The Brothers Comatose Cover "Old Man" (by Neil Young) + The Story Behind the Song

The Brothers Comatose - "Old Man" (by Neil Young)

The Brothers Comatose cover the song "Old Man" by Neil Young.

 

 

 

enjoy.

Although some have serious reservations, the song "Old Man" is about a ranch hand at what would become known as "Broken Arrow".

The "Old Man" Louis Avala & Neil Young
1970 Dutch documentary film by Wim Van der Linden

Another possibility is that the song "Old Man" is really about Neil's own father, Scott Young being the real "old man" behind the song.

With Father's Day approaching ... from a not so young man to our old man...

The "Old Man" Louis Avala
YouTube - Neil Young - Old Man - Live at Massey Hall
From his 1972 album Harvest, "Old Man" is definitely one of Mr Young's most enduring songs of all time with brilliant banjo and steel guitar. James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt provide backing vocals.

The song was inspired by the caretaker of the Northern California Broken Arrow Ranch -- with over 1,000+ acres of prime land with views of both San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean -- which Young purchased for $350,000 in 1970 when he was just 25 years old young.

The song has themes of loneliness and lost love: "Live alone in a paradise that makes me think of two" recalled with a certain pain "love lost/such a cost/give me things that don't get lost."

Yet Neil searches on for that oh-so elusive heart of gold:

"I need someone to love me the whole day through
Oh one look in my eyes and you can tell that's true."

"Neil Young: Heart of Gold" Film
In the film "Heart of Gold", Young introduces the song as follows:

About that time when I wrote (Heart of Gold), and I was touring, I had also -- just, you know, being a rich hippie for the first time -- I had purchased a ranch, and I still live there today.

And there was a couple living on it that were the caretakers, an old gentleman named Louis Avala and his wife Clara. And there was this old blue Jeep there, and Louis took me for a ride in this blue Jeep. He gets me up there on the top side of the place, and there's this lake up there that fed all the pastures, and he says, 'Well, tell me, how does a young man like yourself have enough money to buy a place like this?'

And I said, 'Well, just lucky, Louie, just real lucky.' And he said, 'Well, that's the darndest thing I ever heard.'

And I wrote this song for him.

Neil Young at Broken Arrow Ranch - 1971
Photo by Henry Diltz

As we noted earlier this year, photographer Henry Diltz has taken many iconic photos of Neil Young, as well as, many other legendary musicians over the decades.

From Henry Diltz' blog on Morrison Hotel Gallery, here is the story about spending a day at Broken Arrow Ranch with Neil Young and the "Old Man".

"Old man look at my life..."

"Neil Young bought a ranch in Northern California which he named "Broken Arrow Ranch". I went up there a few times with Gary Burden in 1971 and stayed a couple days taking pictures. Gary was my art director/ partner and still works with Neil. We used to walk around the ranch in the morning, smoking a fatty and checking things out around the property.

The Ranch came with a foreman named Louis Avila who had been there for years. This particular morning we stopped by the foreman's bungalow and he and Neil had a talk on the porch. This was in 1971, a year before his album Harvest came out and as the story goes, this is the "Old Man" that Neil sings about.

We later went on to look in a barn where Neil had some guitars. He pulled out a little old Martin guitar, sat on a hay bale, and played a tune. How great it was to be a fly on the wall and document everything that happened. Lots of those pictures got used in Neil Young Songbooks in the 70's."

--Henry Diltz

Also, watch & listen to why Neil Young will never sing "Old Man" with a band again.

The Young Man Before Becoming An Old Man
Neil Young - 1967 (Age 22)
Photo by Linda Eastman McCartney

More on Neil Young, "Old Man" & The Story Behind The Song.

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