Hard Rock
Neil Young wrote “Cinnamon Girl” and recorded it with his backing band Crazy Horse. Young says that the song was a daydream of sorts while Young was sick with a flu and fever “for a city girl on peeling pavement coming at me through Phil Ochs’ eyes playing finger cymbals.” Make of that what you will. They released it on the 1969 album Everybody Knows This is Nowhere. It was later released as a single, backed with “Sugar Mountain” on the B-Side, and it went to #55 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1970. Young is on guitar and lead vocals. Danny Whitten is on guitar and sings the higher harmony to Young’s lower harmony. Billy Talbot is on bass guitar, and Ralph Molina is on drums. Besides “Cinnamon Girl,” Young wrote “Down By the River” and “Cowgirl in the Sand” for the album while ill. They became standard parts of his repertoire as well. Shortly after the album Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, Young joined with Crosby, Stills and Nash.