The one musician David Crosby called “the best of all of us”
If you had asked around before the late David Crosby had passed as to whether he was what you might call a “nice guy,” there was a very real chance you would have been met with a snigger.
Crosby was a lot of things to a lot of people. He was a gifted singer, something demonstrated with The Byrds to glorious effect; he was an agile and potent songwriter, equally gifted in expressing universal emotion as he was personal feeling, and for some, he was a lifelong friend. But, he always had a temper and a suitably nasty side to his spirit.
It can sometimes feel strange, then, when he would take the time to lavish praise on a series of his counterparts. Across the years, he didn’t hold back in lavishing some performers with praise. Miles Davis was consistently heralded as one of the greatest to ever live, and he was effusive about his appreciation for Steely Dan and their life-saving ability. But there was one whom he held in particular favour: Joni Mitchell.
The late singer-songwriter David Crosby shared a storied history with Joni Mitchell. The two musicians were once in a short-lived relationship in 1967, a romance which fizzled out briefly after it began but did inspire her to write the brilliant breakup song, ‘That Song About The Midway’. Despite how it ended, Mitchell was “the best of all of us” in Crosby’s eyes.
The relationship was ill-fated due to Crosby’s infidelity, and he accepted full responsibility for why they parted ways. Understandably, due to the nature of their breakup, Mitchell and Crosby didn’t remain close or maintain a friendship after their split. Although he never showed it during their relationship, Crosby was in complete awe of Mitchell’s talent, and her presence was a constant source of inspiration.
During an interview with Music Radar in 2017, Crosby reflected on Mitchell’s talent while assessing his generation of musicians and their influences on him. Crosby asserted: “James Taylor is such a brilliant musician and Joni Mitchell is probably the best of all of us. She is probably the best singer-songwriter of our time. I don’t think there’s anybody close. Bob [Dylan] ‘s as good or, if not, a better poet but she sings rings around him so I think she’s won.”
He added: “She’s a tremendous influence on me… as were The Beatles. And Michael Hedges. Earlier, a lot of people were a big influence – Odetta, Josh White, Pete Seeger and The Weavers. A ton of stuff.”
When they were together as a couple, Crosby was constantly musically one-upped by his partner, forcing him to raise his game. “Listen, imagine if you wrote a song, a really good song, and you sang it to her when she came home, and then she sang you three better songs that she wrote last night,” he told Stern. The Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young singer added: “I don’t get along with her that well anymore, but I do love her with my whole heart for what she’s given us.”
While they never got back on the same page after Crosby’s act of unfaithfulness, Mitchell continued to inspire him from afar even when they became estranged, and he never allowed his personal feelings to interfere with his love of her work.
