Young composed the song on November 12, 1964—his 19th birthday—at the Victoria Hotel in Fort William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay), where he had been touring with his Winnipeg band the Squires.

The first formal release was a recording of the song made on November 10, 1968, as part of a live performance at Canterbury House in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The most recent live version is on the 2022 first release of his "Official Bootleg Series" Royce Hall recorded January 30, 1971.

In a concert at the Albert Hall in London on October 29, 1970,[3] Joni Mitchell, who was already friends with Young by the time he wrote this song, introduced her song "The Circle Game" with this speech: In February 1971 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, Young spoke at length about the lyrics.

He then continues with the "worst verse", about being "underneath the stairs... And [...] giving' back some glares, To the people that you met, And it's your first cigarette".