Neil Young has admitted having his lyrics quoted by Kurt Cobain in the Nirvana frontman’s suicide note had a profound effect on him.
When Cobain tragically took his own life in April 1994, his suicide note was found to contain the line ‘It is better to burn out than to fade away’, which forms a part of the lyrics for Young’s classic rock anthem ‘Hey, Hey, My, My (Into The Black)‘.
And writing in his new autobiography Waging Heavy Peace, Young explains the emotions he felt upon learning the news. “When he died and left that note, it struck a deep chord inside of me,” he writes. “It fucked with me.”
Later, Young also reveals he had attempted to contact Cobain not long before his death in attempt to offer advice to the troubled star. “I, coincidentally, had been trying to reach him,” he continues. “I wanted to talk to him. Tell him only to play when he felt like it.”