TBI 205 Crosby, Stills, Nash
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1 The Big Interview Episode Number: 205 Episode Title: Crosby, Stills, and Nash Description: Dan Rather goes one on one with GRAMMY® winners Crosby, Stills and Nash to talk about the music that defined a generation. ACT 1 CROSBY, STILLS AND NASH (singing) I’ve got an answer, I’m going to fly away.... DAN RATHER (VOICE OVER) TONIGHT… ON THE BIG INTERVIEW… CROSBY, STILLS AND NASH…THEIR TUMULTUOUS LIVES...AND SIGNATURE SOUNDS… CROSBY, STILLS AND NASH (singing) What have I got to lose? RATHER I'm a journalist, obviously, and I'm always interested in getting the story straight. Can we settle on how Crosby, Stills and Nash started? DAVID CROSBY AND GRAHAM NASH No. RATHER There's no agreement? CROSBY, NASH AND STEPHEN STILLS No. RATHER (VOICE OVER) THREE SENSATIONAL SINGERS WHO WERE THERE AT WOODSTOCK. CROSBY, STILLS AND NASH… ON THE BIG INTERVIEW. 2 ACT 2 DAN RATHER (VOICE OVER) THEY WERE THREE SINGERS WHO ALREADY HAD SUCCESSFUL CAREERS… DAVID CROSBY AS PART OF THE INFLUENTIAL 60S ROCK BAND THE BYRDS… STEPHEN STILLS IN BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD… AND GRAHAM NASH IN THE LEGENDARY BRITISH ROCK GROUP THE HOLLIES … BUT IN LOS ANGELES IN THE SUMMER OF 1968… CROSBY, STILLS AND NASH GOT TOGETHER FOR THE FIRST TIME FORMING ONE OF THE FIRST SUPER-GROUPS …. AND FROM THE INFECTIOUS STRAINS OF THEIR FIRST HIT SINGLE, “MARRAKESH EXPRESS,” IT WAS MAGIC CROSBY, STILLS AND NASH (singing) Don’t you know we’re riding on the Marrakesh Express, don’t you know we’re riding on the Marrakesh Express... RATHER (VOICE OVER) THE HARMONY AMONG THE THREE SOON BECAME LEGEND...AND INSPIRED ITS OWN NAME...THE CALIFORNIA SOUND. CROSBY, STILLS AND NASH (singing) All aboard the train, all aboard the train... RATHER (VOICE OVER) BUT THEIR MUSIC QUICKLY CHANGED WITH THE TIMES….IN THE SUMMER OF 1968, AMERICA WAS IN TURMOIL. VIETNAM WAS RAGING. ANTI-WAR SENTIMENT WAS ON THE RISE… “LONG TIME GONE” WAS WRITTEN IN RESPONSE TO THE ASSASSINATION OF ROBERT F. KENNEDY... CROSBY, STILLS AND NASH (singing) It’s been a long time coming, it’s gonna be a long time gone... RATHER (VOICE OVER) SOCIAL COMMENTARY AND CRITICISM BECAME A KEY ELEMENT IN MUCH OF THE GROUP’S SONGWRITING. CROSBY, STILLS, NASH AND YOUNG (singing) What if you knew her and found her dead on the ground... 3 RATHER (VOICE OVER) BY THE FOLLOWING SUMMER, CROSBY, STILLS AND NASH HAD ADDED NEIL YOUNG AND HIS DISTINCTIVE VOICE. CROSBY, STILLS AND NASH It’s getting to the point where I’m no fun anymore..... RATHER (VOICE OVER) THE GROUP PLAYED WOODSTOCK. IT WAS ONLY THEIR 2ND LIVE PERFORMANCE TOGETHER. BUT IT BECAME A SEMINAL MOMENT IN THE HISTORY OF ROCK AND ROLL. CROSBY, STILLS AND NASH Sometimes it hurts so badly I must cry out loud... RATHER (VOICE OVER) EVEN THOUGH THEIR VOICES BLENDED SEAMLESSLY WHEN THEY SANG, OFF STAGE, ONE BAND MEMBER’S VOICE SEEMED TO DRAW THE MOST ATTENTION - GUITARIST AND SONGWRITER -- DAVID CROSBY. DAN RATHER In preparing for this interview, I was told that, they said, "He’s the unpredictable one." Why would they say that? DAVID CROSBY I have a reputation for being looney and-- irreverent and-- experimental. And-- and it's, you know, I-- I think it's a fair description. I-- (LAUGH) I wouldn't-- I wouldn’t dispute it at all. RATHER Well, you used the word, "experimental." Sometimes, being experimental can get you into trouble. CROSBY It has. And sometimes it's gotten me into areas, you know, that I would not otherwise have-- have made it to. For the human race, it's-- it's been the same way. It's been a good thing and a bad thing. For me, experimenting-- experimenting with drugs wound up terribly. For me, experimenting with musical forms wound up being the biggest open door that I hit-- in my 4 musical growth, you know? So I think, in the long run, it's a quality that the human race really needs and-- and should nurture. RATHER Well, let's talk about the negative side of it. You said there w-- there is a positive side, the experimenting with new musical forms. But on the bad side, let's talk about the highlights or lowlights, if you will. (LAUGH) How-- first of all, how did it start? CROSBY Well, we were a bunch of people trying to blow ourselves loose from the '50s, from Pat Boone and white bucks, you know, from Father Knows Best. That was and age we wanted to leave behind and maybe rightly so. So when the idea of smokin' a joint, you know, came along, we thought, "Wow, this, hey, (WHISTLE) this is pretty wonderful." And we embraced it. And we thought, "Wow, this is gonna give us all kinds of wild, new ideas." And maybe it did, maybe it didn't. Maybe the ideas woulda come anyway. But we loved it. Then we encountered hard drugs, which of course, as you know, although, the government doesn't seem to know it-- are completely different. Pure poison. And-- they pretty much destroyed my life over a period of time, or I destroyed my life with their help. And-- that's where experimenting can get you in a lotta trouble. That's like experimenting when you're trying to climb up Half Dome without a rope, not a good place to be. RATHER Well, I'm smiling, but it wasn't funny at the time. CROSBY No, it wasn't funny at all-- RATHER It was serious. CROSBY I wound up in a Texas prison. How funny could it be? RATHER And you were in prison for how long? CROSBY A year. 5 RATHER Was that the low point? CROSBY Yeah. I-- you know, it's low point and high point. I wrote that judge who put me in that prison a thank you letter later on. And I said, "I know that, every day, people show up in front of your court that you've seen before and that you've given a sentence to." And he wasn't-- a mean guy or-- he was a guy that was trying to do a good job, hard guy but fair and trying to do a good job. And I said, "This one time, I wanted you to know it worked. "I'm married. I'm working. I'm sober. I'm being tested, sober. I'm going to AA. I'm happy. My life's workin'. The whole thing actually worked the way it was supposed to. And I just thought it might help you if you knew that, every once in a while, you win one." RATHER If you hadn't gone to prison, if the judge hadn't sentenced you to prison, do you think you'd be alive today? CROSBY No. I-- I-- I can say that with almost absolute certainty. I would not have. RATHER So in that sense, going to prison saved your life. CROSBY I think it did. RATHER Let's talk about-- your liver transplant-- is public knowledge, very well known. Now, some people question whether the abuse of drugs and alcohol, whether anybody who does that should be moved to the back of the liver transplant line. CROSBY You know, I-- I can't be the one to define whether-- what the value system should be on that. I know that, when they gave me the transplant, I was nine years sober. And I know that they would not have given me the transplant if I weren't nine years sober. 6 Saying that-- that I, you know, didn't deserve it because I, you know, was responsible for giving myself the disease-- I don't know if I would agree with that. 'Cause I did learn. And I did change. And I did, you know, make the effort. And boy, is it an effort. RATHER I'm a great believer you are what your record is. And your record shows that you did straighten up. And you did become, did you ever, a productive member of society. What turned it around for you and when? CROSBY I think one of the biggest factors was my wife, Jan. You know, we went downhill together. And when I got arr-- you know, when I gave myself up, I surrendered myself to the authorities and willingly went to prison-- she went into treatment. And when I got out, we got together. And I think a lot of it was her support and her saying, "Let's go to a meeting," and finding, you know-- other things of value to put our time and effort into, rather than trying to find more drugs. RATHER You've been married how long? CROSBY Jeez. 36 years? And-- I-- I think we're incredibly lucky that we're still together. Because we-- we would-- I would not be alive if she hadn't been there to help me through it. RATHER In music, as in almost every other field, it's very difficult to sustain a career anywhere near as long as you and the others have been able to sustain your careers. CROSBY I-- I can tell you why I think that is whether it's Crosby, Stills, and Nash with three writers or Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young with four writers, we had a wide palate, a much wider palate, to paint from than most bands would have. And all four of us can sing lead. All four of us can sing harmony. All four of us can play.