Neil Young recorded the After The Gold Rush album after the Déjà Vu tour with his band Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, a taxing trek that fractured the band. "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" was rumored to be about Steven Stills, who alienated his bandmates by referring to them as his "back-up singers" on stage, but Young later admitted it was about one of his other bandmates, Graham Nash, who was heartbroken after breaking up with Joni Mitchell.
This was Neil Young's first Top 40 hit as a solo artist. His commercial zenith came with "Heart of Gold," a #1 single from his next album, Harvest.
Young's former bandmate Steven Stills is one of many to cover this song, releasing it on his 1984 album Right by You. Other notable covers are by Jackie DeShannon, Elkie Brooks, Rickie Lee Jones, and Florence and The Machine.
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