Neil Young has been whipping out the old rarities lately. Just a few days ago, Young released a very rare live performance of his 2000 title track “Silver And Gold” via the Fireside Sessions series of at-home performance videos. Now, Neil Young has released a performance of “Pardon My Heart” from the 1970s, and it’s a pretty big deal. Young hasn’t performed that song live in about 50 years. And the song itself has only been heard live a couple of times.
Videos by American Songwriter
“Hello again folks,” Young captioned the video clip on his website. “Pretty laid back versions here. This is our second fireside of the season….. Love to all of you. Peace.”
You can watch Neil Young’s newest performance of “Pardon My Heart” via his website.
Neil Young’s “Pardon My Heart” Almost Never Saw The Light of Day
“Pardon My Heart” is a standout track from Young’s album Zuma from 1975. The song itself has only been performed live twice. The first time, Young debuted the song in May of 1973 during a midnight set in New York. At the time, Young described the tune as “a love song, it’s one of the saddest love songs I’ve ever heard.”
Young went on to play the song again a few months later in August during a reunion performance with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in Uniondale, New York.
From then on, the song was never added to Young’s setlists. It was recorded in June of 1974 and featured in the 1975 album Zuma. According to Young, he didn’t want to release the song at all, let alone on his then-upcoming record.
“Joni Mitchell writes about her relationships so much more vividly than I do,” Young had said in an interview with Rolling Stone from 1974. “I guess I put more of a veil over what I’m talking about. I’ve written a few songs that were as stark as hers. Songs like ‘Pardon My Heart’, ‘Home Fires’, ‘Love Art Blues’, almost all of ‘Homegrown’… I’ve never released any of those. And I probably never will. I think I’d be too embarrassed to put them out. They’re a little too real.”
Regardless, the song made it to Zuma just a few months later. Homegrown, alternatively, was shelved for almost half a century before Young decided to release it in 2020.
Photo by Gary Miller/Getty Images
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