He wasn’t a Mount Vernon resident. He might be known by a quarter of our town’s population…the older generation.
Two months ago, on January 18, 2023, David Crosby died. He was 81.
A songwriter, vocalist, and instrumentalist, Crosby’s robust tenor added an angelic fullness to the voices of his supergroup bandmates in the Byrds, and then Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and Neil Young.
Four times I witnessed Crosby perform. Twice in Cedar Rapids he appeared with Stills and Nash. With Neil Young added, I heard CSNY in Madison and Sacramento.
For me, Crosby’s music was an inspirational beacon, and a sensual memory of certain times and places.
Crosby comes from a genre of folk/rock musicians whose lyrics were thankfully understandable in airplay. (It’s a generational thing!) His songs were not some electronic, manufactured, unintelligible screaming.
Crosby and his contemporaries wrote and sang music that had a point, be it political, social, or relational.
Crosby’s “Ode to the Last Whale” highlighted the connection of all things on our planet and the sadness of disrespecting that interconnection.
Over the years you have been hunted
By the men who throw harpoons
And in the long run he will kill you
Just to feed the pets we raise
Put the flowers in your vase
And make the lipstick for your face
Over the years you swam the ocean
Following feelings of your own
Now you are washed up on the shoreline
I can see your body lie
It’s a shame you have to die
To put the shadow on our eye
Ode To the Last Whale
Lyrics by David Crosby and Graham Nash
From his first solo album, “What Are Their Names?” Crosby’s confrontive political song sought to unmask people in political power.
I wonder who they are
The men who really run this land
And I wonder why they run it
With such a thoughtless hand
Tell me what are their names
And on what street do they live?
I’d like to ride right over
This afternoon and give
Them a piece of my mind
About peace for mankind
Peace is not
An awful lot
To ask
What Are Their Names?
Lyrics by David Crosby and Graham Nash
A song powerfully performed at Woodstock in 1969 highlighted mutual understanding between seeming foes in an apocalyptic war.
If you smile at me, I will understand
‘Cause that is something
Everybody everywhere does in the same language
I can see by your coat, my friend
You’re from the other side
There’s just one thing I got to know
Can you tell me please, who won?
Wooden Ships
Lyrics by David Crosby, Paul Kantner and Stephen Stills
Drawing from the Summer of Love angst, Crosby’s hauntingly mellow, idyllic ballad to “Guinnevere” was written to honor three different women he claimed to have loved, including Christine Hinton (Crosby’s partner who was killed), Joni Mitchell, and a third unnamed person.
Guinnevere had green eyes
Like yours, milady, like yours
She’d walk down through the garden
In the morning after it rained
Peacocks wandered aimlessly
Underneath an orange tree
Why can’t she see me?
Guinnevere
Lyrics by David Crosby
Lionized as David Crosby was for his music, he also had a troubled, opinionated side that led him into drugs, firearms, and prison.
Crosby was also quick-witted. After their 1983 concert in Cedar Rapids, Mount Vernon resident David Loebsack approached Crosby and cheekily said “almost cut my hair.”
Crosby quickly retorted “you need to cut yours!”
It all ends with a thankful memory and a smile.
Bob Campagna is a local photographer and writer. His email is [email protected].
The golden voice of a troubled troubadour
March 16, 2023
Photo by Bob Campagna
In 1982 David Crosby performed with bandmates Steven Stills and Graham Nash in a packed house at the Five Seasons Center in Cedar Rapids.
