[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-6AME4iSzY]

The Needle and the Damage Done (1972) Neil Young

“The Needle and the Damage Done” is a song by Neil Young that chronicles the descent of musicians he knew into heroin addiction. Neil has introduced the song thus:

“Ever since I left Canada, about five years ago or so.. and moved down south.. found out a lot of things that I didn’t know when I left. Some of ’em are good, and some of ’em are bad. Got to see a lot of great musicians before they happened… before they became famous.. y’know, when they were just gigging. Five and six sets a night… things like that. And I got to see a lot of, um , great musicians who nobody ever got to see. For one reason or another. But.. strangely enough, the real good ones… that you never got to see was.. ’cause of, ahhm, heroin. An’ that started happening over an’ over. Then it happened to someone that everyone knew about. So I just wrote a little song.”

This post is dedicated to my friends Walter and Dominique.