David Crosby's If I Could Only Remember My Name - C or D?

and a last, more personal note—
i know i'm not a pro or anything, but after i did start paying closer attention to his acoustic playing and those "weird spacey chords" it really did open up a world of possibilities for my own playing and music. i know discussing influence is tacky, but i really did feel a deep connection to his music for a few years there. i never got good enough to play it exactly, but it was always fun to noodle along to records and marvel at him. i liked his grouchiness a lot. somehow, his guitar playing sounded exactly like his disposition; especially on the crosby+nash albums (which i obvs highly recommend).

really a huge figure for everyone around my age, in one way or another.

He was self-deprecating about his production work with Joni Mitchell, but I think that album sounds pretty good, beautiful in certain moments, so that‘s a legit credit.

Yep! And to his credit he didn't stop reminding people she was the best songwriter of them all.

Austin, thanks for posting that CSN deep cut.

RIP. Bet the big guy is up in heaven trying to talk a couple of angels into a threesome.

no no no

it's a "triad"

I only heard the first Crosby/Nash album and it didn't do much for me (though Nash's "Immigration Man" was good). It didn't have any of the rock detours of the Crosby solo record, and you could see why he/they eventually went in a yacht rock direction, cause there really wasn't enough substance to call it art rock or anything more than oblique mood music.
I mean, you could make a case that Crosby, Stills and Nash each peaked in 1967, before they even got together...not to say that there wasn't occasional interesting stuff from each of them for the next decade and a bit.

don't ever use "yacht rock" on ILM

lol Darin

Speaking of "Triad", dig this cover by Sally Keller man

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtJp8gSqkmU

Arranged by Barry Manilow, who also produced with Ron Dante.

I thought Crosby actually owned a yacht, but I guess it was a schooner...the difference, according to one explanation I found, is that "all schooners are yachts, but not all yachts are schooners."

https://medium.com/schoonermayan/mayans-history-the-david-crosby-years-517d8c0cb389

So he invented Schooner Rock.

Just scrolled though all today’s posts and the one thing that really caught my eye was “Ron Dante.”

I mentioned on a Dennis Hopper thread that I've been reading Mark Rozzo's Everybody Thought We Were Crazy, about Dennis Hopper and Brooke Hayward (and L.A.) in the '60s. Synchronicity: when I was reading over at the gym tonight, I just got to the 20 pages that had lots on the Byrds and Ciro's.

Dennis seemed particularly fascinated by Crosby.

(Big surprise, they were so different...)

Hillman noticed the connection: "They were both obnoxious, overly aggressive," he said. "They were very much alike. David could lead you into the abyss seven times a week. I'm sure David and Dennis shared the same operating methods." They even said the word "man" the same way.

That sounds a little harsh...as a photographer, Hopper seemed to take to Crosby's smile.

Polly Parsons, on FB:

David Crosby

In 1966 my mother was engaged to marry sweet David, when my father swept in and stole her from him at a party one night. David would later write Guinevere about her and Gram would write 1000 Dollar Wedding among others.

Loving, magic and muses. This was the base air altitude of Laurel Canyon in the 60’s. Surrounded by the smells of frankincense and myrrh and sounds of harmonies and acoustic guitars. We were constantly barefoot, joyful and oh so full of life. This is how I will remember you.

Here’s to our lions among men. The unapologetic forces of nature we are so blessed to have had in this world at all.

We love you.

I did not know that.

I saw him once in 2010 sitting on a bench in Hyde Park London by himself, completely undisturbed and apparently unrecognised, as the crowds gathered in the early evening before a Paul McCartney concert.

like in the Neil Young song "Thrasher"?

No real feelings for his work on my end. But I enjoyed this story Paul Myers posted about a 1999 encounter with him, and indeed, always flying the Joni flag.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CnnqzNsLHbl/

i last saw him at an obama rally in a local park. it was poorly advertised that theere would be performances, and the music came on after most people had left, so it was just the stalwart few clustered around the stage to see crosby / nash. i still remember how the three intro chords to 'wooden ships' just destroyed me. i can't find a video of it, but this one from the same set is equally ambitious. i unironically love this stuff and always have. prog folk. that open chord they both chomp down on just before the one minute mark is really something. serious 'hard day's night' vibes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNZJ4VG6U3o

Havin' a normal one at Monterey...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5xRqCqJOAU

i have a lot of love for CSN and CSNY … Mr Veg and i bonded early over “Almost Cut my Hair” when we first met. there’s something magical about their music for me that temporarily overrides anything i dislike about them irl. (i have a similar relationship w Eagles but to a far lesser, less magical extent)

seeing CSNY live in 2013 at Bridge Benefit was a pretty overwhelming experience, just one of those cool hippie-sounding “nothing better than live music shared w a large crowd” moments where it felt so nice to be alive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRsuKdC5nXw

RIP Cros

For such a volatile character he made such delicate crisp airy music, I almost want to say he is a little under appreciated (in the mainstream or whatever) for his unique songwriting and vocal style, as opposed to just being a hippie icon

Some excellent Crosby bits in Harvest Time. He seems really focused as he works out backing harmonies with Young and Stills.

RIP. Lifetime pass for his guitar work on NY’s “Revolution Blues.”

I had a bit of weird relationship with this guy. Growing up I always associated him with the absolute worst of boomer-era folk rock, just the epitome of what I hated in music from that era...

― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0)

Same here. He was literally a punchline when I first became aware of him. I couldn't name a single song he did for many years, so much that The Simpsons joke didn't land when I first saw it - for different reasons, I had the same response as Barney.

Then I discovered the Beatles and they led me to the Byrds box set (and until then I only knew one of their records, "Turn! Turn! Turn!," again through The Simpsons) and it was a genuine surprise to see David Crosby in that band. Completely changed my view of him, and for the Byrds alone, I'll always be a fan.

I'm still not completely sold on his post-Byrds work, but he definitely had moments, and "Long Time Gone" is probably my favorite among them.

I saw him live once, at a free show at Lincoln Center in 2019. I had low expectations, and he exceeded them all - excellent band, excellent performances, voice in top form, and nearly every song landed. (The only disappointment I recall was a new turgid arrangement for "Eight Miles High," which otherwise is my favorite Byrds single.) The highlight was when we all got up to the front of the stage and sung along with an especially angry "Ohio" that was aimed at the Trump administration.

RIP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sM1cbhrQhI

xp actually maybe that’s for similar reasons? Ah it’s late, too tired to think straight

Rest easy, Croz. You made a helluva mark.

And probably once a week I think about his remark to Dylan about the Princeton grandees in 1970: "Buncha dickheads on autostroke"

listening to Laughing, what a song

nothing grand but I enjoyed this Amelia cover when it came out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-bbil4mJgc

So did Nash sulk with his new wife until the end? Or did he make up with Crosby?

Lifetime pass for his guitar work on NY’s “Revolution Blues.”

...despite the fact that he hated the song!

For those that have never seen it, this may be career best from everyone involved:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIDzA0YDso8

Crosby's pretty clearly tripping balls, Neil is out of his mind, wild-eyed, angry and stank-faced, Stills is almost out-belting Tom Jones because, oh yeah, Tom Jones is there, too.

Joan Baez, from FB:

In 1965, Bob Dylan and I were discussing the state of the music scene. He said The Byrds, who had made a hit of “Mr. Tambourine Man,” were the only thing happening musically at that point in time. Perhaps an exaggeration, but certainly a tribute to the stellar musicians who formed the budding monster groups of the years to come like The Byrds and CSNY.

David Crosby was among the monster group icons who continued a solo career with the kind of success reserved for great musicians. And he could sing the hell out of a harmony.

He was also a friend to me. He was always, I repeat, always present for me, to defend my character and politics, and often included over the top (sometimes unwarranted) praise. He was funny, clever, and refreshing to be around. And I was honored that he chose my portrait of him as his last album cover.

He will be missed by millions, including myself. Sending my love to Jan and his family.

Some excellent Crosby bits in Harvest Time. He seems really focused as he works out backing harmonies with Young and Stills.

yeah that was a pretty incredible scene, loved seeing him at work like that

Crosby worked with members of Pink Floyd and Genesis, and was covered by Yes; it adds proof to Christgau's suggestion that the Byrds were the first art-rock band.

I mostly don't have anything complimentary to say about him, and quite a lot critical as such, but I'll say a couple of nice things now, and maybe in a couple of days we can have a nuanced discussion…

1. While it's well known he was in the middle in the CSN three part harmonies, in the Byrds, I think he was the high harmony? anybody know? Nash was always gonna be on top in any harmony arrangement, but it might have also been that in the Byrds, Cros hadn't quite fucked up his voice, whereas during the overwhelming majority of CSN, his proclivities would have precluded him singing high harmonies…

2. Jeff Beck is a name known to rock music enthusiasts/ aor-classic rock radio listeners for 50 years, but he had no next no presence in the larger culture with music under his own name, or say, after the Yardbirds, and so most of those listeners probly never his shit. But being that I think its demonstrably true that the CSN was the dominant american rock act in the early to mid 70s, Cros is absolutely part of the fabric of the lives of —truly— millions of normies/n0n aesthetes who were into rock music as it was understood for several decades. He's like Jerry Garcia.

xpost: never heard his shit

xpost also worked with Hootie. Proving something...

this guy's image rehab into some kinda avuncular stoner grandpa is really something jesus it's getting hard to take on twitter

haha yeah, i mean I love a lot of his stuff, but he was incredibly annoying on Twitter (occasionally funny, but it felt like the exception). I think I muted him at some point.

I'll add that I'm still taken aback by how many people love the album that inspired this thread. Greg Kot just called it a masterpiece and Elvis Costello of all people listed it among his 500 favorite albums. (Kot posted "Cowboy Movie," EC singled out "Laughing.") I was definitely not a fan, but I'll give the album another chance. After sampling "Cowboy Movie," it's possible I'll get into it as Crosby's take on what Neil Young was doing with Crazy Horse, as if Crosby set aside his initial dislike for them and drew inspiration from them (like he understood there was a lot more going on there that he had missed earlier).

I'll admit it's not for me but I've come around to several tracks. I can't bend my brain around Christgau's savage takedown, though; it's like Crosby poisoned his cats.

he was also a tremendous creep and asshole! like renowned for it

Not a fan of his post-Byrds work (I just tried listening to If I Could Only, and I couldn't), and I largely agree with the New Rolling Stone Record Guide (1983) assessment of CSN as "limpid adult bubblegum." I love "Helpless" and "Ohio," though, and he's responsible for one of my favorite moments in music: his foreboding open E string before McGuinn's 12-string kicks in on "Eight Miles High." Crosby's rhythm playing is that record's secret weapon, and the song wouldn't be half as good without it.

xps Jim O'Rourke is also on the record saying If I Could Only Remember My Name is one of his all-time favorite albums, hence:

pic.twitter.com/B4NUOGA69Y

— ジム　オルーク　ライブ (@steamroomlive) January 20, 2023

Anyway, huge RIP. His music and the whole CSNY axis was a cornerstone of my youth; I think my mom's vinyl copy of the first CSN album was the first album I ever became obsessed with, at age six. These days the first Crosby & Nash album is my favorite, with several of Croz's grooviest/moodiest tunes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0VfvOXnS8w

xp

i think both helpless and ohio are neil songs, right? you probably mean crosby's harmonies on them, though. i do enjoy the CSN harmonies but i have a hard time picking out who is who on them

Yeah Neil wrote both of those on his own

when scott seward posted on ILM, he often praised those Crosby-Nash albums.

and for a while they were staples of used record stores