From 1969, please enjoy Jefferson Airplane and "Triad." Written by friend of the band and Byrds auteur David Crosby.
Inspirational verse:
You want to know how it will be
Me and him or you and me?
You both stand there your long hair flowing
Eyes alive your mind still growing
Saying to me
"What can we do now that we both love you?"
I love you too
I don't really see
Why can't we go on as three?
You are afraid, embarrassed too
No one has ever said such a thing to you
Your mother's ghost stands at your shoulder
Face like ice, a little bit colder
Saying to you
"You cannot do that, it breaks all the rules
You learned in school"
I don't really see
Why can't we go on as three?
And now the actual original Byrds version, also from 1969 (but unreleased until the 80s, for obvious reasons).
Two observations.
1. Lyrics notwithstanding, that's a pretty amazing piece of music, particularly the Airplane's chiming acoustic guitars and Jack Casady's chasm-deep bass. My old college band used to jam the instrumental track to it in rehearsals, and I gotta tell you, it was one insinuatingly gorgeous sound.
2. But the lyrics? Hey, I like an overcrowded Barcalounger occasionally as much as the next perv (I keed, I keed!!!) but yipes.
I mean, sung by Grace Slick, i.e. a stylish sexy siren-esque woman, it's one thing. But by a fat balding hippie like Croz? When it's about using his pop star celebrity to get into the pants of some jailbait?
Ewwww yuck.
18 comments:
Crosby thought he was writing a column for The Playboy Advisor. Hey it was the swinging sixties.
Still dreaming about Grace Slick every day!
Captain Al
Okay, that Crosby comment made me expel ice tea onto my monitor.😎
It's the perfect companion piece to Love the One You're With. Unexamined hippie sexism at its most regressive.
It's probably just me but I've never understood all the accolades Crosby received over the years. Is anyone's favorite song "Mind Gardens" from "Younger Than Yesterday"?
If he'd done nothing but this, he'd deserve to be immortal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mtfnL1Jzio
One of my (many) prized 45s is Sally Kellerman's version of "Triad" on the Bell label.
Bob in IL
Bob in IL;
Wow. That one I've got to check out.
2 out of 3 ain’t bad? One of these things doesn’t belong?
3 things I learned from David Crosby
Multiple alternate tunings
Jazz harmony can be cool in rock music
(Sorry Donald Fagen)
Say whatever the fuck strikes you in the moment…It’s perfectly ok.
For what it’s worth I’ve seen Crosby solo
more than 50 years ago and most recently in his Lighthouse Band iteration that included Michael League, Michelle Willis and Becca Stevens shortly before his death and they were outstanding performances, particularly the latter. Saw them twice and people actually got up and walked out because they weren’t playing the hits. The band was phenomenal…and it was clear to me that he was not as interested in the Greatest Hits as he was in finding something new. He was so f’n jazzed with the music he was making with these young people. Get a copy of Here If You Listen. If those folks had stuck around they would have gotten a beautifully reworked of version of “Woodstock”.
For all of his many documented faults he seems to have been someone compelled to push boundaries in whatever he did. Clearly sometimes to his detriment.
Oh, and lest we forget…produced Joni Mitchell’s first album. Another boundary challenger.
I’ll shut up now before I get in trouble…thanks David!
Crosby came into my shop in 2004. Marc Cohn, a regular and friend, brought him in. Cohn introduced us. "David, this is my friend Sal. He owns the shop. Sal, David." Crosby extended a limp hand and proceeded to be an absolute turd for the entire visit. He pointed to CDs- "This sucks." "I should have been on this session." "Why does anyone like this band?" When he was done shopping, I stupidly said,
"What should I charge a rock legend?," because I was seriously flabbergasted that he was in my shop. He slammed the CDs he was buying down on to the counter and yelled, "Just charge me whatever so I can get the fuck outta here!" Marc Cohn mouthed an apology to me and they left. It took 15 years before I could listen to "Lady Friend" again.
Wow, Sal. What a shame. That had to be a huge disappointment.
And let me just say here and for the record that Crosby remains one of my heroes. For strictly musical reasons. I mean, anybody who has read this blog for any period of time knows that the original Byrds -- of which Crosby was one of the architects -- are my all-time biggest musical influences and for that alone I'm grateful to the guy.
Steve,
I feel the way that you do about The Byrds. And I love the the first CSN and "Deja Vu" and "If I Could Only Remember My Name." But what an asshole!
I was raised to feel contempt for a man who brags how much sex he gets. Leonard Cohen is another.
still haven't figured out the new comments regime - the above was posted by me
Pete -- I haven't figured out the new comments thing either. 😎
I'll say the Croz was a great harmony singer and leave it at that. As for songs for swingin' lovers, I'll go with The Sweet's 'AC DC.' When Joan Jett does it, the temperature in the room goes up.
Heh. 😎
One of Crosby's best songs. A life-long philosophy for me which we put into practice. I like the Byrds, Airplane and 4 Way Street versions, all.
Hippie sexism? Regressive? Not at all. Enough with the PC prudity. I didn't think it was controversial even then. It was just one of the first times the subject got put in a pop music song.
The Byrds ran scared to their discredit, but eight months later the Airplane delivered. David used to dedicate it to the Daughters of the American Revolution when peforming it in concert.
Sorry Sal had such a shitty experience with David. I would have given him back a taste of what he was giving you. That’s the only way shitheads like him gain any respect for you. Gotta get on their level.
VR
Once I went to see Jackson Browne at the Universal Amphitheater and David was in the audience with his wife Jan. It was the "I'm Alive Tour." John Hiatt opened. That was reason we went. Hiatt had just put together the Guilty Dogs with Michael Ward, Davey Faragher and Michael Urbano. One thing about Hiatt, he always had ace bands with guitarists like Cooder, Landreth and Dickinson passing through. I went with Sandy and we had seats in the absolute sweet spot in front of the board by 4 rows. Naturally, we were gonna be taping to DAT with new Core Sound mics and bass roll-off. David and spouse were in second row center of the pit. We were already set to go when they arrived. It was about 20 minutes till showtime and people were slowly filtering in. When David got to his seat he turned around, put his hand above his eyes and scoped out the crowd. He was smiling but he didn't look too good. Kinda bloated with spots on his skin. This was before the liver transplant. Anyway, he doesn't sit down. Instead, he leaves the pit and heads up the aisle to our seats. We don’t acknowledge him like awestruck fans. It’s LA. If you go to a lot of concerts famous people will be among you. I leave them be. He tells me that we’re sitting in his seats. I told him the fuck we were. Then he said "I always get row KK seats in the center. I showed him that our tickets were for our seats. Then he said rather forcefully “But you don’t understand I ALWAYS get these seats!” I told him to quit acting like such an entitled douche. Then I told him to fuck off. He smiled. Then he got friendlier and tried to convince us to trade seats with him and his wife. He tried to persuade us that the pit seats were better. We knew about the pit. The PA blows right past you and you mostly hear the amp that’s in front of you. No dice.
He dejectedly walked off. After he sat down in his pit seat, he and his wife both turned around and he pointed us out to her. I was doing a test pass, making sure the DAT loaded properly, when Sandy drew them to my attention. I flipped them off and mouthed a fuck you. They turned back around.
I had another, more pleasant experience with David in 1998 at a CPR show. Peter Fonda invited me to come back stage with him. It’s a weird story. Another time, maybe.
I enjoyed CPR live three times. They surprised me. But I didn’t like the way they rearranged the venerable hits. The newer stuff was really good, Jeff Pevar is a really great guy and a hell of a musician. He’s on a Michael Landau level. He can do it all.
As reasonably well received as Crosby's latter day releases have been, his voice wasn't as strong.
I love "Younger Than Yesterday." But "Mind Gardens" is a blemish. Still, Renaissance and Burned are classic Crosby. But another strong point is the emergence of Hillman.
VR
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