The 10 best Neil Young songs from Heart of Gold to Harvest Moon
N eil Young may be a famously mercurial figure who is prone to subjecting audiences to an hour's worth of sustained guitar noise should the mood take him, but he's also nothing if not competitive. That's why I predict the 79-year-old will be blasting out the classics on the Pyramid Stage on Saturday night, if only to show young pretenders like the 1975 and Olivia Rodrigo how it's done. Besides, he has got a hot new band called the Chrome Hearts to put through their paces, featuring Willie Nelson's son Micah on guitar and Spooner Oldham, a legendary session ace from the Muscle Shoals studio in Alabama who has played with everyone from Aretha Franklin to Bob Dylan, on Farfisa organ. Here is a dream setlist for what will be, should Neil play ball, the highlight of Glastonbury 2025.
• Follow our live coverage of Glastonbury 2025
The opening piano chords to this gentle plea for environmental care, which takes the forms of dreams from the past, present and future, would make for the ideal start to Young's set. Wait for everyone to sing along to, 'Look at Mother Nature on the run in the 21st century.'
Probably Young's most famous song, Heart of Gold is a beautifully simple singalong that captures the most romantic and hopeful aspects of the hippy dream; perfect for Glastonbury, in other words.
After Springsteen, it is Neil Young's turn to give Donald Trump a blasting from a foreign country. The heavy Rockin' in the Free World would be the best song for it: not only did Young ban Trump from using the rock anthem in his rallies, but it is also an indictment of societal decay under a Republican president (George Bush Sr, but the words still work).
After getting the crowd riled up, it's time to bring them down with one of Young's most beautiful songs. An acoustic tribute to the groundsman at his Broken Arrow ranch in California, this plea for understanding across the generations takes on new resonance now that Young is no longer young.
• How to watch Glastonbury 2025 live on TV: BBC schedule and stage times
Another beauty, this one about a salmon swimming upstream to find the one he loves. Only Young could imbue a line like, 'My belly's scraping on the rocks, I still think someone really cares,' with so much tenderness.
Young has been known to stretch this crunchy classic well over the 20-minute mark. Hopefully at Glastonbury he'll keep his tribute to the archetypal flower child to a more manageable length.
This is a sad acoustic lament for Danny Whitten, the former member of Young's backing band Crazy Horse who died of a heroin overdose after its release. A more suitable warning of drug use at Glastonbury would be The Nitrous Oxide Balloon and the Damage Done, but it doesn't quite have the same ring.
A fan favourite, this lonely ballad about the 17th-century Native American is a masterpiece of surrealism. Young describes a massacre, dreams of going back in time to sleep with Pocahontas, then imagines spending an evening by the fire with her and Marlon Brando. Held together by a glorious melody, it is one of Young's more obscure gems.
• It's the ultimate Glasto face-off! Do you see Neil Young, Doechii or Charli XCX?
This tribute to enduring love is one of Young's most romantic songs and has been covered countless times. Weather conditions permitting, it should cause an outbreak of tender moments between couples before the Pyramid Stage.
Young at his most rocking, telling the story of a man who shoots his lover after catching her cheating on him. Driven by a killer riff and a groove that could (and has been known to) go on for ever, this is a rough masterpiece.
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