In 1973, Neil Young and his band entered S.I.R. rehearsal studios in Los Angeles and recorded what became Tonight’s The Night. Apart from being a rehearsal facility, the studio also rented equipment to musicians and was managed by Ken Berry, the brother of Young’s longtime roadie, Bruce, who had recently died from a heroin overdose.
Videos by American Songwriter
The album marks the third installment of Young’s so-called “Ditch Trilogy” and was recorded as a way to heal from the loss of Bruce Berry, Danny Whitten, and others in Young’s orbit who had died from addiction. Tonight’s The Night wasn’t released until 1975, and now, 50 years later, let’s revisit three emotionally raw tracks to celebrate its anniversary.
“Tonight’s The Night”
The album opens with the title track and tells the story of Bruce Berry. His death happened only a few months after the death of Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten. Anxiety over widespread fame from the commercial success of “Heart Of Gold” may have sent Young into the “ditch,” but the number of friends dying from drug overdoses was mounting. A tragedy he’d already addressed in “The Needle And The Damage Done” from Harvest.
Young’s repeated refrain in “Tonight’s The Night” echoes the seemingly endless overdoses among his friends and fellow musicians. Mainstream audiences may have misunderstood Young’s sparse follow-ups to Harvest. Yet this jam proves Young created some of his best work once he’d veered off the main road. “Tonight’s The Night” is both a celebration and a mourning of lost friends.
“Speakin’ Out”
Nils Lofgren joined Young’s band as a teenager, playing piano and guitar. He first appeared on After The Gold Rush and has since become a longtime member of Crazy Horse. He mostly plays piano on Tonight’s The Night. But for the tunes where Young sits at the piano, Lofgren switches to guitar, mimicking the way Bruce Berry would play.
“Speakin’ Out” sounds like the sort of late-night jam Berry might have initiated after the gig ended, and the crowd had gone home. When a member of the road crew grabs a guitar, and as Young explains in the title track, sings“in a shaky voice that was as real as the day was long.”
“Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown”
You cannot mention Whitten without mentioning “Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown”. The live track was recorded with Crazy Horse at the Fillmore East and features Whitten on vocals and guitar. Elliot Roberts, Young’s manager at the time, had discovered the live recording of the song while gathering tracks to help Young complete Tonight’s The Night. Feeling stuck, Young had already moved on to the next album, On The Beach, the second of the Ditch Trilogy.
In 1975, Young told Cameron Crowe in an interview for Rolling Stone, “Tonight’s The Night is like an OD letter. The whole thing is about life, dope, and death. When we played that music, we were all thinking of Danny Whitten and Bruce Berry, two close members of our unit lost to junk overdoses.”
Housing a concert track between live studio recordings only added to the patchwork nature of the album. Reprise Records thought it would end Young’s career. Though, in hindsight, the track listing makes perfect sense. An “OD letter,” fueled by grief, must include the messiness of a rambling rock and roll band. It needed to be as raw as possible.
Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.