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1970 | Reprise | 3:46 | ||||
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1973 | Warner Bros. | 0:00 | ||||
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1977 | Reprise / Warner Bros. | |||||
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1986 | Rhino | |||||
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1992 | Bootleg | 0:00 | ||||
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1993 | KTS | 5:53 | ||||
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2001 |
Original Soundtrack
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Island / Uptown / Universal | 3:47 | |||
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2004 | Reprise / Warner Bros. | 3:48 | ||||
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2009 | Reprise / Warner Bros. | 3:48 | ||||
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2009 | Reprise | 0:00 |
