When You Dance I Can Really Love

Album: After The Gold Rush (1970)
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Songfacts®:

  • This was one of two singles released off After The Gold Rush (the other was "Only Love Can Break Your Heart"). It has remained a regular live-performance staple and favorite among Young fans ever since, which is interesting because lyrically it contains none of the subtle poeticism that characterizes most of Young's writing. As Randy Newman puts it, "'When you dance, I can really love' - I mean, that's a stupid thing to say to a girl. It's really low-end IQ - it isn't above 100 - and Neil is not a low-IQ guy. He did it on purpose. That's funny."
  • The unforgettable piano on the song is played by Jack Nitzsche. "That's a unique take," Young has said, "'cause that's the only take ever done in the studio by the Horse with Jack playing."

    Nitzsche was very skeptical about his piano role. Nils Lofgren described him as "a little looped, and not convinced he should be playing piano on this song. One minute he would be up for it and just love the music, the next it would 'I'm not gonna do it.'"

    He may have actually quit before getting the final record down, but Young continued pushing him.
  • This is the last record, to Young's recollection, that Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten played on. "He wasn't lookin' too good at that point," Young said.

    Whitten was the central inspiration for "The Needle And The Damage Done" and one of the key inspirations for the Tonight's The Night album.
  • According to Jimmy McDonough in Shakey, the band can be heard talking during the song's solo. His ears might be better than ours, but we can't discern it.

Comments: 3

  • Js from PaI also heard the band talking (listening with headphones), & ended up here while trying to find out what's being said. I've heard the song lots of times, but this was the first time I noticed it.
  • Ruudtes from HollandThe 2014 Pono remaster of the album "After The Gold Rush" has voices clearly on the left channel from 2:50 to 2:53, during the outtro guitar solo.
  • John Roberts from Chicago, IllIn the version of this song on the Net the band voices can be heard in the left speaker, but in the version on my '86 CD album of 'After the Gold Rush' the voices have been mixed out. Cheers, John.
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