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Old Man - Neil Young
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Tabbed by: Chris Gennone
Email: Serpico104@aol.com
Tuning: Standard
Ok, I know you can finger pick this one but recently in Neil Young's concert
film/documentary Heart of Gold, playing Old Man, he strummed the whole thing.
So this is what I got, and it sounds nearly the same as picking it. Just strum
the strings I have numbered here.
Intro:
e|----0----0----0---0----0----0----0----0---h2---2---2---3---2---0---0-------|
B|----6----6----6---6----6----6----6----0--------0---0---0---0---3--s6-------|
G|----5----0----0--h5---h5---h5---h5----2--------0---0---0---0---0---5-------|
D|----0----0----0---0----0----0----0----0--------0---0---0---0---0---0-------|
A|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
E|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
e|----0----0----0---0----0----0----0----0---h2---2---2---3---2---0---0-------|
B|----6----6----6---6----6----6----6----0--------0---0---0---0---3--s6-------|
G|----5----0----0--h5---h5---h5---h5----2--------0---0---0---0---0---5-------|
D|----0----0----0---0----0----0----0----0--------0---0---0---0---0---0-------|
A|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
E|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Verses:
e|----0----0----0---0----0----0----0----0---h2---2---2---3---2---0---0-------|
B|----6----6----6---6----6----6----6----0--------0---0---0---0---3--s6-------|
G|----5----0----0--h5---h5---h5---h5----2--------0---0---0---0---0---5-------|
D|----0----0----0---0----0----0----0----0--------0---0---0---0---0---0-------|
A|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
E|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
e|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
e|----0----0----0---0----0----0----0----0---h2---2---2---3---2---0---0-------|
B|----6----6----6---6----6----6----6----0--------0---0---0---0---3--s6-------|
G|----5----0----0--h5---h5---h5---h5----2--------0---0---0---0---0---5-------|
D|----0----0----0---0----0----0----0----0--------0---0---0---0---0---0-------|
A|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
E|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
e|----2------2------2------1------0------3----------------------------------|
B|----3------3------3------1------1------0----------------------------------|
G|----2------2------2------2------0------0----------------------------------|
D|----0------0------0------3------2------0----------------------------------|
A|--------------------------------3------2----------------------------------|
E|---------------------------------------3----------------------------------|
Chorus:
e|----2------------0-------------0-------------------------------------------|
B|----3------------1-------------3-------------------------------------------|
G|----2------------0-------------0-------------------------------------------|
D|----0------------0-------------0-------------------------------------------|
A|-----------------2-------------2-------------------------------------------|
E|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques
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adrian Average |
#1 by adrian zamora at Sep 27, 2007 at 11:25 PM EST |
| awesome, awesome song...one of those that you never get tired of.... I always thought it was about a young man who's afraid that he disappointed his father, and he's asking his father to remember what it was like to be young and clueless about life. | |
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spence Average |
#2 by spence o'brien at Sep 28, 2007 at 1:10 PM EST |
| banjo played by James Taylor... Yeah, i read about how Young stayed at this farm one time and wrote this song inspired be the old man who owned it...don't quote me on this though... | |
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Max Wanna Be |
#3 by Max Contreras at Sep 29, 2007 at 11:36 PM EST |
| i love how he goes from past tense to present back to past. "im alot like you were" to "im a lot like you" to "im a lot like you". kind of has that cats in the craddle vibe to it. great song. | |
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leester Professional |
#4 by leester at Oct 1, 2007 at 4:47 AM EST |
| It's a young man talking to his father. He feels like his old man has set his expectations too high for him. This is one of my favorite songs. | |
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adg Average |
#5 by adg ??? at Oct 2, 2007 at 3:29 AM EST |
| This song means so much to me right now. As I am writing this, It's been about 20 hours since my dad died. I'm hurting so bad right now. He struggled with alchoholism for so long and whenever this song came on the radio we would both cry. My father's gone forever now but this song will always make me remember him. Dad, I will never forget you... | |
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Nikola Rhythm Player |
#6 by Nikola Supukovic at Oct 4, 2007 at 7:17 PM EST |
| This is one awesome fucking song.. puts you in quite the melancholy mood. My own little interpretation to the song is as follows: a younger man reflecting upon his hardships, and although they may be fewer than a man twice his age, he feels as though he hurts just as much as the older man. | |
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patrick Wanna Be |
#7 by patrick at Oct 4, 2007 at 8:51 PM EST |
| That's so sad. Sorry about your father. | |
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Freddy Badass |
#8 by Freddy Timmons at Oct 5, 2007 at 12:17 AM EST |
| dont care what its about its just a great song....go neil young...hehehehe | |
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The other James Wanna Be |
#9 by The other James Molina at Oct 5, 2007 at 3:01 PM EST |
| One of the best songs ever. Harvest is my all time favorite albums. | |
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Ryan Rhythm Player |
#10 by Ryan Ruegemer at Oct 7, 2007 at 1:09 AM EST |
| "it doesn't meant hat much to me to mean that much to you??" I love how Neil Young just doesn't GIVE A F and still rocks so hard. | |
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Dan The English Wanna Be |
#11 by Dan The English at Oct 7, 2007 at 10:06 AM EST |
| Agreed. | |
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Rich Average |
#12 by Rich Frazer at Oct 7, 2007 at 3:52 PM EST |
| For those poeple who commented that this song has no meaning , abviously you are not very observent. If you look into the contrast of these lyrics and know that he was kicked out of his home then you will realize that maybe he hekd a grudge for many against his father , and then when he realized that his father did the same thing that he would have in that situation maybe then he noticed that he was alot like his father was. | |
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Steil Wanna Be |
#13 by Steil Lionhart at Oct 7, 2007 at 4:07 PM EST |
| this song makes me think about my dad. my mom always calls me little Philip (which is my dad's name). i think it is about a man who is repeating his father's mistakes, and then is calling his dad a hypocrite when he gets pissed about it. it's also a statement of proof that they really are a lot the same, thus removing justification for his anger... hueoh, too many big words. | |
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logan Average |
#14 by logan cook at Oct 10, 2007 at 1:40 AM EST |
| neil youngs dad was acutally a very popular sports writer for the Toronto Star, a very well known and well admired writer in this area. Thus, I always thought that "old man, im alot like you" coulda meant hey look, im famous too. | |
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David Average |
#15 by David Turner at Oct 10, 2007 at 3:24 AM EST |
| It's about the janitor/custodian guy on his ranch. Sad character, and a real sad, melancholic number. Haunting. | |
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Chris Rhythm Player |
#16 by Chris Marcoux at Oct 10, 2007 at 3:00 PM EST |
| love that banjo | |
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[ßĩη& Average |
#17 by [ßĩηŁ@Ðэń] at Oct 11, 2007 at 5:09 AM EST |
| I think that this song has to do with someone that isolates themselves from the world because he cannot take the pressure and what not of reality , maybe it has to do with drugs.. but then he is isolated for days and maybe years , realizes that he cannot go on and then dies loanly. | |
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gabby Professional |
#18 by gabby at Oct 11, 2007 at 5:43 AM EST |
| This song was written becuase Neil had met a care taker at the ranch that he was living at. Neil was amazed about how similar their lives were and he wrote this song. | |
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Courtney Wanna Be |
#19 by Courtney L. at Oct 11, 2007 at 5:25 PM EST |
| this is so fucking good | |
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Celebrimbor Rhythm Player |
#20 by Celebrimbor Calaelen at Oct 11, 2007 at 8:09 PM EST |
| Love this song, Neil is a mastermind According to the book "Neil and Me" by Scott Young (Neil's dad), in Neil's words he says to his dad "it isn't about you. I know a lot of people think it is. But it's about Louis, the man who lives on the ranch and looks after things for me, the cattle and the buffalos and the feed and all that. A wonderful guy." And in Scott's words on this song, "I love it." | |
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katie Average |
#21 by katie focner at Oct 12, 2007 at 7:24 AM EST |
| Interesting to read everyone's thoughts on this one. I hadn't heard the story about the farmer. I'd always fallen in line with the father-son story. But I think it can be more generally interpreted to just be about dealing with the disappointment of your elders, the expectations that are passed between generations, and the constant struggle to define oneself as separate from everything and everyone else. Definitely a classic in my book. | |
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Eric Average |
#22 by Eric at Oct 12, 2007 at 9:21 AM EST |
| God, I love this song. It makes me cry for some reason... I love how Neil Young has aged and seen so many dollars, and yet he's liberal as ever. He's definately one of my heroes. | |
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GRIM Professional |
#23 by GRIM at Oct 12, 2007 at 2:15 PM EST |
| River Wold is right about this song. It really isn't about his dad like everyone thinks. This is a very touching songs from one of the greatest albums. | |
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Julian Average |
#24 by Julian . at Oct 12, 2007 at 8:19 PM EST |
| Sounds to me like a son trying to reconcile things with his father. As far as I know, sons and their dads are in conflict no matter how much both want to avoid it. I don't know if that's right, but this is a great song and Neil Young is one of the greatest song writers of all time. He is the Bob Dylan of Canada. | |
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James Rhythm Player |
#25 by James T.H. at Oct 18, 2007 at 12:40 PM EST |
| According to the decade book, in Neils own hand: "I wrote this for the caretaker of my ranch after I purchased it in 1970. Special thanks to James Taylor for his banjo playing." | |
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