After the Goldrush, meaning & chords

[billder99]

Going back to my early musical interests, and finding this song (and the whole After the Goldrush album) to be a real gem in many ways.

Neil Young's song "After the Goldrush" seems to me an environmental lament, with the 3 verses Past (ideal)-Present(chaos)-Future(man's next chapter). The lyrics are somewhat nonsensical, leading me to believe the imagery is intended to be either dream or drug induced (given the time the song was written, drugs are the more likely inspiration).

So, this is a dreamy/druggy song, somewhat mythical/mystical/science-fictional. The chords commonly used in the 2nd part of the verse (Bm C G C) have an out of key Cmaj. I tried and prefer the sound of the normal Key-of-D 7th chord, Cdim (x5453x)... the Cdim has a "dreamier" sound to my ears.

Any thoughts from NY fans?

[Ed-in-Ohio]

There is an interesting arrangement of this song on the Hyper Rust webpage.

It is in CGDGBC (Admiral?) tuning, and is by Arthur Rotfeld as published in Guitar magazine (Feb '96).

I've never tried this arrangement. Those in the know more than me will be able to figure out the chords based on the tuning and the tab.

[FrankHudson]

I believe it was intended to be part of a movie with a script by Dean Stockwell/Herb Berman (yes, that Dean Stockwell). So the sketchiness of the song's "plot" could be ascribed to that, since it would only be part of the movie which would have more story and visuals.

The movie was never made.

Ascribing it to drugs may be proximally true, but one Sixties trope that bears remembering is "the trip is in your head not in the drug"--or in more sober terms, the kind of wild idea folks would have are not just (or even largely) due to the drugs, but due to the spirit of the times. Because of the whole cold war/atomic war fear thing the whole culture was feeling, combined with the very real present fears of the draft for young men, and of drug/political busts for the "counter-culture" apocalyptic thoughts were all around. Add to that the passage that many people make in their late teens to mid 20s when they realize that they aren't kids or kids that think they are adults, but are in fact now folks with real adult choices and real adult consequences, which can lead to more "my old world has ended, what's to come?" feelings.

It is a fine song though isn't it, movie or no movie, or specific time it was written? I have a fine memory of seeing it referenced over the end of the 1951 movie "When Worlds Collide" where the silver space ship really does get to take off just in time to save a few humans from earth.

[billder99]

Thanks for the feedback Ed & Frank, I'm surprised more people didn't comment on this great song. The more I dig in, the more I grok the genius of Neil Young.

I couldn't find the version in CGDGBC tuning... could you post a link?

I saw the reference to the Dean Stockwell script at songmeanings.com... don't know if that is true or not but I like the story. I agree on the "fine-ness" of this song... I am still digging in, making it my own but staying true to the original. Fun!

[steelvibe]

And here I thought we were talking about Hedges...

[Ed-in-Ohio]

Originally Posted by billder99

Thanks for the feedback Ed & Frank, I'm surprised more people didn't comment on this great song. The more I dig in, the more I grok the genius of Neil Young.

You are very welcome.

Originally Posted by billder99

I couldn't find the version in CGDGBC tuning... could you post a link?
...snip...

You bet!

• Go here: http://hyperrust.org/Music/?Tab
• In the right margin, click "After The Goldrush"

The tab will look like this:
ATGR.jpg

[M19]

I've played most of the songs off of ATGR (Southern Man excluded) for years, with Tell Me Why being my favorite, and Don't Let it Bring You Down.