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.