Almost Hits: Neil Young - Cinnamon Girl (1970)

Kudos to Neil Young for sticking it to Spotify. I'm quite sure that the rock superstar doesn't care what I write or that he'll even know what I post, but as a salute to him for doing the right thing I'm featuring a Young song for this edition of Almost Hits.

"Cinnamon Girl" is the opening track on Young's second solo LP, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. It's one of the elite albums in his catalog because it also has "Down By The River" and my favorite from it, "Cowgirl In The Sand." "Cinnamon Girl" is also the first song he released using Crazy Horse as his backup band.

Most people are more familiar with the album version that differs slightly from the single. The guitar outro is eliminated - making a it a little shorter for radio - and Danny Whitten's vocals are more pronounced in the mix, making it sound more like a duet. Whitten sings high harmony while Young takes care of the bottom end. Also, the 45 RPM is in mono while the album version is in stereo.

The arrangement has a great bass riff and Young plays a one note solo during the instrumental break that sounds like it is much more than that. I never really paid attention to the cryptic lyrics. They're secondary to the music, especially when listening to that great riff that grabs your attention immediately. Per Wikipedia, the song is about "daydreaming for a girl to love."

"Cinnamon Girl" continues to be a classic rock staple even though it only peaked at #55 on the Hot 100. It's hard to believe the song is over fifty years old. It still sounds so current today.

The B-side is "Sugar Mountain," an acoustic track, that for most people is the side of Neil Young they prefer.

By the way, as I was finishing up this article today I learned that Joni Mitchell has followed Young's lead by removing her songs from Spotify in protest too. Kudos to her also.
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Almost Hits is an occasional exploration into songs that failed to reach the top 20 on the American Billboard Hot 100. Many have become classics despite what their chart position would indicate.

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