"The Needle and the Damage Done" is a song by Neil Young that describes the descent into heroin addiction of musicians he knew. It was written about the heroin use of his Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten, and previews the theme of "Tonight's the Night", a song that addresses the heroin overdose and death of Bruce Berry, a roadie for Young and his band Crazy Horse.

"The Needle and the Damage Done" first appeared on the Harvest album in 1972. The song was recorded live rather than in the studio. It appears on the compilation albums Decade and Greatest Hits. On the handwritten liner notes included in Decade, Young had this to say about the song: "I am not a preacher, but drugs killed a lot of great men."

A recording of the song from 1971 was part of the 2007 album Live at Massey Hall 1971. The album captured Young's introduction of his song thus:

Ever since I left Canada, about five years ago or so... and moved down south... found out a lot of things that I didn't know when I left. Some of 'em are good, and some of 'em are bad. Got to see a lot of great musicians before they happened... before they became famous... y'know, when they were just gigging. Five and six sets a night... things like that. And I got to see a lot of, um, great musicians who nobody ever got to see. For one reason or another. But... strangely enough, the real good ones... that you never got to see was... 'cause of, ahhm, heroin. An' that started happening over an' over. Then it happened to someone that everyone knew about. So I just wrote a little song.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Needle_and_the_Damage_Done

The Needle And The Damage Done

I caught you knockin'
 at my cellar door
 I love you, baby,
 can I have some more
 Ooh, ooh, the damage done.
 
I hit the city and
 I lost my band
 I watched the needle
 take another man
 Gone, gone, the damage done.
 
I sing the song
 because I love the man
 I know that some
 of you don't understand
 Milk-blood
 to keep from running out.
 
I've seen the needle
 and the damage done
 A little part of it in everyone
 But every junkie's
 like a settin' sun.

-- song written by Neil Young

Having known a fair amount of heroin addicts intimately & being a prescription drug junkie myself I hear the message. But the stuff is just so damn good. However, if you can live without it, do so. 

When I make one of my periodic trips back up to San Francisco I often go out to my old neighborhood where I once lived with a lovely woman--we'll call her M.--who had substance abuse problems as did I. Her life took a bad turn when she started using heroin eventually marrying the guy who turned her onto it. She knew him before she ever met me. A white-collar junkie,

As for Ms. M. another one who insisted I didn't love her after 10 years of being togethered, still waters run deep & being that way as well as being a Brit & going through the beginnings of menopause, my hotblooded Mediterranean type found it hard to elicit communication at what were very crucial times. Of course I was young & arrogant; a prince of the city strutting my obnoxious conceited narcissistic self around North Beach & elsewhere. But youth & beauty pass all too quick. Especially when the things we do ravage our bodies & souls.

Traversing the old Outer Richmond  avenues on sunny windy days with high metallic blue skies, the Pacific crashing the shore,  I get weak in the limbs, feel a deep emptiness in the belly; indeed, you can't go home again. I mentioned to a friend that when I went back there--what with all the changes & no one I knew around any longer--I felt very much like a ghost. My buddy Cowboy Bob considered a moment then said to me: "Jay...you are a ghost..." Maybe he's right.