After the Gold Rush (song)

Young has said that he doesn't recall what the song is about. Dolly Parton, recalling a conversation while in the process of recording a cover of the song, along with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt, for their 1999 album Trio II, said:

I loved the song on Neil Young's [1970] album and I loved it when Prelude had it out in 1974. But I didn't know what the song meant. Linda and Emmy knew Neil, so we called him and asked him. He said, 'I have no idea.' I thought that was so funny. I think it's about the Second Coming or the invasion of aliens, or both.[3]

However, in his 2012 biography Young reportedly gave a different explanation of the song's origin and meaning, describing the inspiration provided by a screenplay of the same name (never produced), which apocalyptically described the last days of California in a catastrophic flood. The screenplay and song's title referred to what happened in California, a place that took shape due to the Gold Rush. Young eventually concluded that:

After The Gold Rush is an environmental song... I recognize in it now this thread that goes through a lotta my songs that’s this time-travel thing... When I look out the window, the first thing that comes to my mind is the way this place looked a hundred years ago.[4]

"After the Gold Rush" consists of three verses which move forward in time from the past (a medieval celebration), to the present (the singer lying in a burned out basement), and, finally, to the end of humanity's time on Earth (the ascension process in which the "chosen ones" are evacuated from Earth in silver spaceships). On the original recording, in addition to Young's vocals, two instruments are utilized: a piano and a French horn. In the decades since the song was first released, the horn solo in the song has typically been replaced by a harmonica solo by Young in live performances.[5]

The line "Look at Mother Nature on the run / In the 1970s" has been amended by Young in concert over the decades and is currently sung as "Look at Mother Nature on the run / in the 21st century."[6][7][8]

The song has been covered numerous times:

• Perhaps best known is the 1974 interpretation by the group Prelude, whose a capella version was a top 40 hit in numerous countries, especially the United Kingdom where it re-charted in the Top 40 in 1982,[9] and in Canada where it reached number five in 1974.[10] The song also peaked in Australia at number 51 in 1974, and the re-recording at 98 in 1982.[11] In the US, it went to number 22 on the Hot 100.[12]
• The country music trio of Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt covered the song on the 1999 album Trio II with two changes to the lyrics: The line "Look at Mother Nature on the run / In the 1970s" became "Look at Mother Nature on the run / in the 20th century", and the line "There was a band playin' in my head / And I felt like getting high" was changed to "There was a band playin' in my head / And I felt like I could cry."[13] Parton performed the song during the 2019 Grammys with Maren Morris and Miley Cyrus.[14] The Trio version of the song was also released as a single. It received modest radio airplay, a video accompanying the song was very popular on a number of cable video outlets (including CMT), and the song received the Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals in 2000.
• Comedian John Early covered the song in his 2023 special, "Now More Than Ever."[15]