1969 - May: Crosby, Stills & Nash “Crosby, Stills & Nash”

What the Riff?!?

It is hard to think of a time in the rock era when Crosby, Stills & Nash were not already a mainstay of the genre, but every rock legend has an origin, and the self-titled debut album first appeared in May of 1969. It was a near-instant success and one of the harbingers of a turn from blues-oriented rock to more acoustic, folk-oriented rock that would usher in the decade of the 70's.

Crosby, Stills & Nash were a supergroup from their debut. David Crosby came from The Byrds, Stephen Stills came out of Buffalo Springfield, and Graham Nash was from The Hollies. Each was a songwriter as well as a vocalist and instrumentalist (Crosby on guitar, Stills on guitar and keyboards, and Nash on guitar). The addition of Neil Young (who has also previously played with Buffalo Springfield) would come after the album was released.

As you listen to this podcast pay attention to the harmonies in the songs. That is the calling card for CS&N. Band members differ on where the trio first sang together. Crosby and Nash maintain that it was at Joni Mitchell's house, but Stephen Stills insists that he would have been too intimidated to sing at Mitchell's place, and that it was at Cass Elliot's (from The Mamas and the Papas) house! Either way the harmonies were so good it was clear that they would have to form a group.

Much of the album is accomplished with multi-instrumentalist Stephen Stills (aka "Captain Many Hands") playing on the tracks, though Crosby and Nash played guitar on songs that they wrote. You can't duplicate this onstage however, so more instrumentalists had to be brought in for the tour — including Neil Young. One of their first stops - only their second concert as a group in fact - would be Woodstock, where they played a set between 3:00 and 4:00 a.m.

Rob brings us this harmonic, folk album. We hope you enjoy it!

Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
This song is one of two hit singles from the album. The song was written by Stephen Stills, inspired by his former girlfriend, Judy Collins. It is a play on words - “Sweet Judy” and written as a 4-part suite. The first section is a pop song, the second section is in half tempo (relative to the first section), the third section picks up the tempo and is more poetic, and the fourth section is in Spanish.

Long Time Gone
This should be a familiar track which is time-stamped from the late 60's. It was written the night that Bobby Kennedy was killed. David Crosby wrote this political, counter-cultural work. “Speak out, you got to speak out against the madness, you got to speak your mind, if you dare. But don't try to get yourself elected. If you do you had better cut your hair.”

You Don't Have to Cry
The first song Crosby, Stills & Nash ever sang together is this deep cut. Stephen Stills wrote this one as a love letter to Judy Collins, trying to convince her to move from New York to California. “Are you thinking of telephones and managers and where you've got to be at noon?”

Helplessly Hoping
This deep cut was the B-side from the single for “Marrakesh Express” The beautiful acoustic work reminded us of songs like Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" or Kansas' "Dust In the Wind."

ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:

Everybody's Talking from the motion picture “Midnight Cowboy”
Harry Nilsson performs this Grammy award-winning cover from the first X-rated movie to win an Academy Award for Best Picture.

STAFF PICKS:

“Galveston” by Glenn Campbell
Brian's staff pick is one of three songs Jimmy Webb wrote for Campbell (the others being "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" and "Wichita Lineman").

“Just a Little Bit” by Little Milton
Wayne takes us to the Mississippi delta for some blues. Ike Turner discovered Little Milton for Sam Phillips at Sun Records. Little Milton became more famous when he went to Checker Records, a more blues-oriented label. Little Milton was a prolific blues artist.

“It's Your Thing” by The Isley Brothers
Bruce moves from blues to soul with the first hit from the Isley Brothers after leaving Motown Records. Ronald Isley wrote the song while dropping his daughter off at school. It features the lyrics “I can't tell ya' who to sock it to,” an adaptation of a popular line from the time that originally appeared in Aretha Franklin's “Respect.”

“In-A-Gadda-De-Vida” by Iron Butterfly
Rob finishes off our staff picks with the radio version of the 17-minute psychedelic opus. Is it heavy metal, is it acid rock? We can't say, but Songfacts clears up the name as a misnomer. The title was supposed to be "In the Garden of Eden," but someone wrote the name down wrong and the record label decided to stick with "In-A-Gadda-De-Vida" as an eastern-sounding title.

INSTRUMENTAL TRACK:

Theme from "Hawaii 5-0" by The Ventures
Surfs up as we close out this week's podcast with an instrumental from the cop drama which debuted in 1968 and ran for 12 seasons. The Ventures' version of this song was on the charts this month as a top-5 hit.

Thanks for listening to “What the Riff?!?”

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