This Old Guitar (2005) – Neil Young (Ft. Emmylou Harris)

I first heard This Old Guitar in the Prairie Wind concert at the Grand Ole Opry House, featured in Jonathan Demme’s music documentary Heart of Gold (yes, the same Demme behind Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia). It’s this performance I keep returning to – more than the original studio or the Live Farm Aid 2005 rendition. Prairie Wind, via Demme’s lens, was my real introduction to Neil Young’s world, so it will always hold a special place for me. Plenty of songs from it have already featured here for that very reason.

The Prairie Wind concert marked Young’s return to the stage after undergoing surgery for a brain aneurysm in the spring of 2005. Unsurprisingly, both the songs and the documentary find him looking back – on childhood, on the passage of time, and on his own fragility in the wake of his father’s illness and his own health scare. When I first got my hands on the documentary, I couldn’t stop watching it. The songs still echo with the same emotional clarity now as they did then. For someone who hadn’t been deeply familiar with Young’s catalogue, Prairie Wind was a wonderfully gentle – and powerful -introduction.

No prizes for guessing what today’s song is about. This Old Guitar is Neil Young’s love letter to the instrument that’s been with him through so much. The guitar once belonged to Hank Williams, one of Young’s great musical heroes. In Heart of Gold, filmed in Nashville, Young talks about the poetic symmetry of the guitar returning to the very stage where Williams once played it. A friend tracked the instrument down some 30 years ago, and Neil has cherished it ever since.

[Verse 1]
This old guitar ain’t mine to keep
I’m just taking care of it now
It’s been around for years and years
Just waiting in its old case

[Verse 2]
It’s been up and down the country roads
It’s brought a tear and a smile
It’s seen its share of dreams and hopes
It never went out of style

[Verse 3]
The more I play it, the better it sounds
It cries when I leave it alone
Silently it waits for me
Or someone else I suppose

[Chorus]
This old guitar
This old guitar
This old guitar

[Verse 4]
This old guitar has caught some breaks
But it never searched for gold
It can’t be blamed for my mistakes
It only does what it’s told

[Verse 5]
It’s been a messenger in times of trouble
In times of hope and fear
When I get drunk and seein’ double
It jumps behind the wheel and steers

[Verse 6]
This old guitar ain’t mine to keep
It’s mine to play for a while
This old guitar ain’t mine to keep
It’s only mine for a while

References:
1. Prairie Wind – Wikipedia