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The chorus of "Tell Me Why" features the memorable chorus question Tell me why/ Is it hard to make arrangements with yourself/ When you're old enough to repay/ But young enough to sell? Young shares in a June 1988 interview for Spin Magazine that the lyrics lost meaning for him over time, and made it difficult to sing the song live:
That's a hell of a question, isn't it? I don't understand it. It sounds like gibberish to me. I stopped singing that song because when I get to that line I go, what the fuck am I talking about? You know, I don't edit my songs. I knew something was happening at the time that I wrote it to make that right, but I can't remember what it is and it doesn't apply to what I'm doing now. "I Am a Child" is like that. What is the color when black is burnt? It's a charcoal kind of color, I guess, but what the fuck does that mean? I ask myself over and over, what the fuck am I talking about?
The song "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" was written for Graham Nash in the aftermath of his breakup with Joni Mitchell. Nash would tell Constant Meijers in September 1974: "I'd broken up with Joni and Neil came to me and said he'd written a song for me, because he knew exactly how I felt. Joni is one of those people who can't make a good relationship last. When we were doing alright, she quit."
The lyrics to "Southern Man" address slavery and segregation. The intensity of the song was influenced by conflict with Young's then wife, Susan Acevedo: "'Southern Man' was an angry song. I wrote 'Southern Man' in my studio in Topanga. Susan was angry at me for some reason." "Those girls always get jealous when you're working on something with great intensity. Susan, who was a lot older than me, was very jealous. One morning, I got up early to work on 'Southern Man' in the studio, she threw breakfast against the door. When I opened the door to see what was going on, she threw the coffee at me."
"Oh Lonesome Me" is a cover of the 1957 Don Gibson song, recorded in a somber and radically different arrangement than the original. Young's arrangement dates from his coffeehouse folk days in Toronto in late 1965: "I wanted to give the acoustic solo thing a try in the Village (Yorkville). I took my acoustic twelve-string to a few gigs and got some bad reviews. I had an arrangement of 'Oh Lonesome Me' that I really liked, and people laughed at it, thinking it was a parody or something. I used it on 'After the Gold Rush', and that worked." The song is the first recording by Young to feature harmonica, as well as the first song Young recorded that he didn't write himself. The song was released as a single in advance of the album in February 1970.
The lyrics to "Don't Let It Bring You Down" deal with falling into depression, and how new experiences or acquaintances can snap you back out. Young explains to Spin in 1988: "Every once in awhile something could happen, especially when I was younger, that would get me really depressed, then I would run into somebody and forget about it, just because I got into an another thing. People are wonderful that way; the presence of another human being can be so strong that it’ll change your whole outlook." Young wrote the song during his first transatlantic trip, while touring with CSNY. On the album 4 Way Street, Young jokes as he introduces the song: "Here is a new song. It's guaranteed to bring you right down. It's called 'Don't Let It Bring You Down'. It sort of starts off real slow and then it fizzles out all together."
"Birds" dates from at least 1968. Young attempted recording the song several times before the take featured on After the Gold Rush. One attempt, available on his Archives website, was recorded as a duet with new bandmate Graham Nash. Its lyrics concern a breakup, using bird imagery as metaphor.
"I Believe in You" is a somber ode to abandoned love. Young describes the song in a June 1988 Spin interview:
Now that you made yourself love me, do you think I can change it in a day? That's a heavy one. That song has the most haunting lyrics. Am I lying to you when I say I believe in you? That's the difference between the song and the poem. The song makes you think of the hook, and the hook is I believe in you, but the rest of it is in a whole other place. That song I can hardly talk about. That one is too deep. I think I only sang it live two or three times, and only in the studio two or three times, so I may have only sung that song six times total.
In 2014, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
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- "Tell Me Why" (2:45)
- Neil Young – guitar, vocal; Nils Lofgren – guitar, vocal; Ralph Molina – vocal
- Recorded at Home Studio, Topanga, CA, 3/12/1970. Produced by David Briggs & Neil Young.
- "After the Gold Rush" (3:45)
- Neil Young – piano, vocal; Bill Peterson - flugelhorn
- Recorded at Home Studio, Topanga, CA, 3/12/1970. Produced by David Briggs & Neil Young.
- "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" (3:05)
- Neil Young – guitar, vocal; Danny Whitten – guitar, vocal; Nils Lofgren – piano; Greg Reeves – bass; Ralph Molina – drums, vocal
- Recorded at Home Studio, Topanga, CA, 3/15/1970. Produced by David Briggs & Neil Young.
- "Southern Man" (5:41)
- Neil Young – guitar, vocal; Nils Lofgren – piano, vocal; Greg Reeves – bass; Ralph Molina – drums, vocal; Danny Whitten – vocal
- Recorded at Home Studio, Topanga, CA, 3/19/1970. Produced by David Briggs & Neil Young.
- "Till the Morning Comes" (1:17)
- Neil Young – piano, vocal; Danny Whitten – guitar, vocal; Greg Reeves – bass; Ralph Molina – drums, vocal; Stephen Stills – vocal; Bill Peterson – flugelhorn
- Recorded at Home Studio, Topanga, CA, 3/19/1970. Produced by David Briggs & Neil Young.
- "Oh, Lonesome Me" (Don Gibson) (3:47)
- Neil Young – guitar, piano, harmonica, vocal; Danny Whitten – guitar, vocal; Billy Talbot – bass; Ralph Molina – drums, vocal
- Recorded at Sunset Sound, Hollywood, 8/2/1969. Produced by David Briggs & Neil Young.
- "Don't Let It Bring You Down" (2:56)
- Neil Young – guitar, vocal; Nils Lofgren – piano; Greg Reeves – bass; Ralph Molina – drums
- Recorded at Home Studio, Topanga, CA, 3/17/1970. Produced by David Briggs & Neil Young.
- "Birds" (2:34)
- Neil Young – piano, vocal; Danny Whitten – vocal; Ralph Molina – vocal
- Recorded at Sound City, Hollywood, CA, 6/30/1970. Produced by David Briggs & Neil Young.
- "When You Dance I Can Really Love" (3:44)
- Neil Young – guitar, vocal; Danny Whitten – guitar, vocal; Jack Nitzsche – piano; Billy Talbot – bass; Ralph Molina – drums
- Recorded at Home Studio, Topanga, CA, 4/6/1970. Produced by David Briggs & Neil Young.
- "I Believe in You" (3:24)
- Neil Young – guitar, piano, vibes, vocal; Danny Whitten – guitar, vocal; Billy Talbot – bass; Ralph Molina – drums, vocal
- Recorded at Sunset Sound, Hollywood, 8/5/1969. Produced by David Briggs & Neil Young.
- "Cripple Creek Ferry" (1:34)
- Neil Young – piano, vocal; Danny Whitten – guitar, vocal; Greg Reeves – bass; Ralph Molina – drums, vocal
- Recorded at Home Studio, Topanga, CA, 3/17/1970. Produced by David Briggs & Neil Young.
- Record Company – Warner Bros. Records Inc.
- Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Warner Bros. Records Inc.
- Lacquer Cut At – Artisan Sound Recorders
- Pressed By – Columbia Records Pressing Plant, Santa Maria
- Copyright © – Warner Bros. Records Inc.
- Backing Vocals – Stephen Stills
- Bass – Billy Talbot, Greg Reeves
- Drums – Ralph Molina
- Guitar, Harmonica, Piano, Vibraphone, Vocals – Neil Young
- Guitar, Vocals – Danny Whitten
- Piano – Jack Nitzsche
- Producer – David Briggs, Kendall Pacios, Neil Young
- Vocals, Piano – Nils Lofgren
- Written-By – Neil Young (tracks: A1 to A5, B2 to B6)
- Gary Burden – art direction
- Joel Bernstein – photography
- Elliot Roberts – direction
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