who was the song cinnamon girl written about
Cinnamon Girl The lyrics have the singer daydreaming for a girl to love, singing that he waits "between shows" for his lover.[5] Young has claimed that he wrote the song "for a city girl on peeling pavement coming at me through Phil Ochs' eyes playing finger cymbals. It was hard to explain to my wife."[3] The city girl playing finger cymbals is a reference to folk singer Jean Ray.[5] Music critic Johnny Rogan described the lyrics as "exotic and allusive without really saying anything at all."[3] Critic Toby Creswell describes the lyrics as "cryptic love lyrics" noting that they are sung "over the crunching power of Crazy Horse."[2] Critic John Mendelsohn felt the song conveyed a message of "desperation begetting brutal vindictiveness," hinted at by the "almost impenetrably subjective words" but carried strongly by the sound of Crazy Horse's "heavy, sinister accompaniment."[2] Introducing the song at a performance associated with Writer's Week at Whittier College (California) in April, 2015, Los Lobos co-founder Louie Perez said that when he first heard "Cinnamon Girl", he was sure it was about a Mexican girl.[6]