Cinnamon Girl (Neil Young song)

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“Cinnamon Girl”

Single by Neil Young & Crazy Horse from the album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
B-side	"Sugar Mountain"
Released	April 20 1970
Format	45 rpm Record
Recorded	January & March, 1969 at Wally Heider Recording, Hollywood, CA
Genre	Hard rock
Length	2:58
Label	Reprise
Writer(s)	Neil Young
Producer	Neil Young David Briggs

"Cinnamon Girl" is a song by Neil Young. It debuted on the 1969 album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, which was also Neil's first album with backing band Crazy Horse. It is well known for its opening distorted-guitar riff, which continues through the song. The single reached #55 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1970.

[edit] Performance notes

This song, more than any other, displays the very prominent role played by Danny Whitten in the sound of Neil Young's early recordings. It is Crazy Horse's rhythm guitarist who sings the high harmony part, while Neil Young takes care of the low harmony part.

Neil performed the song on his then recently acquired Les Paul, Old Black. This guitar would be used by Neil on his more hard rock material.

The song is written in Double Drop D Tuning (DADGBD), also known by Neil as D Modal Tuning. This tuning is used in several of his most famous songs. ("Cortez the Killer", "Fuckin' Up", "The Loner", "Ohio", "Inca Queen", "The Old Laughing Lady", "Ride My Llama", "When You Dance I Can Really Love")

[edit] Notable covers

"Cinnamon Girl" has been covered by several artists, including:

Killdozer on their album Snake Boy
The Gentrys on their self-titled album for Sun Records in 1970
Type O Negative, on their album October Rust
John Entwistle, featured as a bonus track on his solo debut, Smash Your Head Against the Wall
The Sisters Euclid, on the Neil Young tribute Run Neil Run
Boyd Tinsley, on True Reflections
Matthew Sweet, on his 2006 album of covers with Susanna Hoffs, Under the Covers, Vol. 1
The Smashing Pumpkins played the song at live shows sporadically in during the 1990s
Los Lobos has also played the song at concerts
Bernard Fowler covers this song on his album Friends With Privileges
The Violet Burning, on their demo You Wouldn't Understand Anyways
Its main riff is used on Hole's song/noise suite "Starbelly", featured on the 1991 album Pretty on the Inside
Hawksley Workman on the DVD Live in Lille
Radiohead during the 2001 Amnesiac tour
Dream Syndicate
Replicants on their self-titled album released in 1996
The IOIO on their self-titled album released in 1998
Bob Mould during the 1989 Workbook tour