Neil Young’s classic 1972 solo album Harvest ascended to the top of the Billboard 200 on March 11, 1972. Not only was Harvest the Canadian folk-rock legend’s only solo effort to reach No. 1 on the U.S. albums chart, it features Young’s solo only single to peak at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100—“Heart of Gold.”
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Here are five fascinating facts about Young’s landmark album, Harvest:
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Harvest Was the Best-Selling Album in the U.S. in 1972
Harvest topped Billboard’s year-end chart for the album with the most sales in the U.S. for 1972. The album ended the seven-week run of Don McLean’s American Pie at the top of the Billboard 200, and spent two consecutive weeks at No. 1 in March of ’72.
Harvest has gone on to be certified four-times platinum by the RIAA for sales of more than 4 million copies in the U.S.
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Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor Sing on Two Classic Harvest Tracks
Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor contributed backing vocals to “Heart of Gold” and “Old Man.” Both tracks were recorded during the initial sessions for Harvest in early February 1971 at Quadrafonic Sound Studios in Nashville.
Ronstadt and Taylor were in Nashville at that time for an appearance on Johnny Cash’s TV variety show. Elliott Mazer, who co-produced Harvest with Young, arranged for the two artists to sing on the sessions.
Taylor also played banjo on “Old Man.” As mentioned above, “Heart of Gold” became Young’s only solo single ever to top the Billboard Hot 100. “Old Man” was his second-highest-charting solo Hot 100 hit, reaching No. 31.
Several Harvest Songs Were Written About Young’s Then-Girlfriend, Actress Carrie Snodgress
At the time he recorded Harvest, Young had begun a relationship with Carrie Snodgress, who’d been nominated for a best actress Oscar for the 1970 film Diary of a Mad Housewife.
Young has said that the Harvest songs “A Man Needs a Maid,” “Heart of Gold,” “Harvest,” and “Out on the Weekend” all were inspired by his relationship with Snodgress.
In 1972, Young and Snodgress had a son together, Zeke, who was born with mild cerebral palsy. The couple split in 1974. Snodgress died in 2004 at age 58.
Crosby, Stills, and Nash Contributed Backing Vocals to Harvest
Young enlisted his sometimes-bandmates in Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young— David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash—to sing on a couple of Harvest tracks.
Crosby and Nash sang on the “Are You Ready for the Country?,” while Crosby and Stills contributed vocals to “Alabama.” While the music for both songs was recorded at Young’s barn studio at his recently purchased Broken Arrow Ranch in Half Moon Bay, California, Crosby, Stills, and Nash laid down their vocal tracks at The Record Plant in New York City.
Graham Nash’s Famous “More Barn” Story
In his 2013 memoir, Wild Tales, Nash shared a hilarious anecdote about a special playback of Harvest to which Young treated him at his Broken Arrow Ranch.
“[Young] asked me to get into a small boat and he rowed us both out into the middle of the lake [that was on the property],” Nash recalled. “Once there he asked his producer Elliot Mazer to play the record. Neil was using his entire house as the left speaker and his huge barn as the right speaker. What an incredible record it was, and after the music stopped blaring, Elliot came down to the shore of the lake and shouted, ‘How was that, Neil?’ and I swear this is true, Neil shouted back, ‘More barn!’”
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