Heart of Gold

Young recorded Heart of Gold on 8 February 1971 at Quadrafonic Sound Studios in Nashville, produced by Elliot Mazer and himself, with Ben Keith on pedal steel, Tim Drummond on bass, Kenny Buttrey on drums and Teddy Irwin on a second acoustic guitar. Young has said that much of Harvest was written about or for the actress Carrie Snodgress, and in a radio interview he named Heart of Gold among the songs her arrival inspired. In 1974 he told a journalist that its composition was influenced by the French song Love Is Blue.

Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor sat on a couch in the control room to sing the backing vocals. Ronstadt later recalled that they sang all night, using the highest notes she could manage, and that it was dawn when they walked out of the studio. Buttrey said the only drum lick he came up with on his own for Young was the hi-hat on the verse of this song. It reached number one on the Hot 100, Young's only number one in the United States.

On the 2025 Love Earth tour with the Chrome Hearts, Young opened the show in Norway alone with Heart of Gold, according to Rolling Stone.