Neil Young – Old Man

About The Song

“Old Man” is a song written and performed by Canadian rock singer-songwriter and guitarist Neil Young from his 1972 album Harvest. The song compares a young man’s life to an old man’s and shows that the old man was once like this young man. The song was written for the caretaker of the Northern California Broken Arrow Ranch, which Young purchased for US$350,000 in 1970. The caretaker of the cattle ranch was Louis Avila.

In the 2006 film Heart of Gold, Neil Young shared the origins of “Old Man.” He recounted how Louis Avila and his wife, Clara, were the caretakers of the ranch. During a ride in Avila’s old blue Jeep, they reached a picturesque lake that supplied water to the pastures. The song was released as a single on Reprise Records in the spring of 1972, reaching number 4 in Canada, and number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for the week ending June 3.

Lyrics

“🎵 Let’s sing along with the lyrics! 🎤
Old man look at my life,
I’m a lot like you were.
Old man look at my life,
I’m a lot like you were.

Old man look at my life,
Twenty four
and there’s so much more
Live alone in a paradise
That makes me think of two.

Love lost, such a cost,
Give me things
that don’t get lost.
Like a coin that won’t get tossed
Rolling home to you.

Old man take a look at my life
I’m a lot like you
I need someone to love me
the whole day through
Ah, one look in my eyes
and you can tell that’s true.

Lullabies, look in your eyes,
Run around the same old town.
Doesn’t mean that much to me
To mean that much to you.

I’ve been first and last
Look at how the time goes past.
But I’m all alone at last.
Rolling home to you.

Old man take a look at my life
I’m a lot like you
I need someone to love me
the whole day through
Ah, one look in my eyes
and you can tell that’s true.

Old man look at my life,
I’m a lot like you were.
Old man look at my life,
I’m a lot like you were.