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Heart of Gold cover a fan favourite

'When we heard the first mix, it was obvious we had done something pretty special with the song'; the classic tune's marking its 50th anniversary today

If you need to find Adrian Sutherland, he will likely be jamming Neil Young's songs in his studio today.

The 50th anniversary of Young's song Heart of Gold is Feb. 14. The song was released as part of the Harvest album in 1972.

When Sutherland and his band Midnight Shine recorded a cover of Heart of Gold, it didn’t seem to them like they did anything special at the time.

Little did they know it would become a fan favourite cover of an all-time classic.

Midnight Shine covered Heart of Gold in 2018. It features slide guitar, chanting, powwow singing and a verse in Cree.

Sutherland said he will likely celebrate the song’s 50th anniversary by listening and jamming to some of Young’s songs including Heart of Gold.

It’s a song that never gets old, and he never gets tired performing it, he said.

“I look forward to continuing to perform that song moving forward. Any opportunity I get to perform it live, everyone always asks for it,” he said. “I never get sick of it. I don’t recall ever feeling bored or burdened by having to perform that song.”

The first time Sutherland heard Heart of Gold was in his teen years. It grabbed his attention, especially the harmonica, vocals and guitar.

As a 16-year-old, he borrowed a harmonica from an Elder down the street and taught himself to play Heart of Gold. Sutherland even created a homemade holster for the harmonica using an old coat hanger, two sticks and elastic bands.

“I was determined to learn the song and all the parts to it,” he recalled.

The idea of finding, meeting and having conversations with people who have hearts of gold has always been intriguing to Sutherland.

“That’s how I always understood it, sometimes you come across people in life that have such good hearts. And I’ve heard that word used a few times in my lifetime, used to describe people that have such good hearts,” he said.

There aren’t many people who truly have a heart of gold but in Sutherland’s life, that was his grandmother. She was always kind, taught them the culture and never said anything bad about anyone or any situation, Sutherland said.

A music video for Midnight Shine’s cover of Heart of Gold came out in 2019.

The video, shot in Attawapiskat, has a fun reveal at the end. It has gained more than 266,000 views, while the cover was streamed more than 133,000 times on Spotify.

Sutherland said he never expected to receive such a response from the fans.

“It didn’t seem like we were doing anything special at the studio at the time,” he said. “When we heard the first mix, it was obvious we had done something pretty special with the song.”

In light of recent news of Young pulling his music from Spotify over podcaster Joe Rogan spreading COVID-19 misinformation, Sutherland said he supports Young’s decision to leave.

“When you’re someone like Neil Young who’s had such a robust career that spans 40 years, I think you can afford to walk away from someone like Spotify if you choose to do so. I think he made the right choice. He has his beliefs,” Sutherland said adding he personally has good working relationships with many streaming platforms.

Listen to Heart of Gold here:


Dariya Baiguzhiyeva

About the Author: Dariya Baiguzhiyeva

Dariya Baiguzhiyeva is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter covering diversity issues for TimminsToday. The LJI is funded by the Government of Canada
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