Harvest
Neil Young (1972)
The great Neil Young has been in the news a lot this month after he decided to pull his music off of Spotify in protest of the misinformation that Joe Rogan has been spreading on his podcast about vaccines and the pandemic. It's an understandable position for him to take. Mr. Young is a polio survivor who has first hand experience about the importance of vaccines, and I applaud him for taking a stand to put a stop to the spread of conspiracy theories and other nonsense spread by ignorant people such as Joe Rogan and his guests. But enough about that...
Neil Young's fourth album, Harvest, turned 50 years old this month. It's best known song is probably Heart Of Gold, which hit #1 on Billboard, but my favorites from this record are Old Man and The Needle And The Damage Done, the latter of which was recorded live at a UCLA concert that took place at Royce Hall on January 30th, 1971. Mr. Young wrote it after seeing the effect that heroin addiction had on his friend and Crazy Horse guitarist, Danny Whitten. This addiction ultimately cost him his life. Mr. Whitten died of an overdose on November 18th, 1972, less than ten months after Harvest was released.
Neil Young (1971)
I caught you knockin' at my cellar door
I love you, baby, can I have some more
Ooh, ooh, the damage done
I hit the city and I lost my band
I watched the needle take another man
Gone, gone, the damage done
I sing the song because I love the man
I know that some of you don't understand
Milk blood to keep from running out
I've seen the needle and the damage done
A little part of it in everyone
But every junkie's like a settin' sun
