The last song David Crosby was truly proud of: “I’m very fucking happy with it”
Ever since he started making music way back in the 1960s, David Crosby has proven himself to be a genius.
You could argue that music would look very different were it not for David Crosby. This is because of the music he’s written on his own, that which he’s created in different bands, and because he was seemingly the person who convinced Bob Dylan to go electric. He was one of the three members of The Byrds responsible for putting their own spin on Dylan’s ‘Mr Tambourine Man’, which shot folk rock into the mainstream and made the genre one of the most desired in music. It also convinced Bob Dylan to maybe put the acoustic guitar to one side for a while.
“He came to hear us in the studio when we were building The Byrds,” recalled Crosby, “After the word got out that we gonna do ‘Mr. Tambourine Man‘ and we were probably gonna be good, he came there and he heard us playing his song electric, and you could see the gears grinding in his head. It was plain as day. It was like watching a slow-motion lightning bolt.”
Of course, Crosby didn’t only impact music through how he influenced others. The work he released with The Byrds, in Crosby, Stills & Nash, and as a solo artist are all examples of excellent songwriting, as Crosby seems incapable of writing something that doesn’t come from the heart. His connection with his music, whether it centres around something internal or a bigger picture, is truly magnificent.
That talent has never seemed to cease, either. Even in 2021, at 80 years old, Crosby was still writing excellent music. On his record, For Free, he made an upbeat album that was pretty direct and fun to listen to. He still got excitement out of making music and was incredibly proud of what he’d written, despite working in the industry for so long. One song that he felt really captured the essence of the record and that he was incredibly proud of was the track ‘I Think’.
“Well, I was trying for that. It either happens or it doesn’t,” said Corsby, “The song ‘I Think’ characterises the record for me. It’s up and happy. I normally write these tortured ballads; they go on forever and they’re really complex. But this is just very direct, simple, good music with complex chords. I’m very fucking happy with it and I think I’ve got a couple more records in me, for sure.”
However, despite being incredibly proud of the song ‘I Think’, this wasn’t the song that he called the best on the album, that was reserved for ‘I Won’t Stay For Long’, which was actually written by his son, James. Crosby said it wasn’t just him who loved the track, but other people he showed it to would burst into tears upon listening.
“James is such a thrill to me. He’s turning out to be a better songwriter than I am,” he said, “The best song on this new record is ‘I Won’t Stay For Long’. There isn’t any question about it, it’s the best song. That’s James, man. He wrote that. You have to imagine what it’s like for me to watch him grow into the stature of the guy he is now.”
