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"That song is awesome and timeless. And it's a glimpse at all the ups and downs of knowing you're breaking up with them, actually breaking up and then, I wish we hadn't. And it's sort of inverted because the last part is almost like you're inviting her back." Stephen Stills
Baby Beach, Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, 1973
"Friday at sunset, our last day (in Hawaii), I decided to take a photo. Stephen had his Hasselblad camera with him. I figured out the exposure & placed the camera on the ground & had my friend Harry Harris press the trigger." Graham Nash
When I was a young man I found an old dream,
Was as battered and worn a one as you have ever seen.
But I made it some new wings and painted the nose,
And I wished so hard up in the air I rose, singing...
Carry me above the world
Remembering
@thedavidcrosby
today and every day.
"It was recorded in one night: vocals, overdubs, bass, all that was done in one night. Stills was afraid of how the band might be typecast if the song did catch on. He was worried about it defining the group and he didn't want that to happen. The song was about the times. 1/2
"When I was 11, my parents wanted me to do something besides get in trouble. They enrolled me in sailing classes at Sea Shell Assoc, Santa Barbara. From the moment I climbed into that 8-ft dinghy in 1952 I knew instinctively what to do & sensed I had done it before." David Crosby
"After I'd turned the lights out, at his request, he started playing. I started adding top end and using equalizers, while also putting a limiter on it and taking all the bottomโend off. 1/4
"This song was inspired, a long time ago, by my tenth-grade English teacher in Tampa, Florida. She was a real knock-out, so much so that she got all the football players to stand up and read poetry. Some of it must've rubbed off on me." Stephen Stills
"There has been a bond between us from the very beginning, when we were teenagers. How fortunate that our paths crossed in Fort William, Ontario. Sometimes, the stars align." Stephen Stills
Happy Birthday to the one and only, Neil Young.
"Every single part was crazy. But when we all closed our eyes and did it together, did just what we were supposed to do, it was absolutely gorgeous." Stephen Stills
@thedavidcrosby
#StephenStills
@TheGrahamNash
"I wanted to put it on a solo album but the guys insisted we use it on Dรฉjร Vu. It means a lot to me. I recorded the track in one take. I'd intended for David & Graham to sing harmony. Even had the parts worked out. They said they wouldn't touch it so it always stood alone." SS
"They were like kids with a new toy, and they wanted to show it off to people. Weโd often gather in the pool at Mama Cassโ and sing. It was terrific for becoming psychedelicised, staring up into the stars and singing. 1/1
Wishing you a New Year filled with passion, purpose, love and moments that make your heart sing. Stay true, stay kind, and Carry On, my friends!
#HappyNewYear
!
#20
+4+20
Photo by the great
#HenryDiltz
March 11, 1970, CSNY released their first LP, Dรฉjร vu. It generated 3 Top 40 singles: Woodstock, Teach Your Children, and Our House. In 2003 it was ranked
#147
on
@RollingStone
's list of 500 greatest albums of all time. Photo by Tom G. O'Neil.
"I'm just happy I know him. Aside from his music the 1st time Ringo had an impact on me was when I visited him at Hampstead Heath & ended up buying his house. I inherited the gardener, Johnny. He made the best herbal teas." SS
Wishing
@ringostarrmusic
a very Happy Birthday today!
"I worked it up & everybody really liked it. Neil swears up and down that I did a live vocal that was infinitely better than what ended up on the album [Deja Vu] but we didn't have the luxury of being able to save stuff and make B tapes. He might have been right." Stephen Stills
"If you'll notice, most of the songs I write that are social commentary, there's never a real conclusion. I never said we would change the world. I said 'Hey, there's something happening here.'" Stephen Stills
It was written at UCLA Med Center in 1966, after Neil suffered a seizure on stage. Neil later said "A lot of songs take a long time to write. But this one took only 5 minutes." An almost bizarre string of words woven together as only Neil Young can. DADGBD - Oh, hello Mr. Soul...
"I followed the dude (
@JimiHendrix
) around for two years learning how to play lead guitar. I literally followed him like he was my guru. People thought I was a groupie, but that wasn't it. I was going to music school." Stephen Stills
"It's not so much that 'We're going to change the world!' It's that we want to convince everybody that it's possible. We're about the joy of making a wonderful noise together." Stephen Stills
With
@TheGrahamNash
and
@thedavidcrosby
Photo by
#HenryDiltz
"I would say my favorite guitar players of all time are
@JimiHendrix
,
@EricClapton
and
@jeffbeckmusic
- two from the Yardbirds." Stephen Stills
Photo by Jim Marshall Photography LLC
"Neil built a beautiful stage {prior to the 1974 stadium tour] right across the road from his studio. We get out there in the sun and play for about 4 or 5 hours a day. We haven't done the old tunes in years, man, it's almost like playing them for the first time. Everybody's ...
โThe noise we make when we open our mouths is a gift from God - a combination of neurological accidents. Grahamโs North of England Celtic thing with my gravelly whatever the f**k it is and Davidโs smoothie Cali crooner thing - it worked together instantaneously." Stephen Stills
"CSNY have always concentrated more on musical proficiency than the flash and glamour of it all. A supergroup yes, but pop stars no. CSNY have always been musicians." Stephen Stills
"They [the record companies] never got the sound the way it was on stage. It was always disappointing. Every Buffalo Springfield record, from that standpoint, I know we played the shit much cooler." Neil Young
Photo by Linda McCartney
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young rehearsing at Broken Arrow Ranch in May of 1974. Tim Drummond on drums, Russ Kunkel on drums. ๐ท Joel Bernstein (I think)
"I have a collection of amps that are older than me. I have a
@Fender
Bassman with four 10s. I prefer to make sounds with the amps and the volume knob. These things have hair โ that's how old they are." Stephen Stills
Stephen Stills, seated, 19 year old
@peterframpton
, standing w/guitar & headphones &
@GeorgeHarrison
standing on the right during the Doris Troy sessions at Trident Studios. Her self titled album was released on Apple Records. Thx to the George Harrison Twitter acct for the share
"In high school, I had salsa on the radio instead of the earliest Beatles. I was a drummer in the school band. Drums first, then piano lessons and then guitar. Rhythm has always been my thing." Stephen Stills
"I never dial it in. You walk out there in front of people and ask them to pay money to see you, you'd better bring it. That's been my attitude forever." Stephen Stills
"After taking the picture on the couch, they actually named themselves Crosby, Stills & Nash but in the picture it's Nash, Stills & Crosby. So we went back to Palm Avenue days later to retake the picture & the house was gone. It was just a pile of timber in the back." Henry Diltz
"Happy birthday Steven Stills! I celebrated with the best tone I could find. 61 AC15 - 66 Fuzzy Face - 60 Strat."
@JasonIsbell
Thank you Jason. Perfect tone. โ๏ธ
Recorded at Wally Heider's during the sessions for Crosby, Stills & Nash's 1st album, David Crosby and Stephen Stills cover Fred Neil's Everybody's Talkin'. Headphones on.
Photo at Big Sur Folk Festival, 1968 by Robert Altman
#celebratingcroz
"We stole a sign off a tractor that was kind of neat and we figured it'd look good right in the middle of the drum kit. So that was the name of the band 'cause it was the only sign that we had." Stephen Stills
CSNY's first live album, released on April 7, 1971, shipped as a gold record and peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The recordings were from the previous year, taken from shows at the Fillmore East, June 2 - 7; The Forum, June 26 - 28; Auditorium Theatre, July 5.
"David would say '30,000 people are watching me pick up the wrong guitar!โ The first 10 shows (1974) were like that. He'd say 'What song do you want to do?' And we'd say 'I donโt know what do you want to do?' He'd say 'Whoโs got the list?' We'd say 'List? What list?'" S. Stills
"Word got out about the rehearsals. CSNY had a PA set up & they'd rehearse Monday - Friday. The sound travelled for miles. I saw people who were walking down the road from all over. They climbed the hills, got high and listened. It was wild." Joel Bernstein
The photo and the audio are from Buffalo Springfield's final performance. The venue was the Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, California. The date was May 5, 1968. The final song was Bluebird.
โTo give the image an authentic feel, I decided to reproduce it using 19th century techniques. From the 35 mm black and white Plus-X negative, I created an 8ร10-inch master negative. 1/4
โThere were other people involved so the song [49 Reasons] changed from the demo that I had. The backwards guitar solo that I have on the original, the way that it twists and turns with the melody, it made me want to cry. Itโs absolutely heart-stopping." Stephen Stills
Released on November 16, 1970, dedicated to James Marshall Hendrix, featuring Crosby and Nash, Cass Elliott, Rita Coolidge, Booker T. Jones, Ringo Starr, John Sebastian, Eric Clapton, Johny Barbata, Fuzz Samuel, Dallas Taylor - poem by Charles John Quarto, photos by
โI was in a group, The Company. We toured through Canada & the 1st gig was in Fort William, Ontario, now called Thunder Bay. On our 2nd night this kid comes in & wants to do a set between our sets. He was doing folk music on an electric
@GretschUSA
. And that's how I met Neil." SS
"I decided to just take my monitoring system into the studio & sing for 4 or 5 days & pick out the best ones & basically have an album that was completely by myself. This is the 1st effort of my little record company that I'm going to do my solo stuff on." Stephen Stills
โI thought they were going to be a revolutionary kind of group. It was fantastic to have 3 guitar players who were also outstanding lead singers. [When they broke up] I think it was one of the few times I cried because I just thought that I had the historic group.โ Ahmet Ertegun
February 15, 1969, Crosby, Stills & Nash record Lennon and McCartney's Blackbird at Wally Heider's Studio. Frequently featured in concert, the recording wasn't issued until 1991 on the CSN box set.
"Hang on, hold tight. Not only can we play songs in rapid-fire succession, we take it from โRock and Roll Craziesโ through to โJet Set,โ then go into โSong of Love.โ Stephen Stills
"The whole process of writing songs is like, I just sit and play and diddle with it until I get it going. If I like the tune and get hung up in it, maybe I'll think of some words that will fit that bit of melody. Whatever that thought is will carry me into a song." Stephen Stills
"We have fun with each other. We used to take things so seriously - sometimes we still do - but we're 3 men standing on stage and we can't think about anything but making good music. And that is, in fact, what we do." Stephen Stills
@thedavidcrosby
@TheGrahamNash