“Every word is true”: The song Graham Nash said broke his heart
There’s a reason why love is one of the most universal emotions for any songwriter. Every single person who’s listening has had their heart broken at least once, and being able to find some catharsis in reliving those glory days or having a shoulder to cry on is half the reason why people find comfort in their favourite tunes. Although Graham Nash had many of those feel-good tracks in his arsenal, he knew enough to realise when some songs hit closer to home for the wrong reasons.
Then again, Nash’s time working for The Hollies was practically a clinic in being able to write the greatest songs he could. They had come out during the same time as the British invasion, but when they started making their own covers of Dylan tunes and coaxing by as a borderline novelty act, Nash knew that he would never be taken seriously if he had stayed the course. He needed some new blood, and working with David Crosby and Stephen Stills was exactly what he needed.
After all, ‘Marrakesh Express’ was never going to be played by the rest of The Hollies, and it’s far too great a song to become a B-side, but when it appeared on the trio’s first album, it became one of their seminal songs within the span of a year. But there was one other muse for Nash during that time, and her name was Joni Mitchell.
Although Mitchell may have already had a reputation for being another power player in the folk-rock scene, she was interested in reaching far beyond traditional rock and roll. Her muse led her in some of the strangest directions, and while she and Nash had briefly become an item, things took a dark turn the minute everyone heard Blue. Their breakup was far from pretty, and Mitchell’s broken heart coats every piece of the album.
It would be mortifying enough for Nash to have heard something this raw in the wake of their fallout, but the true pain didn’t come until later. Ladies of the Canyon was a far more gentle album with some sunnier tunes, but the minute that Nash heard the song ‘Willy’, he admitted to falling to pieces.
That had been Nash’s pet name whenever he and Mitchell got together, and when he heard the song afterwards, Nash would fall apart, saying, “Every word is true. It’s a heartbreaking song for me. To be in love with Joni Mitchell, and have that love come back at you, even to the point of marriage — to lose that was devastating for me. I’m old enough now to realise it was a long, long time ago, and I can admit that I was heartbroken.”
The song itself may have been written before Blue existed, but knowing what he knew afterwards, hearing her be this lovestruck was going to bring nothing but pain. Mitchell may paint Nash as this constant source of joy in her life, but it’s all the more tragic knowing that this fantastic song doesn’t have a happy ending if you listen to the countless sequels a few albums layer on like ‘My Old Man’.
So while the song is a fine piece of sonic art, it’s also a sort of reminder every time Nash hears it. On one hand, it can bring up all of those happy memories, but it’s also a good way of letting people know that sometimes those romantic scars never heal.
