David Crosby: 20 essential songs from the folk-rock legend (2023)

"I have tomaking the most of every minute I have"david crosby said the rolling stonein 2018. "Wouldn't you?" He was in his third or fourth life at this point: the loud-voiced, long-haired, argumentative, blissful American original with whom he invented folk-rock.die byrdsMid-'60s, to redefine supergroup a few years later with Crosby, Stills and Nash, and remain unquestionably himself through all the ensuing decades of glorious harmonies and outrageous opinions. In his last few years on this planet, Croz seemed to be reborn, making some of his best records and sounding humble in interviews like this one in 2018.His death at the age of 81.leaves an irreplaceable place in music. Here are their best songs (check out our Spotify playlisthere).

"Gira, gira, gira" (1965)

Crosby didn't write or provide lead vocals for the chart-topping version of Pete Seeger's Bible-based folk classic The Byrds, but he did arrange the unforgettable vocal harmonies as he has throughout his tenure with the band. band. It's impossible to imagine this song without Crosby's high parts floating above McGuinn's lead vocals in the chorus, a sound that would inspire countless overtone-rich folk and rock acts for decades to come.— BH

"Renaissance Table" (1967)

Of all the original Byrds, Crosby has always been the most modern and hippie, from his layers to his ever-longer tresses. His open moods, ethereal melodies, and elliptical lyrics of his also captured that vibe, as heard on this ode to a land of "cinnamon and spice" with a "kaleidoscope of colors."younger than yesterday. This was inspired by the Los Angeles Renaissance fairs of the time. "These were the first big gatherings of hippies," he said in the notes to his box.Trip, "even before the Be-Ins." That song, she said, "gave you an idea of ​​what it was like."— DB

"They're All Burnt Out" (1967)

Amid psychedelic chord cycles, Crosby penned lyrics about coming to terms with injuries for this contemplative deep cut. "Everybody's been burned before," the song begins. "Everybody Knows the Pain" Crosby had written the tune, whose jazzy vocals allowed for an avant-garde guitar solo, a few years before he joined the group, and years later he still recognized it as a revolutionary composition, calling it "the first really acceptable". . song.", which I wrote "in aInterview 1995. "'Everybody's Been Burned' was the most representative of what was to become my style," he said in 1984, "pleasant changes, unusual feel and flavor, plus fine words."KG.

"Triad" (1968)

Crosby's relentless drive to take the Byrds to new heights, so effective when he led his bandmates Coltrane and Raga for "Eight Miles High" in 1966, was pushed to its limits two years later with this heartfelt trio proposition. . "I love you too, and I really don't understand," he muttered to the band's smoky burn, "why can't we just carry on as a trio?" Those words were bold enough to get him dropped from the band in the fall of 1968, after Croz campaigned unsuccessfully to have the song recorded.The infamous Byrd brothersamid escalating conflicts with bandmates Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman. (Jefferson Airplane, always ready for a provocative gesture, continuedcover it up; The Byrds' original studio recording of "Triad" was not released as a bonus track until years later.) "At least one group of people was very upset about that song," Crosby said.saying rolling rocksBen Fong-Torres in 1970 after happily ending up at CSN. "This band is not trapped behind this song at all, as they have had similar experiences."— S.V.L.

Ginebra (1969)

Imagine it's 1969 and you just bought CSN's debut album. It begins with the seven-minute "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," followed by the upbeat "Marrakesh Express." But from the third track everything slows down. It is the ballad "Guinnevere" and you have entered mysticism. Croz himself knew the song was killer, describing the green eyes and golden hair of the legendary Queen of England over an almost haunting beat. Eventually he revealed to us that he wrote the song about three different real women, not mythical ones. One of them was his partner Christine Gail Hinton, who died in a tragic accident that same year; another was Joni Mitchell. "And the other one is someone I can't tell," he said.saying. "It could be my best song."- BIN.

"Long Gone" (1969)

At the end of the turbulent 1960s, Crosby was still clutching the decade. The smooth and elegiac "Long Time Gone" from CSN's first album reflects his mood. "I wrote ['Long Time Gone'] right after Bobby Kennedy was assassinated," he said.Rolling Stonein 2008. “It was the result of their loss, the loss of John Kennedy and Martin Luther King. I started to feel overwhelmed. It seemed like a ball vote. It seemed that no matter how good we could find one person to stand up as an inspiration and leader for good, that somehow the other side would succeed by simply taking them down." But Crosby didn't feel completely helpless. In the song's third verse, he demands, "Speak up, you gotta speak out against the madness/ You gotta speak your mind, if you dare."KG.

"Deja vu" (1970)

Over 50 years ago, long before thatolivia rodrigooBeyoncéhe felt some eerie familiarity in the back of his mind - there was this beautyCSNYtheme song. When the band began collecting material for the album, Croz was struggling with Hinton's death and was too devastated to write anything new. So he gave his bandmates this jewel, which he wrote after a strange ride on a friend's sailboat. "It's like he's done this before," he told CSNY biographer David Browne. “I knew a lot more about it than I should have known. I immediately knew how to sail a ship. It's not instinctive. It doesn't make sense... I felt then and now that I had been here before. I don't believe in God, but I think the Buddhists got it right: we recycle."- BIN.

"I Almost Cut My Hair" (1970)

One of the harrowing favorites of fans ofAlready seenit might never have been on the album if David Crosby hadn't campaigned for its inclusion. "Stephen [Stills]...didn't want to let him go because he thought he was a bad voice", Crosbysaying Rolling Stonein 1970. "But I felt what I wanted to say when I sang it." What Crosby felt while writing the song was a mix of late-1960s disillusionment following the RFK assassination and growing alienation as the death toll in Vietnam mounted. 53 years later, Crosby's righteous anger still resonates.— J. B.

"Lee's Shore" (1971)

The first time fans heard Crosby's ballad hewrote"about a 20-year love affair with a schooner Alden" ranfour way street, CSNY's multi-platinum live album from 1971. "Sailing is a mystical experience for me," Crosby said of the acoustic lullaby. "It takes me out of the whole scene." Though never one of the band's biggest hits, the song became a staple of Crosby's sets for decades to come, a rousing moment of impressionistic natural, two-part harmony (if performed with Graham Nash). ) and the future date: "Maybe I'll see you," Crosby sang. "The next quiet place."— J. B.

„Cowboy Movie“ (1971)

Backed by three members of the Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh and Mickey Hart, this excellent song stands out from Crosby's classic solo debut.If only I could remember my name..., is one of his hardest-hitting, hardest-paced moments on record. "It's the CSNY story, but it's told like a cowboy movie," he said.saying Rolling StoneIt's Andy Greene. “Obviously, the recording of the album fell through. We played it several times. That time you hear on the record is pretty spectacular. There was very good chemistry between Garcia and Lesh and I... We had good chemistry. It was loose and funky and it just felt right."— BH

"Tamalpai's High (About 3)" (1971)

Crosby couldn't find the right words to describe the mood of "Tamalpais High (at 3)," the title of which refers to a Bay Area high school that opens around 3 p.m. – So he sang jazzy stacks of “doo doo doo” over bluesy guitar and pounding cymbals. "I just did it the way I wanted, using my voice as a horn section," he said.Rolling Stonein 2021. “There are no rules for me, so you can do things like that. I don't know if anyone else would have done that. But I loved it". At one point, he had a girlfriend who attended the school, which explains the upbeat mood of the track. "Tamalpais High is not about getting high, and it's not about the mountain," he said, referring to Mount Tamalpais in Marin County. But is pretty.- KG.

"Laughter" (1971)

In "Laughing", Crosby sings about false prophets who claim to speak to God. "I thought I met a man who said he knew a man who knew what was going on," she sings. "I was wrong / Just another stranger I met." The idea for the song came to him from his friend George Harrison, who Crosby feared was recorded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. "I wanted to tell him, 'Be skeptical… Any time someone tells you they talked to God right after breakfast this morning, they're probably making you stupid," he mused.Rolling Stone in 2021. “That's what I wanted to say. But I was a chicken because I was George." The last line of the song, "I was a mistake/Just a boy who laughs in the sun," had poetic meaning for Crosby: "A boy who laughs in the sun knows better that God than he." I." -KG.

"The Song of the Wall" (1972)

As he proudly explains, no one specializes in songs about coping with life, making mistakes, and groping in the dark like Crosby, or as he puts it on this track.Graham Nash/David Crosby, "Stumbling half blind/And dry as the wind/That hits you and leaves you behind/Lying in the sand." With the help of members of the Dead and Nash, "The Wall Song" had a more aggressive beat than some of his other songs at the time, even if it clearly hinted at the turmoil he felt following the death of Christine Gail Hinton.— DB

"Page 43" (1972)

Crosby's exhortation to seize the day, "Page 43," has everything a gospel song needs: a biblical message about practicing kindness, weird metaphors about finding silver and gold in a rainbow, lots of wine in the third verse, just that everything is mundane. When Crosby sang, "Here on page 43 it says you must grab it / Or you'll find you missed it," he was saying in general terms, joking that the page might as well be from the Old Testament or Zap Comix. . But he had no problem praising a sacred inspiration for the theme: "I wrote it in the master cabin of my ship in Sausalito," he recalls in the book.Composers on composition, "and was musically influenced by James Taylor."KG.

"Take Me" (1975)

On "Carry Me", a track from Crosby and Nash's 1975 album,wind on the water, Crosby reflects on the death of his mother. "She lay there in white sheets, waiting to die," she sings. "She said if you'd just reach under that bed / and loosen those weights, sure she could fly." But for all the sadness in his voice, there is never despair, and his and Nash's voices rise in harmony. In the chorus, she asks him to use her. The song became a live classic for Crosby and his bandmates. "No matter how many times we sing these songs, eventually our emotions take over and, brother, let me tell you, I create something sacred," Graham Nash wrote in his Carry Me memoir.wild stories. "Whatever it is, Croz and I have it in common, whether it's intuition, tone of voice, or something much deeper and indefinable."KG.

"Homecoming Through the Haze" (1975)

Depending on when you asked, this song was either about the fall of Los Angeles or about CSNY's first showdown with the haters back then ("first winter rain/first fall from grace"). But with Crosby playing a rare piano part, it was one of his most introspective songs by any means, with an anthemic melody that felt charged and beautiful at the same time. CSNY first tried it during their failed '74 sessions, but then he and Nash, with guest Carole King, recorded the final version for them.wind on the water — DB

"Captain of the Shadows" (1978)

The opening track from the 1978s.CSN- The first album by Crosby, Stills and Nash as a trio since their 1969 debut - combines a graceful arrangement and sophisticated chords that hinted at Crosby's love for the then-emerging jazz-rock of Steely Dan, with harmonies as rich as those he recorded the band. He wrote the metaphorical lyrics in a single outburst on a boat trip, and the song as a whole was strong enough to almost draw Neil Young back into the band.— BH

„Footprints in the Dust" (1989)

After spending time in prison for drugs in the mid-'80s, Crosby slowly began to reunite with his muse, like this largely forgotten track from hisoh yes i canthe album testifies to it. What sounds like a dinner conversation between upbeat or grumpy people turns out to be your own internal dialogue. With guitarist Michael Hedges embellishing the tune with his own sonic brilliance, "Tracks in the Dust" was one of the first signs that Crosby was ready for a post-crisis and addiction comeback that would, surprisingly, last several decades. . .— DB

"Dreams for Him" ​​(1999)

In "Dream for Him," Crosby comes to terms with bringing new life to a cruel world and wonders how he can explain death and misery to his son, Django, without lying or sugarcoating. "I want a world where he can tell her the truth about everything from Jesus to John Wilkes Booth," he sings on jazz guitar. "As they lie in the House and the Senate / They only come close to the truth when it suits them." In the background, his CSNY bandmates sing the title of the song that was featured in his.ExpectAlbum. “No one I know who has children hasn't asked these questions: How do I explain to my child the insanity of human behavior around the world? … How do you explain that one day you will leave?he said once. "This is kind of hard." —KG.

"Things We Do for Love" (2016)

Crosby wrote Things We Do For Love for his wife Jan Dance, whom he married in 1987 and who would remain by his side until his death. It's a tender and subtly beautiful ballad that focuses on the little moments in a relationship, more of a meditative tone poem than a bubbly Valentine's Day. "At first it's fun/But love is long," Croz sings. "A Little Every Day / That's How It's Built." For Croz, the song emerged as part of a fertile songwriting period late in his career. "I can't explain why that would happen other than I'm happy."he said thatWall Street Journalat that time. "I'm a very lucky guy. That could be the key to the whole thing."