Tonight's the Night (1975)

Tonight's the Night is the sixth studio album by Canadian-American songwriter Neil Young. It was recorded in August–September 1973, mostly on August 26, but its release was delayed until June 1975. It peaked at No. 25 on the Billboard 200. The album is the third and final of the so-called "Ditch Trilogy" of albums that Young released following the major success of 1972's Harvest, whereupon the scope of his success and acclaim became so difficult for Young to handle that he subsequently experienced alienation from his music and career.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 331 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, moving up to number 330 in the list's 2012 edition and climbing further to number 302 in the 2020 update.

Background

Tonight's the Night is a direct expression of grief. Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten and Young's friend and roadie Bruce Berry had both died of drug overdoses in the months before the songs were written. Bruce Berry was the brother of both Jan Berry of Jan and Dean fame and of Ken Berry, owner of S.I.R. studios where the album was recorded. Berry leveraged his music industry connections to work as a roadie for both Young and Stephen Stills during his Manassas tour. Berry died of a heroin overdose in June 1973. Danny Whitten was a singer, songwriter and guitarist in the band Crazy Horse, with whom Young had recorded two albums. He died in November 1972 the night after Young fired him during rehearsals for the Time Fades Away tour due to his inability to play. The sessions were the first time the remaining members of Crazy Horse had played together since the passing of Whitten. In 1975, Young explained to Bud Scoppa of Creem magazine how the loss was both personal and professional: "At S.I.R. we were playing, and these two cats who had been a close part of our unit – of our force and our energy – were both gone to junk. Both of them O.D.'d, and we're playing in a place where we're getting together to make up for what is gone and try to make ourselves stronger and continue. Because we thought we had it with Danny Whitten – at least I did. I thought that I had a combination of people that could be as effective as groups like the Rolling Stones had been. Just for rhythm, which I'm really into. I haven't had that rhythm for a while and that's why I haven't been playing my guitar; because without that behind me I won't play. I mean you can't get free enough. So I've had to play the rhythm myself ever since Danny died".

Tonight's the Night was not the first of Young's work to concern the dangers of heroin and the toll it had taken on the musicians around him. "The Needle and the Damage Done" from the album Harvest addresses the topic directly, and was partly inspired by Whitten's struggles. The song was also inspired by several other artists Young had seen fall to heroin, as he explained to a January 1971 audience: "I got to see to see a lot of great musicians before they happened. Before they became famous. When they were just gigging. Five and six sets a night. Things like that. I got to see a lot of great musicians who nobody got to see for one reason or another. But strangely enough the real good ones that you never got to see was because of heroin. And that started happening over and over. And then it happened to some that everybody knew about."

The title track "Tonight's the Night" mentions Berry by name, while Whitten's guitar and vocal work highlight "Come on Baby Let's Go Downtown", taken from a March 1970 Crazy Horse concert at the Fillmore East. The song later appeared, unedited, on a live album from the same concerts, Live at the Fillmore East, with Whitten credited as the sole author. Nils Lofgren's guitar parts on the album are intentionally played in a style reminiscent of how Berry would play: "When I use Nils, like on Tonight's the Night I used him for piano, and I played piano on a couple of songs and he played guitar. In the songs where he plays guitar he's actually playing as Bruce Berry, the way Bruce Berry played guitar. The thing is, I'm talking about him and you can hear him. So Nils just fits in – he plays that hot rock & roll style guitar. He was really into it."

The band assembled for the album was known as the Santa Monica Flyers. It consisted of Young, Ben Keith, Nils Lofgren, and the Crazy Horse rhythm section of Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina. Young had previously recorded with Talbot and Molina on Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, with Lofgren on After the Gold Rush and with Keith on Harvest. "Lookout Joe" dates from an earlier session with his band the Stray Gators, with whom he had recorded Harvest. "Borrowed Tune" was recorded solo at Young's ranch after the album's sessions.

Writing

The title track "Tonight's the Night" was written in Young's head, "without a guitar: I just heard the bass line." Its lyrics starkly address Berry's death.