Stuggles of Neil Young
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Singer/Songwriter Neil Young was born November 12, 1945, in Toronto, Ontario Canada, to Scott and “Rassy” Young. Neil Young moved to Winnipeg with his mother when she and his father got a divorce (Erlewin N.Pag.). Upset with failed attempts to become successful Young left his former band The Mynah Birds and moved to Los Angeles. (N.Pag.). Youngs movement to America was illegal and was an illegal immigrant all thought playing with Buffalo Springfield as well as some of his time with Crosby Stills Nash and Young (Crowe 193). He has been many things throughout his life; he has been a singer, guitarist, film director an activist and much more. However, Neil Young has had many struggles throughout his life. He has seen The Needle and the Damage Done, has needed a unit to Sample and Hold, made This Note for You, and Lived with War. However, through it all, he has been able to make original music for more than 40 years.
The Needle and the Damage Done first appears of Neils 1972 solo release of Harvest. The song mainly is dedicated to Youngs late band mate Danny Whitten (McDonough 329). Whitten was the guitarist for Crazy Horse and appeared on several albums. The events leading up Dannys death were extremely traumatizing for Young. Young had fired Danny one night as he had become a heroine junkie and was not performing well during recording sessions. Later that night, Young had received a called from the Los Angeles coroner, the coroner had the grim news that Whitten had been found and he had died of a heroin overdose (Crowe 193). Young had commented in a Rolling Stone interview in 1975 that “I Felt Responsible.” (193). Whitten, however was not the only person in Youngs life that had problems with a heroin addiction, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Youngs long time roadie Bruce Berry had also overdosed on heroin as well (193). The death of Berry inclined Young and the remaining members of Crazy Horse to record Tonights the Night an album, which many fans view as an anti-drug album, at Bruce Berrys brother studio (McDonough 431). The death of two people heavily involved in Youngs life caused him to then turn away from drugs and begin to denounce them which is apparent on his county album Old Ways. Young wrote, “Almost off that grass, give up all this drinkin. Really gonna make it last, clean up my way of living” (qtd. in McDonough 569). But even with his methods of coping, Young fell in to what was called a “Murky Period” when asked what started it Young responded with “Dannys death probably tipped it off.” (qtd. in Crowe 193).
Cerebral Palsy is the general term for a variety of disorders caused by damage to the brain.” (qtd. in Schuelein N.Pag.). Cerebral Palsy is the term which is also used to describe both of Youngs sons, Ben Young and Zeke Young. Ben Youngs case is severe with Ben being quadriplegic, unable to speak and for the most part paralyzed, while Zeke Young on the other hand has a much milder case (Tyrangiel 71). Neil Young however believes that he and his wife, Pegi Young, were chosen to have children with cerebral palsy. (71) They have taken what most would see as a bad situation and turned it into a positive. The Young family founded the Bridge School in Hillsborough California to make a place where students whom are non-verbal and/or physically challenged can learn to communicate though the means of technology as well as alternative methods. Neil had experiment with alternative communication with use of vocoders on his album Trans (McDonough 552). The majority of the album Trans is about Youngs son Ben (552). One track in particular Transformer Man is a dedicated love song to his son (553). Cerebral Palsy is a mysterious disease in reference to the cause, Young himself, however was not free from a mysterious condition either. Neil Young is thought to possibly have epilepsy (Crowe 193). At the time when he was interviewed by Rolling Stone not much was known about the condition. Young is known to have seizures, usually induced by smoking marijuana (193). However, Young has never had the issue of having a seizure while on stage performing a show. Epilepsy however is not the only ailment that has stricken Young over the years. In the time between the recordings of After the Gold Rush and Harvest, Young had spent time in and out of hospitals,