10 Greatest Unplugged Rock Songs
3. The Needle and the Damage Done - Neil Young
For years, The Needles and the Damage Done felt like the lost Neil Young song that would never see a studio release. As much as it went off as a live staple during concerts, there was no way for the tune to gel whenever Neil went in to actually cut a record. So what do you do then? Just say screw it and release a live version as is.
While most of the production behind Needle sounds more slapdash next to the rest of the songs on Harvest, it ends up feeling a lot more emotionally draining than the rest. Compared to something like Heart of Gold, this is a version of Neil that's a lot more concerned about his Crazy Horse bandmates than he probably lets on.
Since this was written when bandmate Danny Whitten was suffering from a heroin habit, it's almost like Young was trying to send a message to him through the song.
Given that Whitten would eventually die of an overdose, it just makes the lone performance of this song all the more sad, as if you're seeing Young playing by himself because he lost one of his musical soulmates. You can try to conjure up that magic in the studio, but no type of overdub can replace the real magic that comes from a guy and a guitar.