David Crosby, The Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash Founder, Dies at 81

[desertbluesman]

Another rock icon bites the dust. RIP David Crosby.

[Sharkman]

 

[Caevan O’Shite]

He casts a long shadow.

[Scott Fraser]

Van Dyke Parks, yeah!

RIP Crosby, by all accounts a most difficult person to be in a band with, and a great writer, singer & guitarist. A very big part of the sound of my generation.

[Anderton]

To me, the coolest thing about the Byrds is that if they had never existed and all of a sudden appeared today, their sound would still be considered fresh.

[MikeT156]

I heard about it on WLW700 radio early this morning. I am surprised he lived as long as he did, 81 years.

 

CSN was my all time favorite American and British folk rock band of my generation.

 

RIP David.

[MikeT156]

5 hours ago, Anderton said:

To me, the coolest thing about the Byrds is that if they had never existed and all of a sudden appeared today, their sound would still be considered fresh.

I don't know if that is true these days. I listen to some of the TRASH that young people play in their cars during warm weather months. It is NOT music as I define Music.

 

The College bars play the same garbage. I tune out.

[Larryz]

Rest in Peace David Crosby...

 

Crosby Stills and Nash were icons in my time (circa 1969 Woodstock)...

[Ivan May]

 

David Crosby created some of the most iconic music in his 81 years on earth. RIP David Crosby 

[surfergirl]

I like the Byrds, CSN and CSNY a lot.

RIP David Crosby.

[Winston Psmith]

Deja Vu, indeed! Just looking at that album cover is like traveling through Time. Such a loss . . .

[Caevan O’Shite]

Quote

From Stephen Stills:

“I read a quote about composer Gustave Mahler’s performance of Mahler’s 9th symphony by the San Francisco Orchestra from music critic Mark Swed that stopped me for a moment:

'Death has, on placid cat’s paws, entered the room.'

I shoulda known something was up.

David and I butted heads a lot over time, but they were mostly glancing blows, yet still left us numb skulls...

I was happy to be at peace with him.

He was without question a giant of a musician, and his harmonic sensibilities were nothing short of genius.

The glue that held us together as our vocals soared, like Icarus, towards the sun.

I am deeply saddened at his passing and shall miss him beyond measure.”

 

Quote

From Graham Nash:

Grateful to have sung with him, played with him, butted heads with him, and for going through so much together. David was as complicated as the intricate melodies he crafted. You can hear bits of a very deep soul echoing through his playing and the lyrics he composed. It’s his beautiful music that will live forever in all of our hearts. I’m just lucky to have known him.

 

Quote

Jimmy Webb’s thoughts on David Crosby, January 20,2023.

Croz, as he was known to his friends, was a gregarious, mischievous, sensitive guy who you could have a legitimate conversation with. I remember the first time I saw him up close: He had driven his black Mercedes Benz 450 SEL out into the desert to go sailplaning with me. He got out of the big sedan in a cloud of dust and strode toward me like a giant, a big grin plastered across his face. I knew in that instant that he was absolutely stone-not-afraid to ride in a glider or anything else you might think of. Conditions were lousy that day so I paid for an extra long tow, up to 10,000 feet because I knew rightly enough that we wouldn’t be airborne for very long. I muddled around and kept us up for around 40 minutes or so, and the whole time he was like a child with a new toy. He was inquisitive about every detail of the mechanisms on board and did not get airsick - unlike some others I could mention! We landed safely in the late afternoon after a bond had been formed up about 5000 feet as we waved to hikers on the side of Mount Baden-Powell.

At the time I knew of him from my friend Art Garfunkel, who had used him profusely on backgrounds for the Watermark album, which Art and I cut with Barry Beckett in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. From listening to his lilting concert tenor on Artie’s rough mixes, I resolved that if I could get him to do it, I would have him sing some backgrounds on some of my stuff.

Endearingly, he came at first call and brought Graham Nash along with him. Most recently, he and Graham sang backgrounds on my song, “If These Walls Could Speak”, from my Fred Mollin- produced Still Within The Sound Of My Voice (2013). It’s possible that this will turn out to be the last recording the two made together.

He was there for me at Alice Tully Hall (NYC) the night a plethora of names showed up for my live concert birthday party. In short, whenever I asked him, he was there. If I have one regret in my life at this moment, it’s that I didn’t make time to get on the sailboat with him when I was asked during a rather busy trip to California. But he wouldn’t want me to look back with any regret about anything. He was just that kind of cool, easy-going, sweet guy.

His was a gigantic star, it shines still there somewhere above the Southern Cross, this sailor, prophet, humanitarian, intellectual, and songwriter. Oh, and lest I forget, father as well.

It’s natural to feel a little emptiness when a friend passes but in this case I am aching and grieving for a whole magic, scintillating era of unsurpassed music, a time of beauty and elegance in musical art. In my mind he stands for all of that. The political conscience applied to the art of communicating with the masses.

I was at David Geffen’s house the afternoon Graham and Croz showed up with a little number called “Four Dead in Ohio”. When I heard it, they were angry and it resonated off the walls of the house in a way that made me think: this is a song that will change things.

Godspeed, David. You left the world a better place than you found it.

Love, Jimmy.

 

[MikeT156]

Here's a llnk to 10 of CSN and CSNY Best songs I stumbled upon on the internet.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jan/20/from-the-byrds-to-cpr-david-crosbys-10-greatest-recordings

 

More and he HATED Trump

 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/nov/15/david-crosby-interview-trump-new-album-tour

 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/gallery/2023/jan/20/david-crosby-co-founder-of-the-byrds-and-crosby-stills-nash-a-life-in-pictures

[Caevan O’Shite]

19 hours ago, MikeT156 said:

...and he HATED Trump

Of course he did. He was known as being an astute, intelligent, progressive individual of no mean innate talent...

[Caevan O’Shite]

Quote

Michael Shrieve:

David Crosby has died. This one is tough for me. David was a part of my life since my high school days, when I was a huge fan of The Byrds. The first time I met David, was in RCA Studios in LA. It was 1968, I had taken my first ride on an airplane with Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady, from Jefferson Airplane,( I know, I know!) flying from San Francisco, on PSA Airlines, with stewardesses who were all beautiful, and in tight pink miniskirts! Jefferson Airplane were actually considering me as a drummer! Buddy Miles was also on the flight. It was memorable trip for several reasons. First, I was staying with Jorma and he had a bunch of visitors during the day. (Recording sessions, were at night, of course) A couple of notable visitors were Jim Morrison, and Eric Clapton who had brought a cassette of a band he was super exited about. They were called "The Band". We went to the studio and I was just hanging out, with you know, Jefferson Airplane! And after awhile David Crosby walks in the studio wearing the famous green cape, and carrying a guitar. The band finished what they were working on and David breaks out his guitar, and they gather around him as he presents them with a song, called "Triad", that The Byrds didn't want to touch, because of the provocative lyrics; "Why can't we be three?" It was beautiful, haunting, and done in what was turning into the modal tune that would turn out to be a big part of David's sound. It was a heady trip for a teenager. I never made it into the Airplane, but to this day, remain friends with Jorma and Jack. And not too much time later, I was in Santana. All good!

I think it was 1970 I bought my first home in Mill Valley. I believe the price was $62,000! Croz was one of the few LA musicians that was hanging out in Marin County with the Dead, and on Fulton St. in SF with the Airplane. David was living on a houseboat in Sausalito. He loved boats. We ran into each other a few times, and we really connected. We took a liking to each other. We both had an affinity, actually, a passion, for the Welsh Poet, Dylan Thomas. We would read him out loud to each other. "Under Milkwood"..."the sloeback, crowblack, fishing boat bobbing sea". One day I was in Wally Heider Studios in SF, recording "Abraxas" with Santana. Creedence Clearwater was recording there as well. David had booked the big room downstairs, and word was going around how these sessions were becoming rather epic. Neil Young, Jack Casady, Jorma, Grace Slick, Jerry Garcia and other members of the Dead, and oh, Joni Mitchell.

At some point Croz learned we were recording upstairs and came upstairs and asked myself and Gregg Rolie to come downstairs and play. We went down and entered the room, and the strong and pungent smell of really good pot, and incense, combined with the red, dimmed lighting, and Indian fabrics, letting you know that you were in a high class hippy vibe recording room. We played and it was such a different vibe than Santana, of course. It really felt like hippy music to me. It was so open, and cozy, so floaty! It felt strange, to be honest. It was an honor to be playing with these folks, of course. Garcia was always a welcome, uplifting presence.

Later in life, David had a realistic approach to life, knowing that he had escaped death more than several times, and he made the most of, recording some of his best material in his late 70's. He squeezed the most out his artistic life and, just two weeks ago was talking about going back on the road. I saw some of those shows, and the shows with Graham Nash They were all magnificent. Here's to you, my friend, my brother. I'm going smoke a big fat one now in honor of you, while listening to your music.

"DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT.

OLD AGE SHOULD BURN AND RAVE AT CLOSE OF DAY;

RAGE, RAGE, RAGE AGAINST THE DYING OF THE LIGHT.

THOUGH WISE MEN AT THEIR END KNOW DARK IS RIGHT

BECAUSE THEIR WORDS HAD FORKED NO LIGHTENING, THEY

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT.

 

[Caevan O’Shite]

 

Neil Young On David Crosby: ‘I Remember The Best Times’

Longtime bandmates and collaborators had been estranged since 2014

Written By Jonathan Cohen  -  | January 20, 2023 - 10:27 am | Updated January 20, 2023 - 11:51 am