In 1992, Neil Young released “Harvest Moon”. The song, written by Young, is the title track of Young’s 21st studio album. Released 23 years after “The Loner”, Young’s first single, “Harvest Moon” is one of the later singles Young had success with in his career.
“Harvest Moon” seems like a simple, sweet love song. It says, “Come a little bit closer / Hear what I have to say / Just like children sleepin’ / We could dream this night away / But there’s a full moon rising / Let’s go dancing in the light / We know where the music’s playing / Let’s go out and feel the night. Because I’m still in love with you / I want to see you dance again / Because I’m still in love with you / On this harvest moon.”
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Young later reveals that the song, and his 27 other songs that reference the moon, were at least partly inspired by his own spiritual beliefs.
“Before there was organized religion, there was the moon,” Young explains. “The Indians knew about the moon. Pagans followed the moon. I’ve followed it for as long as I can remember, and that’s just my religion. I’m not a practicing anything, I don’t have a book that I have to read. It can be dangerous working in a full moon atmosphere, because if there are things that are going to go wrong, they can really go wrong. But that’s great, especially for rock ‘n’ roll.”
What Neil Young Says About His ‘Harvest Moon’ Album
In addition to the title track, Harvest Moon had nine other songs, including “Unknown Legend” and “From Hank To Hendrix”. For Young, Harvest Moon became the follow-up to Harvest, his iconic fourth studio album, released in 1972. Harvest includes “Heart Of Gold”, “Old Man”, and “The Needle And The Damage Done”.
“People had been asking me to do it for twenty years,” Young tells Rolling Stone. “And I never could figure out what it was in the first place. It just happened again, whatever it was that happened back then. But only because the songs made me do it.”
“Harvest Moon” became Young’s final No. 1 single in his native Canada. The record was later certified platinum. Young played harmonica and guitar on the “Harvest Moon” track. It also featured background vocals from both James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt.
Although Young never confirmed it, some assume Young wrote “Harvest Moon” about his second wife, Pegi. The two were married from 1978 to 2014.
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