2000 Great Songs #1494: The Needle And The Damage Done

Neil Young's 1972 LP Harvest was his biggest commercial hit to date, largely responsible for making him the superstar he's been ever since. I'm personally a little ambivalent on the album; it's got some undeniable stand-outs (I'll proudly defend "Heart Of Gold" as a ridiculously great track, even if its classic rock saturation keeps me from including it on the list), but also feels a little too all-over-the-place, even by Neil's peripatetic standards, with a few tracks I'm happy to skip.

For me, the highlight of the album is "The Needle And The Damage Done." On the one hand, it highlights the odd composition of the overall album: in lieu of a proper studio track, the version here is a solo acoustic live performance from the prior year (I don't think he's ever recorded a studio version), and tossing it in (applause and all) between the country-rocking "Alabama" and the album-closing bombast of "Words" just feels jarring. But the stripped-down recording probably best serves the material, a downbeat but gorgeous folk number about the toll heroin use was taking on the rock scene at the time. (He'd revisit the theme on 1975's Tonight's The Night, after losing a few friends to overdoses.) It's simple and to the point but neither hectoring nor maudlin. Not shockingly, there are a ton of interesting cover versions out there.

Live 1993:

Rain Parade's Steven Roback:

Henry Kaiser cover (as a medley with "Tonight's The Night"):

The Pretenders (covering it for sadly obvious reasons):

Simple Minds:

Lori McKenna:

Blitzen Trapper (live):

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