Song Of The Day 3/2/2013: Crazy Horse - "I Don't Want To Talk About It"

I'm reading Neil Young's autobiography Waging Heavy Peace right now.* I'm sort of ambling through it, even though it's a fast read, mainly because I'm juggling through about five different books at the moment. It's a Kindle Fire thing; that device doesn't cure one's ADD so much as it directs it. However, in a spirit I'm sure Neil would appreciate, my copy of Waging Heavy Peace is a good old-fashioned hardbound. My son John is particularly enamored by the portrait of Neil on the back cover, from early in Neil's career. Looking at it makes him curiously happy. The force is strong in this one.

Anyway, Neil takes a few moments to memorialize Danny Whitten, the Crazy Horse guitarist who died in 1972, and was one of the muses for Young's most troubled album, Tonight's The Night. Neil marveled at the high, rusty vulnerability of Whitten's singing, and in a mild surprise, his dancing abilities as well. Crazy Horse made a handful of albums on their own, and Whitten's "I Don't Want To Talk About It" is arguably their most famous song that doesn't involve Neil. Rod Stewart had a hit with it. It shows a lot of what people seemed to love about him. I wonder if the people who were close to him hear it when they think of him.

(*By the way, so far this year I've carried dueling obsessions with two veteran artists: Neil Young and David Bowie. The Bowie thing is obviously because of his surprise comeback album. The Young thing is probably because of this book. Perhaps they should duet. It'd be just for my amusement. I'll make some calls.)