Song Exploder - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Our House

Episode Date: October 30, 2024

In 1968, singer and songwriter Graham Nash joined David Crosby and Stephen Stills to form the supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash. All of them had already been in successful bands: Graham Nash had been in The Hollies; David Crosby was in The Byrds; and Stephen Stills was in Buffalo Springfield. The next year, Neil Young joined them, to make Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. The four of them released Deja Vu in 1970, and that album was a huge success. It sold over 8 million copies. It includes the song “Our House,” and for this episode, I spoke to Graham Nash about the making of that song, and the relationship that led to the song.For more, visit songexploder.net/crosby-stills-nash-and-young.

You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs, and piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made. I'm Rishi Kesh Hirwe. Could you tell me about the day that you wrote the song? Do you remember it? I do indeed. I had taken my girlfriend, Johnny Mitchell, to breakfast at a delicatessen on Bantira Boulevard in Los Angeles. It was at the end of winter, a completely awful day, you know, rainy and full. foggy and very, very cold. After breakfast, Johnny and I were walking to where her car was parked, and we passed an antique

store. Johnny saw a vase that she wanted to buy. It was in the back, about 10 inches high, some hand-painted flowers around the edge, and Johnny bought it. We collected the vase and drove to our house in Laurel Canyon. And as I went through the front door, I said to John, I said, hey, Joan, why don't I light of fire and you put some flowers in that vase that you bought today. Well, that's all I needed.

While Joni was in the backyard trying to find some flowers that hadn't died yet in winter and I was at her piano, I got the first lines and wrote the song. The fire who place the flowers in the vase that you bow. today In 1968, singer and songwriter Graham Nash joined David Crosby and Stephen Stills

to form the supergroup Crosby, Stills, and Nash. All of them had already been in successful bands. Graham Nash had been in the Hollies, David Crosby was in the Birds, and Stephen Stills was in Buffalo Springfield. And then

Neil Young joined them to make Crosby Stills, Nash, and Young. The four of them released Deja Vu in 1970, and that album was a huge success. It sold over 8 million copies. It includes the song Our House, and for this episode, I spoke to Graham Nash about the making of that song and the relationship that led to the song. How did you and Joni Mitchell first meet? We met early in 1967. The Hollies were playing a show in Ottawa, in Canada. Johnny had been playing a show at a small folk club, and she came to

see me. And our manager at the time was a... kind of nattering in my ear. And I said, hey, Robin, I'm not listening to you. I'm trying to figure out who this beautiful woman is over in the corner there. And he said, well, if you would listen to me, I'm telling you that that's Joni Mitchell and she wants to meet you. So I walked over to John. She had on a pale blue silk dress. And she had on her knee what looked to me to be a Bible. But it was not a Bible. It was actually a music box. And she played it for me, and it had one note that was bad. And every time it got to that note, she would laugh, and we would laugh, because, you know, it was a music box.

It's supposed to be perfect. She was staying at a hotel in Ottawa called the Chateau Laurier. We went back to the hotel. She played me 18 of the most beautiful songs I'd ever heard in my life. I was in love completely, instantly. I believe that she actually liked me also. But that's the night that I met Johnny Mitchell. Wow.

Can you tell me a little bit about the house in question here in Laurel Canyon? When did you first encounter this house? December the 10th, 1968. And I played with the Holley's on the 8th and flew the next day to meet Johnny. Her house was at 8217 Lookout Mountain. but I pulled into the driveway and I heard other voices and that would kind of piss me off a little because I just wanted to make time with John but it was David and Stephen and they were having dinner with Johnny at her house so I went in and said a load of David I'd known him before because he came to England with the birds

and was staying at a very stuffy hotel and so I called David and I said you know come and stay with me at my apartment. It's much gruevier, you know. So I already knew David. I didn't know Stephen. The Buffalo Springfield had broken up, and the birds had thrown David out of the band. And so Stephen and David were trying to get like a duo thing together,

like the heavily brothers, you know. And David said, hey, Stephen, play Willie that song. That's my middle name, Graham William Nash, and my friends call me Willie, even to this day. And I always know how old they've been my friend when they call me Willie. So David said, hey, play Willie that song that we were just doing. It was a song called You Don't Have to Cry. They played it, got to the end.

I said, Stephen, that's an incredible song. Play it again. They looked at each other, they shrugged, they played it again. I said, boy, I'm really good at what I'm. I do as a harmony singer. I've learned how David ends a certain phrase. I've seen Stephen's body language when he's about to finish a line. And I'd learn the words. I said, do me a favor. I'm not crazy. Play it one more time. They played it one more time. I added my voice. And in 45 seconds, we had to stop and laugh. Because even though the Buffalo Springfield and

the birds and the hollies were decent harmony bands, we had never. heard this kind of sound. Only for you. Anyone can sing the same notes as we can. That's no secret. But you can't sound like David and Stephen and I when we put our voices together and presented as one voice.

And in that little 45 seconds of laughter and stuff like that, I realized I would have to go back to England and change my life. You can't present me with a sound like that. and not expect me to do something drastic. So I knew that I would have to go back to England

and leave the Hollies and come to America and follow that sound. Okay, I'd like to just play a little something here, and then I'd love to talk about it with you. Got it. Such a cozy room. Those are illuminated by the evening. That was recorded in Wallyhider Studio 3 in Selma and Koenka. So in this demo, it's just you solo.

Yes. Normally it was in C, but it was too high for me. And so I changed the key to A, and that's me putting it down in A to make sure that that's the right key. to actually make the record of. I have a crutch of just like pretty much everything I'm writing. It starts off in C or A minor, you know, because I know where all the fingers are going to go.

Do you have that same thing? Like, do you tend to start in an all-white-keys place? Yeah, as simple as possible. Yes. Do you remember the first time you ever played a minor chord? Yeah. Quite amazing, isn't it? Yeah.

Yeah. When you play a minor chord for the first time, the whole world opens up and you get that feeling. Do you remember showing this song to David and Stephen the first time? I do. They loved the song. They thought it was very much a radio song,

that they could hear it on the radio. And when we got to the solo... Stephen said, hey, you know, in a really strange way, that la-l-l-l-la-la that you're singing on the demo is really, really cute. Let's try and do that. When you had written that la-l-la part, were you intending it to stay that way? Or had you thought of that as a placeholder until that comment? I imagine French horns playing, frankly.

But when Stephen said that la la la pa, it's kind of cute, let's do that. I went right along with it, but I initially thought it was going to be a French horn. Did the song change in any other way from when you first wrote it to when you went to show it to your bandmates? No, it didn't change at all. It was a very simple record to make because it's an incredibly simple song. I really enjoy writing simple songs because I want you immediately. I don't want you to wait for the fourth verse or the second chorus before you know what I'm talking about. I want you now.

Can you tell me about the day that you first started recording this song then? Yeah. I was in the Wally Haider Studio. I was with Dallas Taylor, who was our drummer, and Greg Reeves, who was the bass player. And we just made the record between ourselves. And then David and Stephen added their vocal parts. And did you give specific direction to Dallas and Greg? Did you give them sort of a heads up of like,

okay, this is what I'm looking for? What was the conversation with them like before you went and tracked it? There was very little conversation when I was recording it because I want to play with musicians that want to bring their best to it. And because they're great musicians, Dallas Taylor and Greg Reeves are incredible musicians, of course. There's very little talking. I played them in the demo.

and then I played it live for them and then we recorded it. I think there's only like three takes of that song. So this was pretty fresh after writing it? Very much so, yeah. I like to do that because I can still feel inside of me what it's going to be. I can still feel that it's going to be a great radio record.

I can still feel that it's possibly going to be well received by the audience. Yeah, there is something that can be lost if you've lived with a song for too long before you go to record it, where it's not surprising you anymore. You know, once you've played a song for 20 times, you've lost it. It's gone. You know, you're just performing it. You're not actually living it.

And you're living it in those first couple of takes that you do. So one of the things that I think is interesting about the song is that there are two piano tracks, this track, then also this track. Right. Could you tell me a little bit about your decision to put two layers of piano in the recording? One part that I recorded is doing basically the high part, and the other is playing the bass part. I wanted to fatten up the piano.

I'm not a great musician, a very simple guitar piano player, and so I wanted to fatten up the sound of the piano. Listen to you. Play your love songs all night long. I know you said that the first line, you know, just came right from your experience of that day. I'll like the fire. You placed the flowers. What about the rest of the lyrics?

Well, completing that verse is, you played your love songs all night long for me, which is what she did in Ottawa. She played me all those beautiful, beautiful songs. And then in the second verse I say, come to me now and rest your head for just five minutes, everything is done. There's an English phrase about everything being done,

meaning the dishes had been washed, you know, the carpet had been vacuumed, everything was done. Come to me now and rest your head for just five minutes. Everything is done. And then, of course, the chorus, our house was a very, very fine house. And she had two cats, calico and Hunter. One was a calico red and black.

And Hunter was purely black. And yeah, there were two cats in the yard. Our house is a very, very, very fine house with two cats in the yard. Life used to be so hard Now everything is easy because of you Could I also ask you about the harpsichord? How did you decide to include harpsichord in the track? We used the harpsichord because there's no guitars on there.

I have no guitars on this track. It's just piano. And so in trying to make it just piano, I wanted a real big sound. My conversation with Graham Nash continues after this. I have a new album of my own coming out on April 24th. It's been about 15 years since I last put out a full length, and this is the first one that'll be out under my own name, Rishi Kesh Her Way.

I started making Song Exploder when I was feeling lost in my own music career. And then for over a decade, I've gotten to have these incredible conversations about the process of making music, talking to other artists, and it made me completely rethink my relationship to music and my way of writing songs. And this album is the product of all of that. It features contributions from some of my favorite artists, including some folks that you may have heard on this podcast, like Iron and Wine, Kevin Morby, Vagabon, Fenlily, and the producer Phil Wine Rope. I'm going to be on tour playing in cities across the U.S. starting in April, and I'm trying to bring the spirit of the

podcast with me. So every show that I'm playing will begin with a conversation about the album with a different amazing guest moderator in each city, like Adam Scott, Samin Nasrat, Jason Manzukas, Josh Molina, Minjin Lee, Ken Jennings, John Roderick, Austin Cleon, and more. They're all going to be my conversation partners on stage, and then I'll play with my band. The album is called In the Last Hour of Light, and the first couple songs are out now. You can listen to the music and get tickets for the shows on my website, rishikash.co. Or just go to songexploder.net slash live. That's songexploder.net slash live.

Thanks. How did it end up working out that you went into the studio before David and Steven showed up? Was that always the plan? It just happened that way. You know, people sleep in late. Normally we would be in the studio until three or four in the morning. And I just happened to be awake, and so was Dallas, and so was Greg. So we just went in the studio at 2 o'clock, you know, and they just were late to the studio.

And so me and Dallas and Greg just... cut the record. We knew that once we'd done it, that we had got the essence of the song down. And we knew that David and Stephen won, they came in to listen to it. They would love it. And they would know exactly what to do as overdubs. This song doesn't have Neil Young on it. Neil is not on our house. Because what would Neil do? He's Neil Young, for God's sake, an incredibly great guitar player. And I think, he's a very decent singer.

But there was no room for Neil, and Neil knew that. Neil listened to it, and he goes, it's done. Why try and screw with it? I'd love to listen to the vocal arrangement now, because I have these three tracks of your voice. Such a cozy room. Such a cozy room. Two tracks of David.

Such a cozy room. And two tracks of Stephen. We wanted to make sure that it sounded fabulous, and that's how we did it. Such a cozy windows are illuminated by the sunshine through them, fiery gems for you, only for you. So one thing I wanted to ask you about is this moment where you sort of split off and this sort of counterpoint thing. Our house is a very, very, very fine house. So what happened is basically it was a mistake.

Really? Oh, yeah, it was David and Stephen just drifting off into a different part. But you see, that's what I like about first and second takes. You know, sometimes mistakes can happen that really, really are not mistakes. And so once we did that, we made it a part of the vocal blend. But it was actually started out as a mistake. What was it like just now for you to hear that vocal track? Do you still have any kind of emotional reaction at this point to hearing this song

or to hearing something like that in isolation? I must confess that when you played that my mind was on David Crosby, you know, He passed away about a year and a half ago, and that's what I was listening to. I was listening to David's part and realizing how much I loved him and how much I missed him. Our house is a very, very, very, very, very fine house with two cats in the yard. Life used to be so hard. Now everything is easy because of you. When did you first realize that the song was a hit?

The moment I recorded it. We're good musicians. We know what's good and what's not. You don't need the external validation of the audience to tell you that it was a hit. Nope. Okay, there's just one more thing that I wanted to play for you. There's a very, very, very fine house with two cats in the yard. Life used to be so hard.

That's the time that we were in Philadelphia at the music hall there and Johnny was with me and I started to at sound check play our house and she joined me on vocal and piano. That's the only time it ever happened. Really? That's the only time it ever happened. Mm-hmm. Everything is done

I just love that part Yep, that's me and Johnny Why were you recording this at sound check? I wasn't, but it was our front-of-house sound guy that was I didn't ask him to record it I was just making sure that I could hear the piano it was done completely spontaneously hearing that version again? What does that evoke for you?

That version of Johnny and I playing it with four hands on the piano. This was a very special moment between Johnny and I. Can I ask you, how is it that you have such exquisite detail in your memories? I'm so impressed that you know the date that you left the band, that you remember the hand-painted flowers around the bottom of the vase. You know, I interview people for this show all the time, and there are people who are talking about a song that they wrote the year before and they can't remember anything.

I have a good memory. I'm 82 now. It was a very important time in my life. I mean, to live and love Joni Mitchell was incredibly special to me. And as a musician, of course, I'm on the road a lot. To be able to write a song about my actual home where I lived was very comforting for me.

And it was easy to remember because, you know, that's when I, first put my voice together with David and Stevens in Joni's living room, when Johnny has the only witness to the beginning of Crosby Stills and Nash. And now here's Our House by Crosby Stills, Nash and Young in its entirety. The fire, the flowers in the vase that you bore today. Staring at the fire for hours and I... Visit SongExploder.net.

You'll find links to buy or stream Our House. This episode was produced by Craig Ely, Theo Balcom, Kathleen Smith, Mary Dolan, and myself. Our production assistant is Tiger Biscop. The episode artwork is by Carlos Lerma, and I made the show's music and logo. Song Exploder is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a network of independent, listener-supported,

artist-owned podcasts. you can learn more about our shows at Radiotopia.fm. You can sign up for my newsletter on the Song Exploder website. You can also follow me and Song Exploder on Instagram, and you can get a Song Exploder t-shirt at songexploder.net slash shirt. I'm Rishi Kesh Hereway. Thanks for listening.