from the LP Crazy Horse, Reprise Records, 1971“I get high, don’t you? As sure as the sky is blue…” Spirits have a tendency to haunt the careers & discographies of many well-known and loved rock stars: The Allmans, Skynyrd, post-Syd Floyd, and most definitely the mid-‘70s output of Neil Young---in his case, the phantom which troubled & consumed his soul was that of Danny Whitten. Danny was the guitarist for Crazy Horse, Neil’s backing band, who overdosed on heroin shortly after this, Crazy Horse’s first album without Neil along (not that Neil wasn’t involved, but the band wrote all the songs). This from-the-street love song was penned by Whitten, a sweet slice of countrified rock containing some arrestingly real and, in hindsight, harrowing lyrics; “…I’m gonna die, aren’t you? As sure as the sky is blue…”
