Cinnamon Girl by donnica59

donnica59 - Cinnamon Girl

donnica59

May 24, 2026 01:25pm

<ol><li data-list="bullet">A JOURNEY OF BETTER TIMES</li><li data-list="bullet"> </li><li data-list="bullet"> </li><li data-list="bullet"> </li><li data-list="bullet">In <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0760336474/songfacts02-20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">Neil Young: Long May You Run: The Illustrated History</a>, Neil Young talked about poaching the band The Rockets for the formation of Crazy Horse, who he first recorded with on Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere:</li><li data-list="bullet"> "The truth is, I probably did steal them away from the pother band, which was a good band. </li><li data-list="bullet">But only because what we did, we went somewhere." </li><li data-list="bullet">He later goes on to say, "That's the hardest part, is the guilt of the trail of destruction that I've left behind me."</li><li data-list="bullet"> </li><li data-list="bullet">In the same work, it is also mentioned that "With songs such as 'Cinnamon Girl,' '<a href="https://www.songfacts.com/facts/neil-young/down-by-the-river" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">Down By The River</a>,' and 'Cowgirl in the Sand,' Crazy Horse clearly gave Neil Young the kind of sympathetic and almost telepathic backing he needed." </li><li data-list="bullet">Neil Young went on to declare Crazy Horse "the American Rolling Stones."</li><li data-list="bullet"> </li><li data-list="bullet">The band Type O Negative did a remake on their 1996 album October Rust. </li><li data-list="bullet">The song was also covered by Smashing Pumpkins on the Reel Sessions bootleg.</li><li data-list="bullet"> </li><li data-list="bullet">That's Danny Whitten singing high harmony on this this song with Young.</li><li data-list="bullet"> Whitten was a singer/guitarist in Young's backing band Crazy Horse, which released its own album in 1970 featuring a few Whitten compositions, including "<a href="https://www.songfacts.com/facts/crazy-horse/i-dont-want-to-talk-about-it" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">I Don't Want To Talk About It</a>," later a #1 UK hit for Rod Stewart. </li><li data-list="bullet">Whitten spent his last years battling a heroin addiction, and in 1972 died after overdosing on alcohol and Valium.</li><li data-list="bullet"> </li><li data-list="bullet">The liner notes to Decade reveal that "Down by the River," "Cinnamon Girl," and "Cowgirl in the Sand" all in a single afternoon - while sick with a 103 degree temperature. </li><li data-list="bullet">Also, they were recorded after being together with the band Crazy Horse for only two weeks."</li><li data-list="bullet"> </li><li data-list="bullet">Crazy Horse bassist Billy Talbot recalled to Uncut magazine in 2021: "What I remember about 'Cinnamon Girl' is the four of us playing it - me, Ralph (Molina), Danny (Whitten) and Neil and realizing, 'Oh yeah, we can do this.' </li><li data-list="bullet">There's Danny's guitar, there's Neil's voice and guitar, and Ralph and I just need to keep the beat. </li><li data-list="bullet"> </li><li data-list="bullet">When you are inside a song like that, it's something beautiful. </li><li data-list="bullet">It sounded good and I liked it, then we got to the bridge and I loved it! </li><li data-list="bullet">We were able to get very psychedelic; we could slow it down and it got bigger and even more beautiful. </li><li data-list="bullet">I don't think we worked on it for long, we really did just play it once or twice before we got the take."</li><li data-list="bullet"> </li><li data-list="bullet">When legendary British DJ "Whispering Bob" Harris made his BBC Radio 1 debut on the August 19, 1970 episode of Sounds of the Seventies, "Cinnamon Girl" was the first record he played.</li><li data-list="bullet"> </li><li data-list="bullet">In 2020, a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqNpfQZDUag" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">video appeared on YouTube</a> showing Young encountering a fan in a public park. </li><li data-list="bullet">Using the fan's guitar, he gives a brief tutorial on how to play "Cinnamon Girl."</li></ol>