Velvet Underground Loaded released

Loaded The Velvet Underground

Released: August 31, 1970 Peak: -- US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: experimental rock/proto punk

Tracks: Who Loves the Sun [2:50] Sweet Jane [3:55] Rock and Roll [4:47] Cool It Down [3:05] New Age [5:20] Head Held High [2:52] Lonesome Cowboy Bill [2:48] I Found a Reason [4:15] Train Round the Bend [3:20] Oh! Sweet Nuthin’ [7:23] Total Running Time: 39:48 Also from This Era: Satellite of Love [2:58] Walk and Talk [2:23] Oh Gin [2:44] Sad Song [3:30] I Love You [2:03] The Players: Lou Reed (vocals, guitar) Doug Yule (bass, guitar, keyboards, drums, vocals) Sterling Morrison (guitar) Maureen Tucker (drums)

Rating: 4.330 out of 5.00 (average of 23 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album “After The Velvet Underground cut three albums for the jazz-oriented Verve label that earned them lots of notoriety but negligible sales, the group signed with industry powerhouse Atlantic Records in 1970; label head Ahmet Ertegun supposedly asked Lou Reed to avoid sex and drugs in his songs, and instead focus on making an album ‘loaded with hits.’” “Loaded was the result, and with appropriate irony it turned out to be the first VU album that made any noticeable impact on commercial radio – and also their swan song,” AM1 at least for Lou Reed, who left the group shortly before the album was released. AM1 This was also the second album featuring Doug Yule after original member John Cale left the group. In addition, drummer Maureen Tucker was on maternity leave AM1 and Sterling Morrison was going to college part-time. TB It all means ”this is hardly a purist’s Velvet Underground album. But while Lou Reed always wrote great rock & roll songs with killer hooks, on Loaded his tunes were at last given a polished but intelligent production that made them sound like the hits they should have been.” AM1 The group’s first three albums, “though stylistically different, all shared a disturbing emotional intensity that was assumed to be the band’s defining characteristic, but now they sounded like they were having fun.” TB “Sterling Morrison once said of Loaded, ‘It showed that we could have, all along, made truly commercial sounding records,’ but just as importantly, it proved they could do so without entirely abandoning their musical personality in the process. It's a pity that notion hadn’t occurred to anyone a few years earlier.” AM1 Notes In 1997, a two-disc set called Fully Loaded offered alternate takes, demos, and other songs recorded during that era that didn’t make the cut. Some of this was released on the Peel Slowly and See box set while other songs hadn’t been released before at all. AM2 The Songs Here’s a breakdown of each of the individual songs.

Who Loves the Sun The Velvet Underground

Writer(s): Lou Reed Recorded: April to July 1970 at Atlantic Studios in New York Released: April 1971 (single), Loaded (1970), Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995) Peak: 46 CL, 38 CO, 11 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 46.37 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: “From the breezy harmony vocals and chiming guitars of the opener, Who Loves the Sun, Loaded overturned all expectations.” TB Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy said, “Like a sizable majority of the VU catalog, this song asks the question, ‘Am I not fitting in?’ and before anyone can answer, we get the rhetorical follow-up, ‘So what?’” JT He asserts that “the great revolutionary leap this band was…was the opening of the doors of inclusion to so many weirdos like me. You know, alienated but not all that weird really.” JT

Sweet Jane The Velvet Underground

Writer(s): Lou Reed Recorded: April to July 1970 at Atlantic Studios in New York (Velvet Underground), live 12/21/73 at the Academy of Music in New York (Reed) Released (Velvet Underground): Loaded (1970), The Best of: Words and Music of Lou Reed (compilation: 1989), Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995), 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection (compilation: 2000), The Very Best of (compilation: 2003), Gold (compilation: 2005) Released (Lou Reed): July 1973 (single), Retro (compilation: 1989), Between Thought and Expression (box set, 1992), A Retrospective (compilation, 1998), NYC Man – The Ultimate Collection (compilation: 2003), NYC Man – Greatest Hits (compilation: 2004) Peak: 3 CL, 3 CO, 2 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 83.39 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: Lou Reed titled the fourth Velvet Underground album Loaded because it was “loaded with hits.” DT While the album wasn’t a commercial success, “there’s no arguing that Sweet Jane and Rock and Roll are as joyously anthemic as anything [Lou Reed’s] ever recorded.” AM1 Lyrically, the song “wallows in sordid details of New York’s decadent sub-culture.” TB It is “a song about bohemia. It’s about the choices we make. This was a subject dear to Reed’s heart. He had a difficult relationship with his parents, who committed him to mental institutions and signed off on electric shock treatment. He understood the attractions of suburbia but he also knew it was not a possibility for him. It’s a song about the gulf between his life as an artist and the parallel universe of people ‘who’ve got to work.’” TC “The track’s simple, churning guitar riff is positively celebratory,” TB “one of the all-time classic rock riffs.” DT “It’s not surprising that the song has been covered so often by so many different artists.” TC Author Toby Creswell called it “Lou Reed’s most enduring song.” TC

Rock and Roll The Velvet Underground

Writer(s): Lou Reed Recorded: June 19, 1969; April to July 1970 at Atlantic Studios in New York Released: 1969 version: Another View (archives, 1986), The Best of: Words and Music of Lou Reed (compilation: 1989); 1970 version: Loaded (1970), Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995), 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection (compilation: 2000), The Very Best of (compilation: 2003), Gold (compilation: 2005) Released (Reed): Rock and Roll Diary (compilation: 1980), Legendary (box set: 2002), NYC Man – The Ultimate Collection (compilation: 2003) Peak: 9 CL, 14 CO, 4 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 74.50 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: “There’s no arguing that Sweet Jane and Rock and Roll are as joyously anthemic as anything [Lou Reed’s] ever recorded.” AM1 The latter is “Reed’s hymn to the delights of pop radio.” TB In the liner notes for the Peel Slowly and See box set, Reed wrote, “‘Rock and Roll’ is about me. If I hadn’t heard rock & roll on the radio, I would have had no idea there was life on this planet…That would have been profoundly discouraging. Movies didn’t do it for me. TV didn’t do it for me. It was the radio that did it.” TC

Cool It Down The Velvet Underground

Writer(s): Lou Reed Recorded: April to July 1970 at Atlantic Studios in New York Released: Loaded (1970), Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995) Peak: 24 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 8.14 streaming

New Age The Velvet Underground

Writer(s): Lou Reed Recorded: April to July 1970 at Atlantic Studios in New York Released: Loaded (1970), Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995), Gold (compilation: 2005) Peak: 35 CL, 32 CO, 10 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 6.46 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: This song “and Oh! Sweet Nuthin' prove [Lou Reed] had hardly abandoned his contemplative side.” AM1 “An open letter to an idol, sincerity dashed against a little too much honesty. The Velvets’ final album, Loaded, was utterly overlooked at the time of its release. Today it is seen as one of the key LPs of its era, and this song is one of the reasons why.” DT

Head Held High The Velvet Underground

Writer(s): Lou Reed Recorded: April to July 1970 at Atlantic Studios in New York Released: Loaded (1970), Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995) Peak: 32 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 4.28 streaming

Lonesome Cowboy Bill The Velvet Underground

Writer(s): Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison, Doug Yule Recorded: April to July 1970 at Atlantic Studios in New York Released: Loaded (1970), Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995) Peak: 24 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 4.49 streaming

I Found a Reason The Velvet Underground

Writer(s): Lou Reed Recorded: April to July 1970 at Atlantic Studios in New York Released: Loaded (1970), Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 33.66 streaming

Train Round the Bend The Velvet Underground

Writer(s): Lou Reed Recorded: April to July 1970 at Atlantic Studios in New York Released: Loaded (1970), Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 3.40 streaming About the Song: “Train Around the Bend is a subtle but revealing metaphor for his weariness with the music business.” AM1

Oh! Sweet Nuthin’ The Velvet Underground

Writer(s): Lou Reed Recorded: April to July 1970 at Atlantic Studios in New York Released: Loaded (1970), Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995) Peak: 16 CL, 35 CO Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 115.91 streaming About the Song: Oh! Sweet Nuthin' and “New Age” “prove [Lou Reed] had hardly abandoned his contemplative side.” AM1

Satellite of Love The Velvet Underground/Lou Reed

Writer(s): Lou Reed (see lyrics here) Recorded: April – July 1970 at Atlantic Studios in New York (Velvet Underground), August 1, 1972, at Trident Studios in London (Reed) Released (Lou Reed): February 1973 (single), Transformer (1972), Walk on the Wild Side: The Best of (compilation: 1977), Retro (compilation: 1989), Between Thought and Expression (box set, 1992), The Best of Lou Reed & Velvet Underground (compilation: 1995), Different Times: Lou Reed in the ‘70s (compilation: 1996), A Retrospective (compilation, 1998), The Very Best of (compilation: 2000), Legendary (box set: 2002), NYC Man – The Ultimate Collection (compilation: 2003), NYC Man – Greatest Hits (compilation: 2004) Released (Velvet Underground): Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995) Charted: June 9, 1973 Peak: 119 BB, 16 CL, 16 CO, 10 UK, 3 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1.7 video, 124.90 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: “Satellite of Love” was released as the second single from Lou Reed’s 1972 Transformer album. It didn’t match the success of previous single “Walk on the Wild Side,” reaching only #119 on the Billboard Bubbling Under chart, but became a concert staple and fan favorite. In 2004, a re-release of the song went to #10 in the UK. The song is about a man witnessing a televised satellite launch and contemplating what Reed called feelings of “the worst kind of jealousy about his unfaithful girlfriend.” WK Reed composed the song in 1970 while still a member of the Velvet Underground. Their version is more uptempo, has some lyrical differences, and does not include the piano line that dominates the version Reed released in 1972. The Velvet Underground recorded the song in the summer of 1970 during sessions for their Loaded album. However, it didn’t make the cut and wasn’t released until the 1995 Velvet Underground box set Peel Slowly and See and later the 1997 reissue of Loaded, known as Fully Loaded. The version Reed recorded as a solo artist for the Transformer album included background vocals from David Bowie, who produced the album with Mick Ronson. Reed said of Bowie, “He has a melodic sense that’s just well above anyone else in rock & roll. Most people could not sing some of his melodies…There’s a part at the very end [of ‘Satellite of Love’] where his voice goes all the way up. It’s fabulous.” WK The Eurythmics, Morrissey, Porno for Pyros, and U2 are among the acts to have recorded the song. Beck performed the song at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony for Lou Reed in 2015.

Walk and Talk (aka “Walk and Talk It”) The Velvet Underground

Writer(s): Lou Reed Recorded: April – July 1970 at Atlantic Studios in New York Released: Lou Reed (Lou Reed, 1972), Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.78 streaming About the Song: The Velvet Underground recorded this in 1970, but their version didn’t see release until 25 years later on the Peel Slowly and See box set. Reed recorded it for his 1972 solo album and it “quickly bares more muscle than any of the versions available as Loaded-era outtakes.” ER-15 Beyond that, and its “decaffeinated Rolling Stones riff,” ER-15 “it offers little else. An adequately skilled, busy guitar solo at two minutes and thirty seconds makes one year for Sterling Morrison…Lou moves through his verses and choruses untroubled by conviction.” ER-15

Oh Gin (aka “Oh, Jim”) The Velvet Underground/Lou Reed

Writer(s): Lou Reed Recorded: April – July 1970 at Atlantic Studios in New York (Velvet Underground), June 25 – July 29, 1973, at Morgan Studios in London and the Record Plant in New York (Reed) Released (Lou Reed, as “Oh, Jim”): Berlin (1973), Legendary (box set: 2002) Released (Velvet Underground, as “Oh Gin”): Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995) Released: Peak: 23 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.18 streaming About the Song: The Velvet Underground recorded “Oh Gin” in 1970 but it remained unreleased for 25 years. “There is little in that primordial take to distinguish itself.” ER-32 Reed reworked the song as “Oh, Jim” for his 1973 Berlin album. This is “where the album’s narrative really begins to gel and coalesce. Like the title track, as well as the cinematic grand finale, ‘Sad Song,’ this song reaches back to the past, but only just barely.” ER-32 “’Not caring’ is a key theme throughout this whole story; no matter how ugly the deed, no matter how desperate the circumstance, ultimately, the voice at the center of the story does not care. This could be Jim, with his impotent frustration and general ineptness at being able to deal with shit, physically taking it out on his loved one, or this could be Lou himself.” ER-32 “Musically, the track is pushed along by the brass, anchored by Michael and Randy Brecker, along with Jon Pierson, who makes clear statements on bass trombone.” ER-32

Sad Song The Velvet Underground/Lou Reed

Writer(s): Lou Reed Recorded: April – July 1970 at Atlantic Studios in New York (Velvet Underground), June 25 – July 29, 1973, at Morgan Studios in London and the Record Plant in New York (Reed) Released (Lou Reed): Berlin (1973), Between Thought and Expression (box set, 1992), Different Times: Lou Reed in the ‘70s (compilation: 1996), Perfect Day (compilation: 1997) Released (Velvet Underground): Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995) Peak: 34 CO, 21 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 3.05 streaming About the Song: The Velvet Underground recorded this in 1970 but it didn’t see release until the 1995 box set Peel Slowly and See. Reed reworked the song as the closing song for his 1973 album Berlin. It is “the big production number” ER-35 featuring “a Jack Nitzsche-like orchestral indulgence that ends these grim proceedings with a musical bang.” ER-35 “The song is lyrically sparse, and this allows the track to revel in its cinematic grandeur.” ER-35 “Woods and strings lay a foundation as the singer describes the images of his late love in his picture book” ER-35 comparing her to Mary, Queen of Scots. “It is truly a sad song.” ER-36

I Love You The Velvet Underground/Lou Reed

Writer(s): Lou Reed Recorded: April – July 1970 at Atlantic Studios in New York Released (Lou Reed): Lou Reed (1972), Walk on the Wild Side: The Best of (compilation: 1977), The Best of Lou Reed & Velvet Underground (compilation: 1995), Legendary (box set: 2002) Released (Velvet Underground): Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995) Peak: 19 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 3.73 streaming About the Song: The Lou Reed version “starts off with 20 seconds of two gently picked acoustic guitars and smooth, slide-like melodic interjections from a clean electric. It would not be at all out of character to then hear the lulling vocal tones of, say, Roger McGuinn, Jim Croce, or even – God forbid – Brewer & Shipley, but Lou…save us from such a fate, if only barely. Gentle, bland folk-rock niceties float along for another two minutes while Lou pretends to give a shit about the by-the-number love lyrics that he sounds like he wishes he didn’t have to sing.” ER-15

Resources/References: AM1 AllMusic.com review by Mark Deming AM2 AllMusic.com review by Richie Unterberger TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Pages 209-10, 450. ER Ethan Roy (2023). On Track…Lou Reed 1972-1986. Sonicbond Publishing: United Kingdom. SF Songfacts page for “Satellite of Love” DT Dave Thompson (2011). 1000 Songs That Rock Your World. Krause Publications: Iola, WI. Pages 110 and 261. TB Thunder Bay (2005). Albums: The Stories Behind 50 Years of Great Recordings. Thunder Bay Press; San Diego, CA. Page 121. JT Jeff Tweedy (11/7/2023). World Within a Song. Dutton/Penguin Random House. Pages 203-6. WK Wikipedia page for “Satellite of Love” Related DMDB Pages: First posted 4/12/2008; last updated 9/10/2026.

Neil Young “Southern Man” released on After the Gold Rush

Southern Man Neil Young

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Neil Young released After the Gold Rush

After the Gold Rush Neil Young

Released: August 31, 1970 Peak: 8 US, 7 UK, 5 CN, 13 AU, 12 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 2.5 US, 0.6 UK, 5.5 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock

Tracks: Click on a song title for more details. Tell Me Why [2:45] After the Gold Rush [3:45] Only Love Can Break Your Heart [3:05] Southern Man [5:41] Till the Morning Comes [1:17] Oh, Lonesome Me [3:47] Don’t Let It Bring You Down [2:56] Birds [2:34] When You Dance I Can Really Love [3:44] I Believe in You [3:24] Cripple Creek Ferry [1:34] Total Running Time: 33:32

Rating: 4.541 out of 5.00 (average of 28 ratings) Quotable: “While Young has had a long and storied career filled with multiple near-perfect albums, this one stands above the rest as his absolute masterpiece.” – Consequence of Sound Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Young’s Background Given the already diverse discography of “Canadian-born, California-based rock troubadour Neil Young” TM at this point in his career, it was anyone’s guess what he would deliver for his third solo album. He’d already made three albums with the hugely influential group Buffalo Springfield. He then released a folk-and-country oriented solo album, and the “brain-shredding guitar powerhouse” TL Everybody Knows This is Nowhere. Those two albums already made it clear that Young viewed “albums as explorations of distinct moods.” TM Then he joined forces with the already successful Crosby, Stills & Nash the blockbuster album, Déjà Vu. The two cuts he contributed to that album (“Helpless” and “Country Girl”) “returned him to the folk and country styles he had pursued before delving into the hard rock of Everybody Knows.” AM They also set the course for After the Gold Rush, an album in which he “laid claim to the field of sensitive singer-songwriters” RV by crafting a collection of “country-folk love songs.” AM The Players and the Recording After working with CSNY, Young “regrouped with his regularly backing band, Crazy Horse, which was comprised of guitarist Danny Whitten, bassist Billy Talbot, and drummer Ralph Molina. He also recruited the then-unknown 17-year-old…Nils Lofgren in an effort to move away from the hard-rock sound of his previous solo released, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.” TB Lofgren was then a “hotshot guitarist… but Young assigned him to the piano, an instrument he had never played in his life.” 500 Young “installed recording equipment in the cellar of his Topanga Canyon home, near Los Angeles.” 500 “He soundproofed [it] with lead and pine milled from the trees in his backyard. A modest collection of gear included a Scully 8-track, a small mixer, and a handful of mikes.” TB The songs were “inspired largely by the Dean Stockwell-Herb Berman screenplay that gave the album its title.” TB How Gold Rush Was Received The album “matched the tenor of the times in 1970.” AM It struck a chord “with the disillusion felt by many after the death of the 1960s dream.” TB It “is full to the brim with classic songs of heartbreak and mystery.” CQ Its “dark yet hopeful tone” AM “represents the morning after the mayhem, both personal and cultural – the sound of Young waking up with a post-‘60s hangover, catching his breath, and trying to sort through the wreckage.” TL The album “presents Young at his most diverse, with brooding folk songs followed by rabid rock howls.” TM He appears to have “he left his best work off of Déjà Vu and kept it for this one. But most of these songs would not have worked as well for Déjà Vu, since they are not real sing-a-longs.” KN “Much like Bob Dylan, Neil Young has a not-conventionally-attractive voice, and both of them have an ability to write the kind of indelible melodies that make their songs pop even when the singer’s larynx falls short.” EK Throughout the album “the arrangements are simple, with none of Young’s earlier studio trickery or multi-part mini-symphonies.” CQ “The 11 songs embrace the truth of loss that comes after the magic, after the bum-rush of serotonin and possibilities, after you realize the holes inside haven’t been plugged, that the overflow of emotion you poured in ran right out.” PM Its Legacy “After the Gold Rush was not immediately universally recognized as a brilliant album, but over the years, even initial naysayers have changed their mind.” CQ It has come to be regarded as “one of the definitive singer/songwriter albums” AM and it established Young “as one of the most influential songwriters of his generation.” TB “Along with Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks, After the Gold Rush is one of the greatest break-up records ever made regardless of intention.” PM The “starkly poignant record” RD “hits the sweet spot between his ‘popular’ work and his ‘difficult’ work.” EK “Much of what Young has done throughout his career…can be found crystallized right here.” EK “It’s brilliant all the way through.” JA “While Young has had a long and storied career filled with multiple near-perfect albums, this one stands above the rest as his absolute masterpiece” CQ and “his best solo album.” CQ The Songs Here are thoughts on the individual songs from the album.

Tell Me Why Neil Young

Writer(s): Neil Young Recorded: 3/12/1970 at Home Studio in Topanga, California Released: After the Gold Rush (1970) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 15.80 streaming About the Song: The opening cut, Tell Me Why, is one of Young’s “quaint little questioning songs…that are the aural equivalent of needlepoint samplers.” TM This, along with “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” and “Don’t Let It Bring You Down,” “go some way to solidify his reputation as a hopeless romantic.” RD

After the Gold Rush Neil Young

Writer(s): Neil Young Recorded: 3/12/1970 at Home Studio in Topanga, California Released: After the Gold Rush (1970), Decade (compilation: 1977) Peak: 6 CL Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 32.14 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: The “subdued,” EK “otherworldly,” CQ and “beautifully evocative title track” RD “laments the destruction of the earth” RV serving up “apocalyptic doom-saying juxtaposed with delicate piano.” EK It “evokes perfectly the circa-1970 shift between the naiveté of the hippie dream and the paranoia that would come to strike even deeper.” EK It is “a mystical ballad that featured some of Young’s most imaginative lyrics and became one of his most memorable songs.” AM

Only Love Can Break Your Heart Neil Young

Writer(s): Neil Young Recorded: 3/15/1970 at Home Studio in Topanga, California Released: 9/19/1970 (single), After the Gold Rush (1970) Peak: 33 BB, 20 CB, 32 GR, 14 HR, 11 CL, 16 CN Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 50.82 streaming About the Song: The “poignant” CQ “homespun Only Love Can Break Your Heart” TL is “one of Young’s most beautiful tracks” RV marked by “his distinctively off-center whine warns of the perils of new love.” RV

Southern Man Neil Young

Writer(s): Neil Young (see lyrics here) Recorded: 3/19/1970 at Home Studio in Topanga, California Released: After the Gold Rush (1970), Decade (compilation: 1977) Peak: 3 CL, 1 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 30.97 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: While Southern Man was surprisingly never released as a single, it became a staple on classic rock radio and “its Crazy Horse-style loping tempo and Young’s burning guitar lines made ‘Southern Man’ an instant live favorite.” TC This is not just “the best song on” KN After the Gold Rush but one of the album’s “few real rockers” AM and “arguably Young’s all-time most harrowing performance.” TM Here Young shows a talent for tackling “political issues with angry, cranked-up guitars.” RV With “unsparing protest lyrics typical of Phil Ochs” AM the song “attacked the racism inherent in Southern culture of the day.” RV “As with many of his apocalyptic tales, this is filled with images of burning estates and a society in flames.” TC The lyrics “describe the racism towards blacks in the American South…Young tells the story of a white man (symbolically the entire white South) and how he mistreated his slaves. Young pleadingly asks when the South will make amends for the fortunes built through slavery.” WK The song gained a new level of attention when the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote “Sweet Home Alabama” in response to the song, as well as Young’s “Alabama” from his 1972 album Harvest. The band took offense at what they saw as Young’s accusation that the entire South for to blame for American slavery. Young responded by saying he was a fan of the song and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Young also said that regarding his “Alabama” song, the criticism was deserved because Young was “condescending and accusatory.” WK

Till the Morning Comes Neil Young

Writer(s): Neil Young Recorded: 3/19/1970 at Home Studio in Topanga, California Released: After the Gold Rush (1970) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 10.79 streaming About the Song: Young “ends each side with brief piano-led melodies you wish would go on longer” DBW such as with Till the Morning Comes and “the twangy folk of Cripple Creek Ferry.” CQ

Oh Lonesome Me Neil Young

Writer(s): Don Gibson Recorded: 8/2/1969 at Sunset Sound in Hollywood, California Released: After the Gold Rush (1970) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 4.51 streaming About the Song: “Young’s own perverse appreciation for roots music, which he’s returned to again and again throughout his career, is on display as he transforms Don Gibson’s jaunty 1958 country classic Oh Lonesome Me into the moper’s lament that it probably always was under the surface.” EK

Don’t Let It Bring You Down Neil Young

Writer(s): Neil Young Recorded: 3/17/1970 at Home Studio in Topanga, California Released: After the Gold Rush (1970) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 21 CL Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 18.33 streaming About the Song: “Only Neil Young could have written the chilling” TL but “catuiously optimistic Don’t Let It Bring You Down” TB and “Only Love Can Break Your Heart,” “much less both on the same album.” TL

Birds Neil Young

Writer(s): Neil Young Recorded: 6/30/1970 at Sound City in Hollywood, California Released: After the Gold Rush (1970) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 4.88 streaming About the Song: After the Gold Rush “emphasizes delicate acoustic warbling with a dark hue; 'Birds' just might be his loveliest song.” EW’12

When You Dance I Can Really Love Neil Young

Writer(s): Neil Young Recorded: 4/6/1970 at Home Studio in Topanga, California Released: 3/13/1971 (single), After the Gold Rush (1970) Peak: 93 BB, 93 CB, 59 HR, 16 CL, 54 CN Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming About the Song: A

I Believe in You Neil Young

Writer(s): Neil Young Recorded: 8/5/1969 at Sunset Sound in Hollywood, California Released: After the Gold Rush (1970), Decade (compilation: 1977) Peak: 49 CL Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming About the Song:

Cripple Creek Ferry Neil Young

Writer(s): Neil Young Recorded: 3/17/1970 at Home Studio in Topanga, California Released: After the Gold Rush (1970) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 4.75 streaming About the Song: Young “ends each side with brief piano-led melodies you wish would go on longer” DBW such as with Till the Morning Comes and “the twangy folk of Cripple Creek Ferry.” CQ

Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Neil Young AM AllMusic.com review by William Ruhlmann JA John Alroy, Wilson & Alroy’s Record Reviews CQ Consequence.net (9/12/2022). “The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time” EK Eric Klinger, PopMatters’ Counterbalance series (2010-2012) JM Jason Mendelsohn, PopMatters’ Counterbalance series (2010-2012) TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Page 385. RD Robert Dimery (2006). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Quintet Publishing Limited: New York, NY. Page 204. EW’12 Entertainment Weekly (9/27/2012). “Top 100 Albums” KN Keno’s Classic Rock Album Reviews TM Tom Moon (2008). 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. Workman Publishing Company, Inc.: New York, NY. Page 885-6. PM PasteMagazine.com (6/3/2024). “The 300 Greatest Albums of All Time” RV The Review (Oct./Nov. 2001). “The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time” by Clarke Speicher 500 Rolling Stone (9/22/2020). “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” TB Thunder Bay (2005). Albums: The Stories Behind 50 Years of Great Recordings. Thunder Bay Press; San Diego, CA. Page 133. TL Time Magazine (11/13/2006). “All-TIME 100 Albums” by Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light WK Wikipedia page for “Southern Man” DBW David Bertrand Wilson, Wilson & Alroy’s Record Reviews Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 8/31/2012; last updated 9/12/2026.