addicted. Although he participated in the early stages of Young's next solo effort, After the Gold Rush, Whitten and the rest of Crazy Horse were dismissed about halfway through the recording sessions, in part because of Whitten's heavy drug use. Whitten performs guitar and vocals on "Oh, Lonesome Me", "I Believe in You", and "When You Dance I Can Really Love". He was also brought in at the end of the sessions to provide harmony vocals on "Tell Me Why", "Only Love Can Break Your Heart", "Cripple Creek Ferry", "Southern Man" and "Till the Morning Comes". Young wrote "The Needle and the Damage Done" during this time, with direct references to Whitten's addiction and its role in the destruction of his talent. Acquiring a recording contract and expanded to a quintet in 1970, Crazy Horse recorded its first group-only album, released in early 1971. The debut album included five songs by Whitten, with two standout tracks being a song co-written by Young that would show up later on a Young album, "(Come On Baby Let's Go) Downtown", and Whitten's most famous composition, "I Don't Want to Talk About It", a heartfelt ballad that would receive many cover versions and offer the promise of unfulfilled talent. Death Whitten continued to drift, his personal life ruled almost totally by drugs. He was dismissed from Crazy Horse by Talbot and Molina, who used replacements on the band's two albums of 1972. In April of that year, after receiving a call from Young to play rhythm guitar as a member of The Stray Gators on the upcoming tour behind Young's Harvest album, Whitten showed up for rehearsals at Young's home outside San Francisco. While the rest of the group hammered out arrangements, Whitten lagged behind, figuring out the rhythm parts, though never in sync with the rest of the group. Young, who had more at stake after the success of After the Gold Rush and Harvest, fired him from the band on November 18, 1972. He gave Whitten $50 and a plane ticket back to Los Angeles. Later that night Whitten died from ingesting a combination of diazepam, which he was taking for severe knee arthritis, and alcohol, which he was using to try to get over his heroin addiction. In 1973, Charles Perry of Rolling Stone reported that Whitten died of a methaqualone overdose. Neil Young recalled, "We were rehearsing with him and