RIP David Crosby.
You gave me my favourite song of all time. pic.twitter.com/OVUJdl7VYx— Ron Baumann (@DocB__) January 19, 2023
Thing about David Crosby: He always gave the impression that he actually liked women. A rare quality, among ‘rock stars’…
Singer, songwriter and guitarist co-founded The Byrds and supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash https://t.co/06LBm2vaYB
— The Guardian (@guardian) January 19, 2023
… The singer, guitarist and songwriter was part of the original lineup of the Byrds and appeared on their first five albums, including the 1965 hit cover of Bob Dylan’s Mr Tambourine Man.
He also co-founded the folk rock supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash along with fellow musicians Stephen Stills and Graham Nash. They later added Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young to the lineup.
In a statement to Variety, his widow Jan Dance said: “It is with great sadness after a long illness, that our beloved David (Croz) Crosby has passed away. He was lovingly surrounded by his wife and soulmate Jan and son Django…
The son of Oscar-winning cinematography Floyd Crosby, David Crosby pursued a career in music after flunking school in Los Angeles.
Crosby joined the Byrds in 1964, but was dismissed from the band three years later. In 2019 documentary Remember My Name, Byrds member Roger McGuinn described Crosby and his on-stage political rants as “insufferable”, with fellow band member Chris Hillman saying he had a superiority complex.
In 1968, Crosby met Stephen Stills and the pair started jamming together. They were soon joined by Graham Nash to form Crosby, Stills & Nash, selling millions of copies of their first two albums: their self-titled debut in 1969, and – joined by Neil Young – Déjà Vu the following year…
Crosby discovered Joni Mitchell playing in a Florida club in 1967, helping her get a record deal and producing her first album, Song to a Seagull. The pair were romantically involved. He recently described Mitchell as “the best singer-songwriter … I don’t think anybody comes close”.
Crosby’s first solo album came out in 1971, If I Could Only Remember My Name. He released a few more solo records through the 80s and 90s, before a 20-year break and a prolific late-life period, with five coming out since 2014.
His most recent, For Free, was produced and co-written with James Raymond, a son Crosby didn’t know he had until Raymond was 30, after he was given up for adoption by his mother after birth. Raymond had been a musician for 20 years before he discovered who his father was, and tracked him down. The pair also released albums with the Lighthouse Band…
Eight months ago Crosby agreed to be interview by a journalist class at a high school in Colorado. He made headlines after answering a student’s question about whether he would tour again, replying: “No. I’m not, because I’m 80.” He also pointed to his age to explain his recent spate of solo albums: “I’m 80 years old so I’m gonna die fairly soon. That’s how that works. And so I’m trying really hard to crank out as much music as I possibly can, as long as it’s really good.”
Crosby was famously inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice and five albums to which he contributed were included in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
RIP DAVID CROSBY ??
Here he is performing one of the most iconic songs of the 60s – TURN! TURN! TURN! – with THE BYRDS in 1965. pic.twitter.com/9VzWDmKbdt
— James Leighton (@JamesL1927) January 20, 2023
Melissa Etheridge remembers David Crosby: "I am grieving the loss of my friend and Bailey’s biological father, David. He gave me the gift of family … His music and legacy will inspire many generations to come. A true treasure." https://t.co/D3geUD5zqD
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) January 19, 2023
Chaos muppets, represent!
RIP David Crosby. This clip reminds us why we love him so much. His experimental techniques have inspired so many musicians, and we honor his life and lasting legacy. pic.twitter.com/NEqnmdxZ7M
— AXS TV (@AXSTV) January 20, 2023
My favorite Crosby, Stills and Nash song is “Southern Cross.” Thanks David Crosby for the beautiful music??. @Uperpeninsula pic.twitter.com/GE4hB7eXPv
— Wynn Westmoreland (@WynnWs) January 19, 2023
Throwback to when David Crosby called Ted Nugent a hack because Nugent complained about not being in the RRHOF: pic.twitter.com/zbvMoAzAOW
— April is not an incubator (@April_Sassy) January 20, 2023
Crosby, Stills & Nash at Woodstock, their very first public performance. David Crosby once said: “Everyone in the world who we thought was cool- Hendrix, Dead, Airplane, Who- was standing at the back of the stage watching us.”
— Michael Ivan Burke (@MikeIvanBurke) January 20, 2023
Fantastic David Crosby cameo on Grateful Dead’s "Ripple" for the Song Around the World video to honor the Dead’s 50th anniversary
RIP Cros 🙏 pic.twitter.com/ySL4Wtrddv
— Wu-Tang is for the Children (@WUTangKids) January 20, 2023
"I don't like greed, I don't like ignorance. I really don't like anger. But I love love." – @thedavidcrosby
Rest in peace to the brilliant David Crosby. He will be greatly missed. 🕊
📸 Henry Diltz pic.twitter.com/6AXXTT8wcP
— Marianne Faithfull (@Faithfull_M) January 20, 2023
Knucks
https://player.siriusxm.com/query/howard%20stern%20david%20crosby
Scout211
Wonderful selection of live performances, AL. Thank you for posting them all. Such beautiful music.
AliceBlue
Okay, I’m crying now.
Raoul Paste
@Scout211: that goes double
I listened to it all. Wonderful.
Evap
Four Way Street was my favorite album at one point. I listened to it over and over.
Kent
Crosby Stills Nash and Young has to be the single greatest collection of songwriters to ever share a stage. Seriously.
Steeplejack
A nice roundup, A.L.! Thanks.
West of the Rockies
@Kent:
Traveling Wilburys on line three…
Scout211
@Evap: I wore out both the Crosby, Still and Nash (1969) and Déjá Vu (1970) albums, playing them over and over and over . . .
hilts
Fuck, it’s only January 19th and we’ve already lost two rock icons, Jeff Beck and David Crosby. Hopefully, we can make it through 2023 without losing any more of them.
Quiltingfool
I knew all the words to the songs here and was transported by the beauty of the voices. RIP, David Crosby. You lifted hearts with your music.
Subsole
Well, fuck.
Gonna go listen to Wooden Ships, I guess…
One of the very few albums I can play without skipping a track – even the ones that have been played to death.
Ixnay
@Kent: 4 lads that called themselves the Beatles might be almost as good.
zhena gogolia
@Ixnay: Thanks for that. You saved me having to say it.
Ixnay
@zhena gogolia: most welcome…
Tony G
That’s a great quote from David Crosby about Ted Nugent. Nugent fancies himself to be a Rock Star who later became a gun-fetishist lunatic. Nugent was a rock musician many decades ago, be he was no star. He had one hit — “Cat Scratch Fever” — more than 45 years ago, and it was a truly terrible song. Nugent was a lifelong mediocrity long before he started his Right-Wing Lunatic gig.
Mai Naem mobile
@hilts: nah, this is going to keep on happening the next few years. Lots of boomer rock stars hitting the average age of mortality+ COVID+many of these people have had addiction issues which doesn’t help.
This sounds stupid but I didn’t realize there are so many songs I like that are connected to David Crosby. I’ve always liked Teach Your Children – the lyrics, the guitar, melody and a bit melancholy all in one ball.
Steeplejack
On the light side: “David Crosby—you’re my hero!”
Another Scott
@Tony G:
Journey to the Center of the Mind (3:33) (from 1968) is a decent song.
Cheers,
Scott.
tobie
I will confess that I never liked Teach your children well. It struck me as soppy. Helplessly hoping, though, was a brilliant song, and I had no idea it was the band’s debut song at Woodstock. Wow.
Jackie
Whatever everyone’s opinion of Crosby – good or bad – he apparently had a soft spot for kitties, so there’s that😺
frosty
Among all his great songs was “Almost Cut My Hair”. In the days of vinyl I couldn’t just skip past that one. Unfortunately.
Kent
@Ixnay: I mean sure. But I would stand up the 4-decade run of Neil Young, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash to anyone. I mean Neil Young alone has released something like 61 different albums which I think is more than the Beatles and all their solo albums combined.
But obviously it is a matter of taste. I have spent about 10-times more of my life listening to Neil Young and Crosby Stills and Nash than I have the Beatles and their solo acts. So I’m obviously biased.
And yeah OK, the Traveling Wilburys, but they were more of a novelty act by a group of old retired stars, not so much an effort by artists in their prime like the Beatles and CSN&Y
Kent
When we lived in Waco we actually lived outside of town in China Spring TX near where Nugent had his Texas exotic game ranch. He was as much of an asshole then, buying up land on both sides of the Bosque River and then shitting down public access to the actual public road that ran through and across a low water crossing on the Bosque river. Which most other states not named Texas would not have allowed him to do. And meant we had to mountain bike about 15 miles out of the way to detour. His kid did go to the same public HS as my daughter. I think he was rather normal despite his horrid parentage.
mvr
I was going to let this all pass partly because I think who is better than whom is not all that interesting when you get to really good musicians, since a lot of that comes to what one has a taste for. But then you slam 1980s Dylan and Tom Petty as old and retired. Dylan is still going and Petty only quit when he died 30 years later and much too soon and wrote a shitload (technical term) of good songs in that 30 years. (Not trying to pick a fight but I would have had a hard time letting that pass. So don’t take this personally, please, or as a dis on Crosby, or the Beatles. Happy enough to dis Nugent, though.)
NotMax
@Kent
Know he’s long been a RWNJ but that sort of behavior is just plain rude.
;)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@NotMax: isn’t that how he got out of the draft, though?
Pittsburgh Mike
Jesus, I forgot how great those songs are.
NotMax
@frosty
Most requested cover asked of a band at college, Nathan & the Narwhals. They had a blues-ish version down to a tee.
Cheez Whiz
Crosby loved women the same way he loved cocaine.
NotMax
OT.
I don’t TikTok. For those who do, whether creating or simply viewing stuff, just under 14 minutes on YouTube jam-packed with information.
frosty
@NotMax: Funny. My brother is the sax player for the Narwhals. Where and when did you see them?
ETA: I occasionally regret spending so much time reading all the B-J comments. But this one made all the wasted time worth it!
NotMax
@frosty
Swarthmore. Long ago, in an America far away. Didn’t realize, if it’s the same crew, they were still in existence.
Narya
Friend was at a concert when the power went off; Crosby sang acapella a bit. Friend gets goosebumps just remembering, he says. And yes, tastes differ; I love the Wilburys not least because the FUN they had shines through.
SiubhanDuinne
Weird, there’s an online word game I’ve been playing for years, and today’s puzzle (released at midnight) included the clue category “Men with Moustaches.” The first answer, of course, was David Crosby. Don’t think for a minute that the puzzle setters were responding to today’s news: I know for a fact that most of them were set in around 2014-15. So how especially odd that this would pop up on the very day of his death announcement.
woo woo
frosty
@NotMax:
I figured, especially since they dropped the “Nathan” part of the name. They got together for a 25th reunion and they’re now the house band for all of Swarthmore’s reunions. They played some of their kids weddings and now they’re doing grandkids weddings.
NotMax
@Narya
Back in my eclectic salad days, one of the many gigs which provided some extra cash was working part-time as a representative for a major record company. Part of it involved emceeing concerts. During one in Manhattan (not my usual territory then, I was specifically asked for), a band signed to the record label, a group whose name has long been forgotten, was performing at a hotel (might have been for a convention of some sort; details fuzzy.).
Anyhow, about halfway through their time slot the power to the stage went out. Lights in the room still worked. The drummer spontaneously covered for at least 10 minutes until power was restored. Smallish function room, so no massive amplification set-up. Audience had no clue it wasn’t part of the regular show.
NotMax
@frosty
It’s a small world after all.
:)
piratedan
@Narya: agreed, you kind of get the feeling that even from Bob Dylan that there’s a “holy fuck! We’re singing with Roy fucking Orbison!” vibe to the proceedings.
Kent
@mvr: Fair enough. I just looked up their birth dates and did the math and they were all in their 40s and 50s. So point taken. I was in college when they formed and to this college student they all seemed geriatric 60s rockers looking to stay relevant in the face of changing times and musical tastes.
Time is merciless. My 16 year old daughter listens to all the 60s stuff like Beatles, Stones, Who, Kinks, etc. I did the math and they are as far in the past for her as 1920s artists like Al Jolson and Fats Waller have been for me when I was in HS in the late 70s and early 80s. I mean even what Lawrence Welk was playing back then when I was in HS was newer and more modern stuff than the Beatles are today. He was playing a lot of big band stuff from the the war years 30-40 years earlier, which back then would have been like playing early REM or Nirvana today.
rikyrah
RIP🙏🏿😢
Hungry Joe
@NotMax: Swarthmore? My dad was a grad. Upon request he’d recite —
“When you’re in hell, we’ll be in heaven / Swarthmore class of ‘37.”
(I didn’t say it was GOOD … )
Brachiator
@Kent:
But the great thing about our time is that we can go back and listen to the actual performances of so much wonderful music. I was able to listen to The Byrds and CSN when their music was fresh and new. And later I discovered the amazing early music of Fats Waller and Louis Armstrong.
The music is ancient or timeless, depending on your perspective. Waiting to be heard.
One of my favorite tidbits from Crosby’s obituary in Variety.
CSN was part of the soundtrack of my life in high school and college.
Msb
Thanks for all the clips. CSN was a terrific vocal blend. Many thanks for all the gifts, David Crosby.
AnotherKevin
I really love Suite Judy Blue Eyes too, but the rendition in the top of this post is the weakest that I have ever heard.
oldster
@Cheez Whiz:
Came here to say this. He could sometimes see women as people. He more often saw them as sex objects.
He was complicated, and the best of him was capable of earning Joni Mitchell’s love. But the average of him treated women as disposable flatterers of his ego or his private parts. And the worst of him was a predatory sex pest.
Remember when he was born, and with what privilege he lived. It would have been surprising if he were anything different than a run of the mill mid century misogynist.
raven
@oldster: Do you know someone who isn’t complicated?
MagdaInBlack
@AnotherKevin: Thus they warned you it was risky, not having played it together live in some time.
raven
@MagdaInBlack: I said last night that I saw them in 93 and it was not very good. Ali got beat by Leon Spinks too.
JML
Crosby has one of the greatest voices in rock history, and his ability to sing harmony and add such beautiful subtle shadings to songs with his voice is truly a treasure.
He was a complicated guy, notoriously outspoken and difficult (when Graham Nash decides “I’m done with your BS” it does say something) with serious addiction issues that we’re lucky didn’t kill him and a gun fetish that could have equally taken him out at some point. But he survived and overcame and endured, and that’s wonderful too.
I think he was at his best when working with real talents, whether it was the various iterations of CSNY or with The Byrds, but I’m grateful he lent his immense vocal talents to so many songs for so many other bands over the years.
RIP, David.
oldster
@raven:
No, I don’t. But since you could assume that answer, I’m not sure why you asked.
Did you mean to imply, “respect for human complexity should temper our tendency to judge. Cast not the first stone!”
Or was it, “complexity is so ubiquitous that it’s a waste of pixels to say someone was complex. Skip the “he was complex” part and just tell us what you think!”
Or something else?
Not trying to pick a fight, just curious about what you meant by asking.
Honestly, I’ve never known a cat or a dog who didn’t have their quirks and complexities, either….
Chris Johnson
@Kent: shutting?
‘cos it’s Ted Nugent, so he COULD be shitting down the road in order to own somebody he was mad at. But I’m guessing he was shutting down a road?
Yeah, fuck him
Butch
Reminded me of back in the day when we knew the group as Crosby, Pills, Hash, and Young. He will be missed.
mvr
@Kent: Yeah, it does move fast. But I’ve always been a bit of an anachronism. So in my late mid-late teens I started listening to pre and post WWII blues as well as more recent stuff.
Back in the day radio tied audiences and therefore what people listened to, together more. Which made old stuff harder to find and listen to. Moving to Portland to go to college helped because of all the old record stores. But the rise of the internet (and before that maybe college radio) has made commercial radio less central and younger people seem to have quite disparate genres they like.
Isua
I remember when a radio station tried to put David Crosby’s music on to comfort us amid the wreckage of the world, and it was good enough to almost work. I was back to driving from my work to my boss’s house, north of NYC, around lunchtime on September 11, no one knew what was going on other than the world seemed to be ending, had to go stay with my boss since who knew when the bridges back to Long Island would be open, my dad in Manhattan had been heard from thank goodness, but who knew when the trains would run again. My car’s radio was on Fordham University radio, and they were trying to play comforting music, it was all they could do. And they played Teach Your Children. Someday I want to be able to sing that song again without crying. But thank you David Crosby that in the face of the world falling apart, your music was what people could think to share.
Paul in KY
@Kent: I think The Wilburys would have carried on if Roy hadn’t died. He was their principal lead singer.
Paul in KY
@piratedan: Roy was the glue that held that band together.
Paul in KY
@Hungry Joe: ‘Almost heaven, Class of 77’. Think his was better :-)
Paul in KY
@oldster: In his defense, I’m sure he had sooo many women basically throw themselves at him. I think, if you have not experienced that, you really can’t ‘walk a mile in his moccasins’ on that aspect of his life.
Kent
Yeah, typo. The Bosque River crosses through McLennan county and there are very few bridges because due to the potential for flash flooding they have to be made really big and high over what is normally a small stream so that they don’t get washed away every 5 years or so when there is a flash flood. So there are occasional low water crossings on rural public roads that are basically a concrete dam running across that you can just drive over when the water level is low (95% of the time).
Nugent bought ranches on both sides of the river through which one of these public country roads passed. And then put up a gate across the road and got the county to declare the road “abandoned”. He turned it into a big exotic game hunting park where he and his buddies could go out and get there testosterone on by shooting things like tame elk and gazelle that are fenced in on a ranch pasture. That would have been inconceivable in most states like Washington where you can’t just take over a public road simply because you own the property on both sides. But McLennan County let him get away with it.
oldster
@Paul in KY:
Seems likely that some women will have been attracted to him, yes. And the star/groupie dynamic is generally corrupting of both sides involved.
I’m not saying he was history’s greatest monster. I was just agreeing with Cheez Whiz that it was too simple to say that “he actually liked women,” as though this was true of him in a way that should make us feel more admiration for him.
No one would say of Thomas Jefferson, “he always gave the impression that he actually liked black women,” and expect that statement to increase our admiration of him. Predators often have a liking for their prey. So, if you want to argue that X was more decent than the other predators, you need to show evidence other than, “he liked his prey.”
Paul in KY
@oldster: Thanks for the explanation. Hope you have a great weekend!