Despite what his raggedy appearance and long hair might have suggested to more straight-laced observers, Neil Young was doing quite well for himself in 1970. The Canadian singer-songwriter already had an impressive résumé, having worked with Buffalo Springfield and, later, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash as CSNY. The latter group’s sophomore release, Déjà Vu, was a major success. Young’s solo follow-up, After the Gold Rush, was also a Top 10 hit.
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He might have had the outward look of a West Coast hippie. But Young was earning serious dough from all of his professional endeavors. So, he decided to do what any reasonable person with newfound wealth would do: he invested. And he certainly didn’t start small. In 1970, Young purchased a sprawling ranch in Northern California for $350,000. That equates to just under $3 million worth of purchasing power in 2026.
The day Young arrived at the ranch to tour his new property, he was greeted by the ranch’s caretaker, Louis Avila, who lived there with his wife, Clara. Young transformed one of the first conversations he had with Avila into his hit song, “Old Man”, which would become a beloved staple in his expansive catalogue.
The Old Man Behind “Old Man”, Neil Young’s 1972 ‘Harvest’ Track
In his memoir Waging Heavy Peace, Neil Young recounted riding around the ranch—which he would later call Broken Arrow Ranch—with its caretaker, Louis Avila, in an “old blue army jeep.” Young continued, “Louis gave me a ride around the ranch, all 140 acres’ worth. The property had two lakes, two houses, and a beautiful old barn. It was owned by a couple of lawyers, Long and Lewis, and was called the Lazy Double L. ‘How does a young fella like yourself have the money to buy a place like this?’ Louis asked. ‘Just lucky, I guess,’ I replied.”
Avila replied, “Well, that’s the darndest thing I ever heard.” And from that conversation—which might have been considered somewhat backhanded to a more sensitive individual—Young turned his feelings toward Avila into “Old Man”. “Old man, look at my life, I’m a lot like you,” Young sings in the chorus, asserting that he isn’t as different from Avila as it likely felt to the older man giving a 20-something-year-old hippie a tour of the massive and incredibly expensive ranch he just bought.
“My dad thought it was written for him,” Young said in his memoir. “And I never told him it wasn’t because songs are for whoever receives them. It was a beautiful place to live. I was absolutely in love with it. I decided to call it Broken Arrow Ranch. It smelled unreal, all the plants and the redwood forest. There was just something about that smell I loved. Home. It was the smell of home. I had finally made it.”
Young released his tribute to Avila on Harvest in February 1972. “Old Man” came out as a single two months later with “The Needle and the Damage Done” as its B-side.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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