A 26-Year Old Neil Young Plays His New Song ‘Old Man’ at a Live BBC Performance in 1971

During a live BBC performance in 1971, a smiling 26-year old Neil Young spoke with the audience about a new song that he had written. The song, he explained, was about the caretaker of a ranch he recently purchased from “two lawyers” and was called “Old Man“.

This is a new song I wrote about my ranch. I live on a ranch in California. I just bought it awhile ago from these two lawyers and there was an old man living on it. I don’t know if you have things like that here, like a foreman on ranches. It’s like an old caretaker who takes care of old cows…and fences…so I wrote this song for him.

Young also performed another new song during the same show – “Heart of Gold“