![]() Although his role was that of support, Whitten sang the album’s opening track “Cinnamon Girl” along with Young, and Whitten and Young played guitar on “Down by the River” and “Cowgirl in the Sand.” These tracks would influence the grunge movement of the 1990s, and all three songs would be counted among Young’s most memorable work, continuing to hold a place in his performance repertoire to this day.Īs did so many other rock musicians in the late 1960s, Whitten began using heroin and quickly became addicted. Recording sessions led to Young’s second album, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, credited as Neil Young with Crazy Horse, with Whitten on second guitar and vocals. Nils Lofgren – Beggar’s Day (Eulogy for Danny Whitten): At first dubbed “War Babies” by Young, they soon became known as Crazy Horse. The trio agreed, so long as they were allowed to simultaneously continue on with The Rockets: Young acquiesced initially, but imposed a rehearsal schedule that made that an impossibility. Songwriter Neil Young, fresh from departing the Buffalo Springfield, with one album of his own under his belt, began jamming with the Rockets and expressed interest in recording with Whitten, Molina and Talbot. A beautiful cover of a stunning song written by another artist who left us too soon.“I am not a preacher, but drugs killed a lot of great men.”ĭanny Whitten died 18 November 1972, 40 years agoĭaniel Ray Whitten (– November 18, 1972) was an American musician and songwriter best known for his work with Neil Young and Crazy Horse, and for the song “ I Don’t Want To Talk About It“, a hit for Rita Coolidge, Rod Stewart and Everything but the Girl. In 2004 he released it as a duet with Amy Belle and it appears on his concert CD from The Royal Albert Hall. So almost 20 years later the song became a massive hit and a concert favourite for Rod Stewart. In 1989 Stewart re-recorded it for his fantastic career retrospective called ‘Storyteller’ and then he released it as a single in 1990 after including it on ‘Downtown Train and Other Stories’. It worked going to #1 in the U.K on this day in 1977. This occurred as part of a strategy to keep The Sex Pistols and ‘God Save the Queen’ off the top of the U.K charts. It was then more successfully released as a single as part of a double A side along with ‘The First Cut is the Deepest’. In addition to the Danny Whitten/Crazy Horse version there is the Rod Stewart recording that appeared on his 1975 ‘Atlantic Crossing’ album. Ironically the song seems to have had multiple lives. It took Neil Young years to get over the guilt.Īs I said in the introduction ‘I Don’t Want to Talk About It’ become much better known when it was released by Rod Stewart. ![]() Later that night Whitten died from a combination of alcohol and diazepam, which he was taking to get over the arthritis pain (instead of heroin). Young fired him and gave him $50 and a plane ticket back to Los Angeles. ![]() In 1972 Neil Young brought Whitten back to play some acoustic parts on his Harvest album but he was too far gone. Despite the fact that Neil fired Crazy Horse (mainly because of Whitten’s drug use) Danny took part in several tracks on Young’s iconic ‘After the Goldrush’ album but sadly his biggest contribution during this time may have been in inspiring Neil to write ‘The Needle and the Damage Done’. To minimize the pain he began taking heroin. Unfortunately while this successful partnership was emerging, Whitten was dealing with rheumatoid arthritis. The first of the Young/Whitten pieces was ‘(Come on Baby Let’s Go) Downtown’ and the second was ‘I Don’t Want to Talk About It’ a beautiful ballad that would become Danny Whitten’s signature song. Crazy Horse released their only ‘group only’ record in 1971 and it included five songs written by Danny Whitten, two of them were co written with Neil Young. Their original work under that name yielded three songs that remain concert staples to this day ‘Cinnamon Girl’, ‘Down by the River’ and ‘Cowgirl in the Sand’. They would soon become known as Neil Young and Crazy Horse. He began jamming with The Rockets and developed an appreciation for Whitten, Molina and Talbot. After Neil Young left Buffalo Springfield and recorded his first solo record he was looking for a heavier sound. In the late ’60s Danny Whitten was in a California band called The Rockets with Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina. I will play them both but first Danny Whitten’s story needs to be shared. ![]() Neil Young fans will know the tragic story of Danny Whitten and the fact that he wrote ‘I Don’t Want to Talk About It’, but more casual music fans will likely know the Rod Stewart version. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |