The mystery of Neil Young’s “Cinnamon Girl” 

All the songs on that record have stood the test of time. That record set the standard by which all later Neil Young songs have been judged. And you know what? I bought that record in 1969 and I treasure it.

Incredible that he wrote "Cowgirl in the sand" and "Down by the river" in the same afternoon. Not many people are as creative and productive while in bed with a fever.

Amazing song...the first time I heard it on the radio in 1969 I was floored by how addictive the deep dark dirty sound was.....it never gets old.....

Iconic LP . Top 100 rock LP all time . I still listen to this today since Neil handed me a copy out front of the Groove co record store , Newport Beach , Ca back in the day . He put out a stool and played Sugar Mountain , got back in the limo and sped away .

I was a fledgling Neil Young fan in 1990 while travelling to Toronto first time.. buying up all the cheap cassette tapes I could find (and there were a lot!).. That short trip in late Sept/early Oct I went to the annual food fair in the city and tried Cinnamon Rolls....(never had them before.. am from NZ) For days after I was humming the lines to myself: "I wanna live with the Cinnamon Roll... I could be happy the rest of my life with a Cinnamon Roll" !!! Seriously !!!!

Man! The backing track is so spot on. I could listen to it all day. Great job as always folks.

Truly, this is my favorite song ever. I can’t explain the hold it has on me, but it is undeniable. Thank you for sharing this post!

The title track and Losing End should not be overlooked. Love both of those too.

I've always considered this one of the greatest "short" rock songs ever. Great opening riff and vocals, mysterious lyrics, and classic solo at the end. A force and urgency through and through. Thank you for this analysis.

One of my favorite albums. Having lived in Thailand for many years always reminded of a Asian woman dancing in a bar. Many years later I met my Cinnamon Girl.

Been away for awhile and forgot how beautiful you are on these. Awesome back story as always Janda...Thank you!!! And thanks to Christian for the great mix!!! Keep On Rocking!!!

This and After the goldrush my all time favs of Young.I luv plenty other or his early albums but these are the my all times.

Have heard many of these factoids over the years, but never all together in one concise delivery. Thank you for putting it all down in a way that even an old Dead Head like me can understand. Neil Young has been one of my two or three favorite artists since I saw him on the "Everybody's Rockin' " tour with the band The Shocking Pinks. Seen him a few times since, and it has always been different, and it has always been excellent. Love watching him stomp around the stage with his Guitar, it's real Rock and Roll. Neil Young is The MAN!!!

He also wrote "Down By The River" and "Cowgirl in the Sand" in the same afternoon. The... same... afternoon... Most artists don't write 3 songs like this in a lifetime. I remember Richie Furay taking about what a genius guitarist Young was, too. "Who else can play an entire break for a song on one note"

I was hoping (and glad) to hear you give due credit where it was due. Danny Whitten’s influence on this album cannot be understated.

OR? The Cinamon Cinder was small chain of clubs under that name in southern California owned by Bob Eubanks, deejay and Newlywed Game host. The club was located not far from San Diego State University. The other Cinnamon Cinder clubs were in Studio City in Hollywood and in Long Beach. Although they had yet to release a single and were largely unknown outside of the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, the Buffalo Springfield was already recording demos that month in preparation for a debut release, "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" backed with "Go And Say Goodbye" recorded at Gold Star studios on July 18 and released a week later. There were strict rules for Cinnamon Cinder customers. The dress code discouraged the wearing of blue jeans, capri pants or shorts. Alcohol wasn't permitted, and if a person showed signs of being under the influence, they would be turned away. Any adults such as parents that came in to check on their children would have to be accompanied by a member of the opposite sex. This was to stop older men coming in with the intention of preying on younger girls. There was even a record put out by the Pastels entitled "Cinnamon Cinder". Neil Young references the girls who hung out at the Cinnamon Cinder clubs as Cinnamon Girls in his 1969 song "Cinnamon Girl". "Tin silver saxes, a bass with a bow. The drummer relaxes and waits between shows for his Cinnamon girl".

Cin Girl & Like a Hurricane were faves in my childhood. Amazing songs that only made sense by giving up sense and just going with the flow.

this song has the greatest 1 note solo ever!!!! love this song

Thank you for this excellent episode. ☮️💟

Well researched (best I can tell, without doing a lot more of my own research) and very well presented. As others have noted, the backing track is superb, too.

Nice job of documenting the backstory of this great song.

Thank you for explaining how Neil Young was such an icon for later grunge musicians. I thought it was his incredble lyrics and voice - even the lank hair - but that double drop D is so bass-ey. I cannot play guitar just tin whistles and bodhran and singing but I love singing Neil Young songs in public. I truly understand how his marriage only lasted two years. His first love is the music in his head.

One of my favorite college artists, albums, songs … among a long long long long list …

By far and away, it's my favorite song by Neil Young.

What a fascinating story! Thanks for sharing, Janda!

Wow, how timely is this? 2 weeks ago I was riding through the desert in Africa and Cinnamon Girl was echoing through my head for a long time. It really is great and I love pondering the lyrics.

Great ,big fan of this podcast . But no mention of the one note solo?just as famous as the riff.

At the time this album came out I was very close with Pegi Morton and for me this song was about her, although they had not met yet, you never know where a fever ravished mind could take a genius. Hearing this song always makes me remember Pegi.

Great video and presentation of this very cool info. Thanks, Janda!

The first time a buddy of mine turned me on to my first joint and Neil Young , he played Cinnamon Girl. I’ve never been the same!

Neil Young has been my "Hero" since highschool in 1969

I fav of mine. I saw NY in concert in 2008 and he opened with it.

It’s fun to jam to any Neil song in D, I’ll play it in double drop D. Just love that tuning and isn’t far from open G and DADGAD.

To a musician, there's nothing very mysterious about these song lyrics. It's a slice of the life. And a masterpiece.

I was recently in bed with the flu. Although I never wrote three awesome songs that will live forever, I did manage to binge Netflix. Goals.

Great song Om a great album by a great artist!!!! ☮️💟

"Cinnamon Girl" i first heard in 1970 when I bought the album in Buffalo, NY. It haunted me for years. A college girl friend who suddenly broke up with me was devastating, Oh, she had beautiful red hair. You can see why the song and Neil's voice affected me throughout the 70's.

Such a simple song, but so so great.

Fantastic video! Thanks!

What I’ve as a very amateur guitarist, been impressed with about “Cinnamon Girl” is that it has essentially a one note bridge, but with the heavy chords backing, it works extremely well.

Ben, Michael - thank you from the bottom of my heart for your very important work.

When I grew up with Neil, he took me to places that I never thought was possible with songs like Down by the River or Cinnamon girl and his voice still haunts me to this day. I am 77 years old and love his music but we never analyzed it to the nth degree, we jus t enjoyed how it made us feel and that our journey was going in the right direction, acidly speaking. He is special and followed his own interpretation of what is Neil Young, much like Eric Clapton followed his dream as a blues guitarist. It is so nice to see younger people enjoying and in awe of this kind of talent. The fact that he is Canadian is even more special because we grew up together in the same place.

When I was living in the San Francisco Bay Area in the mid 70’s, the local FM rock station KSAN ran a spot with the late Martin Mull stating something negative about playing Neil Young’s music. I don’t remember hearing many of his songs played on the station. I think a lot of people had problems with his singing (I did for a long time), but over the years I’ve become a huge fan of his work. In retrospect, people had problems with Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Tom Verlaine of Television and David Byrne. Punk rock changed everything in terms of the spectrum of singing, and in the end it became all about the lyrics and the music. To take things even further in terms of what later became acceptable for some, try listening to The Residents record Duck Stab. If you can get through listening to it and get some meaning and laughs from it, you have reached the pinnacle of tolerance for terrible singing. The singer on this record is still making records nearly 50 years later.

Excellent presentation , thank you ❤😊

Love the podcast. You are very informative and pleasantly engaging. I was 17 in 1982. We all had a copy of Live Rust in our tape decks. When I get big, I’m gonna get an electric guitar. I mean real big.

Thanks Janda, love your work.

Interesting analysis and information, and excellently presented. I'm now a subscriber!

A TIMELESS ALBUM !!!!!!!!!!!!

Loved everyone of these songs from this album. Cinnamon Girl has to played really loud and played over and over again. Born 1955. If I have to pick one album from so many artists I’ll pick this every time!

Great episode! Thanks for the info. Interesting backstory!

This explains a lot about Inside Llewyn Davis& the “Jim and Jean” act in the film. I had no idea they were real. And the titular character, who crashes on their couch, is probably based more on Phil Ochs than Dave Van Ronk, as everybody seems to think.

yes this is my favorite album by Neil Young I love the violin by Bobby Notkoff [info: Bob Clark, ty] on running dry-- another great song in there I can feel myself out in the desert as I listen to it especially when I listened to it when it first came out. Los Lobos amongst many other groups that do great live versions of cinnamon girl. I think they did it twice when I attended two back to back shows at Stephen Talkhouse And Amagansett which is the town between East Hampton and Montauk Long Island a great club to see any band at. I was dancing on the tables as the band played that song and many of the others -- that was a great night Los Lobos.

Thanks -this was a great video.

Great one Janda! Never knew there was a specific "Cinnamon Girl". I looked up Jean Ray and Jim..I have to believe a lot was about her. The quintessential folk singer, quiet type..with a tad of Cinnamon hair. Folk isn't my thing, but Neil brought me into it. Thanks and keep em coming.

Nice review Janda. Maybe 'only your hairdresser knows for sure'. So much in the creative process is unknowable or untranslatable. Like in a dream our thoughts are fused together from snippets of unrelated day to day events. We don't know why or how but we need to scratch that itch 'the muse' and set it free and once we do, it has a life all it's own.

he was a huge influence on my songwriting and why i continue to put songs on you tube

Nice chance encounter with your podcast. Never knew! Longtime WDRV listener from suburban Palos Heights.

As complex as Neil was, it took a Southerner from birth who influenced that grunge sound out of him . RIP Danny Whitten, born in Columbus Ga. to a cab driver and a waitress, May 8, 1943.

A must most Most great vidio. Thanks!

Such an atypical song for its time... and it's still one of my favourite! New sub? Oh yeah...

The best outro in pop music!

I know plenty about Neil Young however you added to that in your nine minutes. Great work!!

Great job, Janda!

Really, when it comes to tempo in rock-n-roll composition, Neil Young is from another planet. The tempo to me always seem slightly slow, consistently in his recordings, the two that stand out for me are: Cinnamon Girl and Heart of Gold. I really would like Neil Young to explain his approach to tempo, because I think it is his one defining song signatures and always strangely slightly slow.

Thank you Janda. Awesome podcast.

Just like every song Neil put out there Cinnamon Girl was a work of pure top level blues rock genius. Neil is a gift to us.

Good video Janda about a great song and album. Finally got to see a video without A.I. Love vids w/that "human" touch! Not enough of them anymore. (must be getting old, LOL)

Greetings from another fellow Chicagoan. I found this video very interesting for various reasons. First of all I didn't know that Neil drop tuned his guitar to D-A-F-G-B-D. I always played it with regular standard tuning. (E-A-D-G-B-E) I might want to watch some close up videos of Neil playing the song to see if there are any chord alterations. I've always played the song by ear, myself. Also I didn't know that Neil knew Phil Ochs. Phil Ochs is one of my folk heroes, and, IMHO is criminally overlooked, as well as his contributions to folk music, and the folk music scene of New York in the early to mid 1960s. Also, I didn't know that The Who or Phish covered Cinnamon Girl. I'd LOVE to hear their versions of the song some day. As I have a weakness for red headed women, I always thought that's what the song was about. Every time I perform it, I always dedicate the song to all the red headed women in the world. (Although, in my heart, there is a red headed woman that is special to me in my life, but, since we are only just friends, and out of respect for their privacy, I shall not comment further) I don't listen to the radio because it never plays what I want to hear, especially when I want to hear it, and The Drive only plays "Classic" Rock, (Whatever the fuck THAT is) and only the hits that everybody is sick and tired of, but because of this video, and the insight you gave about one of my all time favorite Neil Young songs, I might actually give your show a listen some day. Thanks for a very educational and insightful video on one of my favorite Neil Young songs, and one of my favorite Neil Young albums.😊❤🤟🤘✌👍

Fascinating. Have always loved this haunting sexy rock song. Many thanks.

Danke. Fürs Senden ❤

My favourite Neil Young album. Three obviously great songs, and as you listen to the album repeatedly, you come to appreciate all the others. The live versions with Crazy Horse (1971) are great too. One of the hopes of my life is that Neil, or a Neil Young tribute act (does one exist?) will add the much needed solo to Cinnamon Girl. Typically of his contrarian cantankerous nature, he has not done so.

Janda, You're awesome ❤

I remember meeting the guy , drummer /writer in a local club n N.Y. state .,The band was playing the song ,which was getting air play back at that time. And after the set i said something like: you do a great cover , The lead singer said ,yeah we should ,pointed to the drummer and said he wrote it.I said ,naively ,why did't you record it .Their record company gave it to the stars .on the label.Funny how history is invented.

Now the other mystery is the gal named Gail he met in a bar who wore glasses that wrote 'Like A Hurricane' about. He was extremely attracted to her but she didn't fancy him. In the 3rd verse of the studio version he sang, "You four-eyed woman you touched my lips..." instead of 'Before that moment..."

Let's get something straightened out: NY has been bashing the debut solo album so brutally and for so long that he should probably be arrested for child abuse. The much-maligned guitar over-dubs are absolutely gorgeous, especially on the most recent remaster. I adore that album!

This is the first tome I've listened to someone explaining _Cinnamon Girl_ but l had looked Jean Ray up before because the connection. Neil would've been smitten by her (He's Scorpio, she was Cancer; she died some years back) because she was a honey. And Janda you could be a Cinnamon Girl❤️

cinnamon girl was a lite skinned black girl,cinnamon like. she was a dreamer of pictures so did i and we both studied photography at columbia college,chicago,il. she was quite a groupie and ran the downtown streets at night. eventually hooking up with neal young..

At the board for no reason. Neil rocks and good video!

Nice show!

Doing a great job

It's a pity you didn't show a picture of Jean Ray! I have Jim & Jean's third album and it is wonderful.

I read that the hippies use to hang out at a place called the Cinnamon Club in La that had Gogo dancers. So much for my sources.

Brilliant podcast

There's an indy artist in Connecticut that just started doing a Neil Young solo tribute show and it's absolutely amazing how much he sounds like Neil, even on his own original music. I've never heard anyone whose voice is this close to Neil's. He just posted a video of a full performance of the show (he calls it "The Loner: The Music of Neil Young") he did at a small club in Bridgeport, CT. See what you think. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GKktfL-ThKo.html

Love neil too beautiful lady

Hello cow girl in the sand .is this place at you're command saw Neil 2 times good musician really great

Glad Neil’s wife at the time, turned him onto Devo and David Bowie, so cool! Heard not too long ago that the Cinnamon Girl was the drummer’s girlfriend at the time; her name escapes me now, of course, oh well!

I had this album on tape, copied from vinyl. I bought the cd but it is dead sounding in comparison. So I bought the 2009 remix cd but sadly its not much better. What do you all think of the 2009 cd remasters of first four albums? I was very disappointed. Neil needs Giles Martin

"A dreamer of pictures I run in the night You see us together Chasing the Moonlight With a cinnamon girl" Neil Young Pamela Courson on a "Moonlight Drive" "Let's swim to the moon, uh huh Let's climb through the tide Penetrate the evening that the City sleeps to hide Let's swim out tonight, love It's our turn to try Parked beside the ocean On our moonlight drive" Jim Morrison Hmmm! I wonder?

So legend has it that the roadies who set up the shows for CSN&Y use to blast this song while preping the sound checks before the shows and it use to piss off the rest of the group.

Interesting content for me as Neil Young fan since his early days. Good analysis. Jana i found it a little distracting in the parts you you didn’t look directly at the camera when talking.

3:15 it's 'Cowgirl' - One of the few songs where I'll allow the chance-dance rhyme. If it had come out ten years later, I would say 'overdone'.

Interesting. Love ❤ Neil

Nice, but would it kill ya to show a couple of the pictures you referenced?

Young's nebulous lyrics were infamous for his whole career.

There’s only one cowgirl in the sand.

At the 3:12 mark re: the flue, it was actually a really bad hangover as told to me by a roommate of his during this period. So a fever due to acute withdrawals.

Itt's "Down by the River", not "River". and "Cowgirl in the Sand" not "Cowgirls". Regardless, this is a great segment. Didn't know there was a double dropped-D,

The single version of Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere has a different background. None of the vocal "nah nah nah", but an instrumental backing instead.

A cinnamon girl traditionally, from the depression years that my folks grew up in, generally had to have a light/cute sprinkling of freckles on the their nose and cheeks. They were generally deep brunette. And very bloody gorgeous in that girl-next-door sort of way.