Long Time Gone

 It's getting to the point where I'm no fun anymore.

Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, Crosby, Stills and Nash (1969)

Noting the passing of singer, songwriter and sailor David Crosby.

I suppose anything is arguable, especially music tastes. In an effort to be, well, generous... Sixties music was pretty good. Take a stroll onto any platform - a streaming service, or YouTube, eg - and some of the great songs of the Sixties are being covered by musicians whose parents were children when the hits were made. Try it.

Many of the very best of the era were written and sung by a fractious collection of musical vagabonds. David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, known by their stage name Crosby, Stills and Nash (later, Crosby, Stills Nash, and Young when Neil Young came aboard), turned out an eclectic brand of music that was part protest, part ballad and all tightly constructed. Memorable songs with heft, variety and a strong social conscience that continues to resonate into the 21st Century.

David Crosby was instantly recognizable, with round face, a bushy mustache and the cherubic smile of someone who knew a secret he was dying to share. He often appeared in a plaid shirt, sleeves halfway rolled up. He was an accomplished songwriter, although he would later comment that his relationship with Joni Mitchell soured because, after he'd struggled all day to write a song, she would sit down and write three in ten minutes that were superior to his.

CSN didn't stay together for long, disintegrating only a handful of years after they'd started. Oh, there were reunions and recording sessions. The musicians went their separate ways, saw individual success. David took his sailboat Mayan all over the world. And, of course, no matter how far away he went, his lifestyle caught him.

There was alcohol and drugs, guns and jail. A liver transplant. Gigs missed. A final long illness. And David Crosby was gone.

And all that remains is the music, that wonderful music. Melodic, harmonic, engaged. Still being sung by a new generation who understand why it's important to "speak out against the madness."

Speak your mind, if you dare.