![]() ![]() ![]() Their deaths largely inform the record, so much so that Tonight’s the Night functions as much as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding as it does a piece of music. Both Berry and recently departed Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten overdosed prior to its writing and recording, Berry of heroin and Whitten of a combination of alcohol and Valium. Young and Crazy Horse wrote and recorded the record in the throes of loss. Shelved for almost two years, the record was eventually released in June 1975. But there’s a difference between anger and hurt, and Tonight’s the Night walks that line with almost frightening delicacy. Neil Young does “pissed off” as well as anyone in the business. #In mymind neil young cracked#His voice sounds cracked and worn as if he’s been up and at it all night, and it speaks volumes about the turbulent headspace he was in when making the record in 1973. Young bellows the last part of this line less as a lyric and more as a cry for help. “When I picked up the telephone and heard that he died … out on the mainline.” “People let me tell you, it sent a chill up and down my spine,” he sings over a shaggy blues groove. The song is a forum for Young to celebrate his roadie and friend, recalling how he handled his guitar after shows and was prone to sleep well into the afternoon. Berry and Young were tighter than tight, the relationship between them built with the kind of steely resolve that could only be cemented by countless hours, days, and weeks spent on the road together. “Bruce Berry was a working man, he used to load that Econoline van,” Neil Young sings at the outset of “Tonight’s the Night”, the lead track from his pitch-black masterpiece of the same name. By 1973, however, his biggest opponent was inarguably himself. Fighting others was an uncomfortable task, but never one Young shied away from. But a two- or three-year stretch in the 1970s posed an even more intense challenge to Young and his Crazy Horse bandmates. Neil Young has bravely and stubbornly waged war against seemingly everyone: record label heads, politicians, and anyone else foolish enough to stand in the way of his artistic freedom and musical vision. ![]()
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