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An unofficial news blog for Neil Young fans from Thrasher's Wheat with concert and album updates, reviews, analysis, and other Rock & Roll ramblings. Separating the wheat from the chaff since 1996.
There is one aspect of “Cinnamon Girl” that remains overlooked: the last 20 seconds.
“Cinnamon Girl” is powered by a riff that launched a thousand ships
as countless bands and Young himself have adopted the same crunchy,
guitar-based template. A heckler once yelled at Young that all of his
songs sounded the same and Young famously responded: “It’s all one
song.” There’s a strong argument that “Cinnamon Girl” is in fact that
one song, serving as an urtext for grunge and indie rock for generations
to come.
Young plays the song in a drop-D tuning, meaning that he starts with a
guitar’s standard tuning and lowers the low and high E strings to D
notes. Young had employed the tuning before on Buffalo Springfield’s “Mr. Soul,”
but it is in “Cinnamon Girl” that he grasps the true power of this
technique, providing Young with a low drone, whether heard or implied,
that permeates the song with a deep intensity and weight.
The drone is heard plainly at the 2:37 mark of “Cinnamon Girl” as
Young and Crazy Horse finish playing the central riff of the song one
last time. Young holds the low D after the other guitar and bass fade
out. The last 20 seconds of the recorded time of “Cinnamon Girl” acts as
the coda of the song. In music theory, a coda is a concluding statement
within a song or larger movement. It’s a wrap-up and usually serves as
an addition or extension of the principle motif or arrangement of the
piece. In this coda, Young plays a flurry of notes by hammering the
strings on the fretboard of the guitar to produce the sound rather than
using a pick. Over the course of these 20 seconds, he plays 11 different
flurries, each a variation on a theme. It’s not the central riff of
“Cinnamon Girl” anymore, but this new theme feels connected and even an
enhancement on the song’s main riff. This outbreak of notes played by
Young in the coda is tumultuous and frenzied and then suddenly finishes
as Young lets the sustained drone of the low D ring out. As the drone
continues towards its vanishing point, Young hits natural harmonics on
the guitar twice just before the song ends, providing a twisted high
complement to the drone.
With that, the music fades out, ending the coda
and “Cinnamon Girl.”
Quickly, back in 2010 -- while we were still on Facebook -- we were contacted by someone claiming to be the song's inspirational muse. The actual "Cinnamon Girl" herself. While we were highly skeptical at the time, we decided to go ahead and publish her story @ So Who Was The "Cinnamon Girl"? The Story Behind The Song by Neil Young.
The original post contained a disclaimer at both the top and bottom that the tale -- while highly intriguing and very entertaining -- was suspect and to proceed cautiously using
disCERNment.
Oddly, even after a thorough debunking and the identification of the actual true "Cinnamon Girl"? the posting continues to gain momentum over 10 years on.
So we begin yet again ...
So who was Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl"?
And why did he want to live the rest of his life with a "Cinnamon Girl" anyways? (Then again, who wouldn't?)
Who was she? Or did she even really exist?
If we look at the Decade box album, Neil's hand written note about the song "Cinnamon Girl" says:
"Wrote this for a city girl on peeling pavement coming at me thru Phil Ochs eyes playing finger cymbals.
It was hard to explain to my wife."
The mystery of "Cinnamon Girl" only deepens.
Which city? What's peeling pavement? Who's Phil Ochs? Finger cymbals?
Interesting story, but I'm having trouble with the dates.
Neil was doing his thing in Yorkville in the late fall/winter of 1965.
By the early spring of 1966 he was playing in the Mynah Birds. He left
Toronto in March 1966 to go to California. The date for his Riverboat
gigs is also incorrect. He played them in Feb. 1969.
I double-checked my dates about Neil at the Riverboat and they were
correct. He played the Riverboat in a string of dates starting in early
Feb. 1969. (See Sugar Mountain setlist link below): http://www.sugarmtn.org/show.php?show=196902040 He
came to Toronto in late June/early July 1965 after Mort (his hearse)
broke down near Blind River. He was in Toronto through the rest of the
summer, the fall and winter and then until the spring of 1966 when he
departed for L.A. in his second hearse, Mort II.
Subsequent investigations by Sharry and other rusties determined that this was a big LARP.
But why?
Why would anyone go to such trouble and lengths to put forth such a tale which we suspected would ultimately be debunked?
(While we have come up with various theories over the years as the page views racked up ever higher, those theories are for another day.)
So back to the actual, true "Cinnamon Girl" of Neil Young's dreams.
The main clue is right there in the Decade box album liner notes: "Phil Ochs eyes playing finger cymbals."
In the book "Shakey" by Jimmy McDonough, Neil Young is asked on page 337:
- Who inspired all the dancing-women songs?
"I
don't know ... I remember this one girl, Jean "Monte" Ray - she was the
singing partner of Jim, Jim, and Jean, folk duo.
Had a record out
called, "People's World," and she did a lot of dancing with finger
cymbals. She was really great. Might've been her. Good chance. I
kinda had a crush on her for awhile. Moved nice.
She was real musical,
soulful."
Jim And Jean "Changes" - 1966
As Mother Nature on the Run commented: "FWIW - Jean Ray "Cinnamon Girl" was the bridesmaid in Ochs-Skinner wedding."
Jean Ray is quoted in liner notes that "Cowgirl In the Sand" came from a
visit Neil made to her and her family living on the beach:
"Of
the songs Ray penned, she reveals that "Topanga Road" was "about the
Buffalo Springfield getting busted in Topanga Canyon, a totally bogus
bust. Neil Young's song 'Cowgirl in the Sand' came from a visit he made
to me and my family living on the beach. Neil watched me finishing up
the tune, written on cheap paper with purple ink. I think he was so
touched by my caring about their suffering through that awful ordeal,
that his song came from mine. In it there's his lyric 'purple words on a
[gray] background,' etc."
- Liner notes from Jim and Jean's
Changes/People World CD reissue by Richie Unterberger (2005) [1]
Jean Ray and Jim Glover
Still skeptical?
Here is Brian Ray -- Jean's brother -- telling the "Cinnamon Girl" story and performing at his record release party for This Way Up at The Roxy on October 8, 2010.
The cover of Neil Young’s “Cinnamon Girl,” with a coda of Buffalo Springfield’s “Mr. Soul,” is personal for Ray.
“One
of the main reasons, besides the fact it’s a seminal guitar-riff song,
that it’s meaningful for me is because Neil and my late sister, Jean
Ray, were very close in the ‘60s,” Ray said. “As a result, I got to meet
and hang out with him as an 11-year old.”
... The Who's John Entwistle covering Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl".
This was a bonus track that on the CD release of Entwistle's solo album "Smash Your Head Against The Wall". The cover of the album is the first image you see on the video. The album was originally released in May 1971, not long after Young's version with Crazy Horse was released. Entwistle's cover is an out-take.
This is from Pete Townshend's blog Pete's Diary in 2005:
"[Neil Young] is such an inspiration to people like me who sometimes feel I have lost my way in rock 'n' roll. He takes huge chances sometimes in his creative projects, the biggest risk probably being when he chooses to go out on tour with Crosby, Stills and Nash, bless their collected genius.
UPDATE: Since publication of this story, it has come to our attention that this tale -- while highly intriguing and very entertaining -- is somewhat suspect. So, proceed accordingly and -- as always -- please use disCERNment.
Rare Neil Young "Cinnamon Girl" 45 RPM Picture Sleeve
Recorded Live at The Fillmore East, New York City, March 7, 1970
(41 years ago *today*)
"I wanna live with a cinnamon girl
I could be happy the rest of my life
With a cinnamon girl"
So who was Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl"?
And why did he want to live the rest of his life with a "Cinnamon Girl" anyways? (Then again, who wouldn't?)
Who was she? Or did she even really exist?
If we look at the Decade box album, Neil's hand written note about the song "Cinnamon Girl" says:
"Wrote this for a city girl on peeling pavement coming at me thru Phil Ochs eyes playing finger cymbals.
It was hard to explain to my wife."
The mystery of "Cinnamon Girl" only deepens.
Which city? What's peeling pavement? Who's Phil Ochs? Finger cymbals?
And why was it hard to explain to his wife, Susan?
Well, in that wild, weird and wonderful little Facebook world we recently got a message from someone claiming to be the song's inspirational muse.
The actual "Cinnamon Girl" herself.
So here's "Cinnamon Girl"'s story as relayed to us over a series of posts and messages. We report. You decide.
I met Neil when I was in high school at Kipling Collegiate in Etobicoke Toronto in late spring, early summer of 1968.
The kids from my high school called me the Cinnamon Girl. I was one of the first flower child kids at my high school. I was living way out in Etobicoke with my parents and we weren't allowed to go to places like a coffee house named The Riverboat. It was there in front of The Riverboat that I met Neil one afternoon.
I only met Neil that once.
Funny thing is if Neil had not been carrying his guitar we never would have met. My best friend had just been bragging to me that her and her sister & another friend now had super cute boyfriends who played in a band. She said they were the singer and guitar & bass player that were playing at El Patio in Yorkville.
I felt so left out.
I told my friend I was going to try and find a drummer to be my boyfriend. Truth is my father was super strict and I wasn't allowed to date. To go to Yorkville I always let on I was going to the movies, or babysitting. All hell would have broken loose if he thought I was with the hippies......
I saw his guitar case first and blurted out "I'm interviewing musicians to be my boyfriend.......are you interested?"
Without hesitation Neil came right over and stood beside me. Oh god. I looked up at him and he was the cutest boy I had ever seen.
He said "What's involved?"
I said you get to hang around with me for a couple of hours. I will ask you questions about dating and relationships and see if you pass. There will be kissing involved...are you a good kisser?"
Neil said "I guess so".
He seemed to be a little shy but amused by the situation. He didn't seem to be in any hurry to go anywhere and so the game started.
When we were together that night, I asked Neil to write a happy song about me and he promised he would. My nickname at school was 'The Cinnamon Girl'. I told him to make it sound Canadian (and even sang him the song from the cartoon ' Pow Wow The Indian Boy' so he's know what I meant). Funny, he's the singer but I was the one doing the singing....He had his guitar with him, he opened the case and showed it to me, but didn't play a note.
Everything in the song is something we did or something we talked about. I had never heard of Neil (or any of his bands) before but the time I spent with him still all these years later feels somehow magical. It was as though I could clearly see his future....and it was as though we had known each other for years, laughing our heads off.I guess the best way to describe it was I found him to be intoxicating.
I think 'Cowgirl in the Sand' is also about me. When we first met I was playing a crazy game with him, and he seemed amused by it. We talked about horseback riding, getting a farm one day, and the fact that I wouldn't tell him my age. I turned the conversation to the ages girls could wed in different provinces yet couldn't drink or vote. We spent the night in a park on the edge of a kid's sandbox talking about our lives, our dreams and the urgency for him to get to California.
I don't know if I'm a muse, psychic or an encouraging Cancerian or a combination of all of these because just as we sat there and talked I knew he would be very successful...just knew it. It was never 'if' it was 'when'.
When I left Neil at the Yorkville subway, I had an overpowering sad feeling that something would happen and i would not see him again for a very long time. It was 6:00AM and we had no paper or pen to exchange contact info.
Who knew I would get so sick?
I got dangerously ill after I met Neil. It lasted 2 weeks, first I was delirious with fever & then Bronchitis. So, I was unable to meet him as planned at The Riverboat.....one of the biggest regrets of my life. My friend saw him there waiting ......she estimated he waited for 2 hours and then was gone...I tried in the early years to contact Neil but letters were returned.
I've always had the feeling that that when the time is right, and the stars are aligned we would somehow meet again.
Surprisingly -- or not so much so -- we get all sorts of Neil tales, that -- quite frankly -- we can't make heads or tails of like this one.
But here's the other thing about this story that makes it a little cosmic. As we were doing that Facebook thing with our "Cinnamon Girl", we just so happened to stumble across the 45 single pictured above and noticed the date -- March 7, 1970.
That's tomorrow?!
And as we scanned the Decade box album liner notes, we recall how Neil -- absolutely totally astonishingly -- wrote "Down by the River", "Cinnamon Girl", and "Cowgirl in the Sand" all in a single afternoon -- while sick and delirious with a 103 degree temperature.
Down by the river (boat) he shot his baby (broke up with his young girlfriend) -- a red head (cinnamon girl) -- who was a cowgirl (hippie) in the sand (box at the park).
Both heartbroken and sick at the same time.
sometimes you just never know...
Thanks for sharing the memories cinnamon girl!
~~~~
So what exactly would it be like to live with a cinnamon girl? Well, this is what we think it would be like...
UPDATE:
Since publication of this story, it has come to our attention that this
tale -- while highly intriguing and very entertaining -- is suspect. So, proceed accordingly and -- as always -- please use
disCERNment.
UPDATE 3:And the confirmed identity of "Cinnamon Girl" can be found below in comments. This is why this post will remain here and not be removed given these disclaimers at top and bottom. So chill out MemphisBelle ..peace
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