I always used to equate David Crosby with the Lion in The Wizard of Oz. Sadly, David Crosby died yesterday at the age of 81. He will be missed, but he left a wonderful legacy of his work. Naturally I knew he was one of the founders of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, but I did not know, until I began working on this post last night, that David Crosby helped create the Byrds! Mr. Crosby was inducted twice into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, as a founding member of the Byrds and as a founder of CSN&Y.
David Crosby’s history — both musical and personal — are long and filled with twists and turns, so I shan’t even begin to try to write a brief synopsis here, for I’ve read three articles about him in the last hour and cannot even get my head around it all. I’m sure you’ll be able to find tons of biographical info in these days after his death, plus he has written two autobiographies: Since Then: How I Survived Everything and Lived to Tell About It and Long Time Gone: the autobiography of David Crosby.
For today, though, I would like to just focus on his music … so here are just a few of my favourites, with links to my previous posts about each in case you’d like to learn more about the song or see the lyrics.
A friend and I were having a conversation about how far too often we, as parents, instill our own bigotries and hatreds into our children, often without even realizing it. Religion is guilty of creating so many phobias in children that I would need some extra fingers to count them. My proposal is that we expose our children to all different sorts of people at a very young age. Blacks, Hispanics, Muslims, LGBT people … and let them see that these are just people, no different than they themselves in the ways that matter. If we do this, then we raise young adults who are more caring, more accepting of ‘other’ than past generations. We break that cycle of homophobia, racism, misogyny, Islamophobia, and much more. As I was chatting via email with this friend on this topic, a song title came to me … this one … Teach Your Children, by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.
Graham Nash wrote this song when he was a member of The Hollies, though it was never recorded by that group. The lyrics deal with the often-difficult relationship he had with his father, who spent time in prison, but they also speak to the way we interact with and accept others.
Shortly after writing this, Nash visited an art gallery and saw two photographs that crystallized the meaning of the song: Diane Arbus’ “Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park” and Arnold Newman’s portrait of German industrialist Alfried Krupp. Says Nash:
“I put the ‘Hand Grenade’ photograph next to a picture of Krupp, who was the German arms magnate whose company was probably responsible for millions of deaths. It was an eerie photograph, a portrait, and the lighting is weird and his eyes are dark – a great image. And looking at them together I began to realize that what I’d just written [‘Teach Your Children’] was actually true, that if we don’t start teaching our children a better way of dealing with each other we’re f–ked and humanity itself is in great danger.”
This song wasn’t wildly popular, although it reached #8 in Canada and #16 in the U.S. but did not chart in the UK or much of anywhere else. Although never one of my top ten favourites, I did like the song, but was completely unaware of the background (or most of the lyrics) until tonight.
Teach Your Children
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
You, who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so, become yourself
Because the past is just a goodbye
Teach your children well
Their father’s hell did slowly go by
And feed them on your dreams
The one they pick’s the one you’ll know by
Don’t you ever ask them, “Why?”
If they told you, you would cry
So just look at them and sigh
And know they love you
And you (Can you hear?) of tender years (And do you care?)
Can’t know the fears (And can you see?)
That your elders grew by (We must be free)
And so, please help (To teach your children)
Them with your youth (What you believe in)
They seek the truth (Make a world)
Before they can die (That we can live in)
And teach your parents well
Their children’s hell will slowly go by
And feed them on your dreams
The one they pick’s the one you’ll know by
Don’t you ever ask them, “Why?
If they told you, you will cry
So just look at them and sigh
And know they love you
A few days ago, someone mentioned this song and it has stuck in my head ever since. I didn’t think I had already played it, but it turns out I did … just over a year ago in March 2020. I think this is especially relevant and timely since there is currently a bill before Parliament in the United Kingdom that would, among other things, give police the right to bar unauthorized encampments and detain protesters if gatherings are deemed a “public nuisance.” The new legislation, pending in Parliament, could also impose noise limits and set start and finish times on demonstrations. There have been numerous protests against this bill, and last weekend at least 26 protestors were detained by police. Seems this song never loses its relevance, eh?
Written by Buffalo Springfield guitarist Stephen Stills, later of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, this song was not about anti-war gatherings, but rather youth gatherings protesting anti-loitering laws, and the closing of the West Hollywood nightclub Pandora’s Box. Stills was not there when they closed the club, but had heard about it from his bandmates.
In the book Neil Young: Long May You Run: The Illustrated History, Stephen Stills tells the story of this song’s origin:
“I had had something kicking around in my head. I wanted to write something about the kids that were on the line over in Southeast Asia that didn’t have anything to do with the device of this mission, which was unraveling before our eyes. Then we came down to Sunset from my place on Topanga with a guy – I can’t remember his name – and there’s a funeral for a bar, one of the favorite spots for high school and UCLA kids to go and dance and listen to music.
[Officials] decided to call out the official riot police because there’s three thousand kids sort of standing out in the street; there’s no looting, there’s no nothing. It’s everybody having a hang to close this bar. A whole company of black and white LAPD in full Macedonian battle array in shields and helmets and all that, and they’re lined up across the street, and I just went ‘Whoa! Why are they doing this?’ There was no reason for it. I went back to Topanga, and that other song turned into ‘For What It’s Worth,’ and it took as long to write as it took me to settle on the changes and write the lyrics down. It all came as a piece, and it took about fifteen minutes.”
Buffalo Springfield was the band’s first album, and this song was not originally included on it. After For What It’s Worth became a hit single, it replaced Baby Don’t Scold Me on re-issues of the album.
For What It’s Worth Buffalo Springfield
There’s something happening here
But what it is ain’t exactly clear
There’s a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it’s time we stop
Children, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down?
There’s battle lines being drawn
Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong
Young people speaking’ their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind
It’s time we stop
Hey, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down?
What a field day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly saying, “hooray for our side”
It’s time we stop
Hey, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down?
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you’re always afraid
Step out of line, the men come and take you away
We better stop
Hey, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down?
We better stop
Hey, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down?
We better stop
Now, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down?
We better stop
Children, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down?
Writer/s: Stephen Stills Publisher: Warner Chappell Music, Inc. Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind
Had I remembered the all-important date of May 4th, this is the song I would have played yesterday, on the 50th anniversary of the brutal slaying of four students by National Guardsmen on the campus of Kent State University on 04 May 1970. I did not remember until Jeff reminded me with his post yesterday afternoon, so I am one day late with this song.
Neil Young wrote Ohio shortly after seeing a news report on the tragedy, and it was released by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young just 10 days after the shootings.
The Kent State shootings had a profound effect on some of the students who later became prominent musicians. Chrissie Hynde was a student at the time, and eventually formed The Pretenders. Mark Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale were also on campus, and after the shootings, they developed the band Devo based on the concept of “De-Evolution,” meaning the human race was regressing. Said Casale …
“It refocused me entirely. I don’t think I would have done Devo without it. It was the deciding factor that made me live and breathe this idea and make it happen. In Chrissie Hynde’s case, I’m sure it was a very powerful single event that was traumatic enough to form her sensibility and account for a lot of her anger.”
Mothersbaugh added, “It was the first time I’d heard a song about something I’d been a participant in. It effected us. It was part of our life.”
This song became a protest anthem as Americans became fed up with the war in Vietnam. Providing a firsthand account of the shootings and the effect of this song, Alan Canfora relates:
“On May 4, 1970, I was waving a black protest flag as a symbol of my anger and despair 10 days after I attended the funeral of my 19-year-old friend killed in Vietnam. I was about 250 feet away from the kneeling, aiming guardsmen from Troop G – the death squad – minutes before they marched away up a hillside. They fired 67 shots from the hilltop during 13 seconds of deadly gunfire, mostly from powerful M1 rifles. I was shot through my right wrist. I survived because I jumped behind the only tree in the direct line of gunfire. About a week later, I was riding in the Ohio countryside with other Kent State massacre survivors when WMMS radio played the song ‘Ohio’ for the first time. We were deeply moved and inspired by that great anti-war anthem.”
Ohio Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Tin soldiers and Nixon’s comin’
We’re finally on our own
This summer I hear the drummin’
Four dead in Ohio
Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are gunning us down
Should have been done long ago
What if you knew her and
Found her dead on the ground?
How can you run when you know?
Na na-na-na, na-na na-na
Na na-na-na, na-na na
Na na-na-na, na-na na-na
Na na-na-na, na-na na
Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago
What if you knew her and
Found her dead on the ground?
How can you run when you know?
Tin soldiers and Nixon’s comin’
We’re finally on our own
This summer I hear the drummin’
Four dead in Ohio
Four dead in Ohio (Four dead)
Four dead in Ohio (Four)
Four dead in Ohio (How many?)
Four dead in Ohio (How many more?)
Four dead in Ohio (Why?)
Four dead in Ohio (Oh!)
Four dead in Ohio (Four)
Four dead in Ohio (Why?)
Four dead in Ohio (Why?)
Last week, when Jolly had gone AWOL and I had to settle for a few cartoons on the ‘Jolly Monday’ post, one of the memes I posted was this …
Well, as you might imagine, the song by Buffalo Springfield has been reverberating within the confines of my skull ever since.
We had some fun last week with songs that were … just for fun. Tonight feels more … introspective, though … maybe time to get back to reality? This song … listen to the lyrics and tell me it couldn’t have been written just yesterday?
Written by Buffalo Springfield guitarist Stephen Stills, later of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, this song was not about anti-war gatherings, but rather youth gatherings protesting anti-loitering laws, and the closing of the West Hollywood nightclub Pandora’s Box. Stills was not there when they closed the club, but had heard about it from his bandmates.
In the book Neil Young: Long May You Run: The Illustrated History, Stephen Stills tells the story of this song’s origin:
“I had had something kicking around in my head. I wanted to write something about the kids that were on the line over in Southeast Asia that didn’t have anything to do with the device of this mission, which was unraveling before our eyes. Then we came down to Sunset from my place on Topanga with a guy – I can’t remember his name – and there’s a funeral for a bar, one of the favorite spots for high school and UCLA kids to go and dance and listen to music.
[Officials] decided to call out the official riot police because there’s three thousand kids sort of standing out in the street; there’s no looting, there’s no nothing. It’s everybody having a hang to close this bar. A whole company of black and white LAPD in full Macedonian battle array in shields and helmets and all that, and they’re lined up across the street, and I just went ‘Whoa! Why are they doing this?’ There was no reason for it. I went back to Topanga, and that other song turned into ‘For What It’s Worth,’ and it took as long to write as it took me to settle on the changes and write the lyrics down. It all came as a piece, and it took about fifteen minutes.”
Buffalo Springfield was the band’s first album, and this song was not originally included on it. After For What It’s Worth became a hit single, it replaced Baby Don’t Scold Me on re-issues of the album.
For What It’s Worth Buffalo Springfield
There’s something happening here
But what it is ain’t exactly clear
There’s a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it’s time we stop
Children, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down?
There’s battle lines being drawn
Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong
Young people speaking’ their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind
It’s time we stop
Hey, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down?
What a field day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly saying, “hooray for our side”
It’s time we stop
Hey, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down?
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you’re always afraid
Step out of line, the men come and take you away
We better stop
Hey, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down?
We better stop
Hey, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down?
We better stop
Now, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down?
We better stop
Children, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down?
Writer/s: Stephen Stills Publisher: Warner Chappell Music, Inc. Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind
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