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David Crosby
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"Now, my life is focused on all kinds of different stuff—being a good parent, being a good musician, being a good sailor, and being a good pilot."
"I think we know what the cost of freedom is. It’s commitment, sacrifice, and hard work. Sometimes, the tree of liberty has to get watered with the blood of patriots. That, I think, is Alexander Hamilton’s line, but it’s absolutely the truth. I think that freedom doesn’t come for free. It requires the hard work and dedication and sacrifice of the people who want to earn it. Freedom has to be earned and it takes courage and it takes work and it takes the willingness to keep working at it. I think, overall in America, we’re doing the very best we can. We definitely have some problems, in terms of the government being up for sale—and we need to work on that—but I think we’re doing pretty well."
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3.28.02
Looking Forward: David Crosby Muses on Politics, Life, and Music
...continued
Mt: After your liver transplant in 1995, you had a personal rebirth of sorts. Within the course of that year, your wife Jan gave birth to your son Django and you reunited with James Raymond, your biological son who had been placed up for adoption in the early sixties.
DC: Hell of a year, whoo-hoo!
Mt: We’re talking about a real turn around here, because the decade or so leading up to then was not so great for you.
DC: Not so great for me. Well, actually, the decade leading up until then I was doing pretty well, because by the time I had the transplant, I was nine years sober. But in terms of misfortunes…my accountant not paying my taxes and telling me that he had and having them come and try to take my house…I had a motorcycle wreck.
Mt: And then the earthquake in 1994.
DC: You know, the earthquake knocks the house down, so we call the IRS and say, "OK, you can have it. Ugh." But, the truth is, that which doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger, and I’m immensely lucky, man. I’m so fortunate, I can’t even start to tell you. I was supposed to be dead seven years ago. I was not even supposed to live long enough to see Django get born. And here I am and I’m getting to do what I love most in the world and Django is in the other room, laughing it up.
Mt: He’s on tour with you?
DC: Yeah! So, you know, I’m a big ‘ole puddle of gratitude at this point.
Mt: Your sobriety must have a lot to do with your realization and understanding of how lucky you are.
DC: It certainly did, particularly at first. You know, I was addicted to hard drugs. That’s different than just smoking a little pot or something. It’s really destructive and it really had me in a very, very bad pocket. I’m very grateful to be free of that. It gave me the chance to get my life started over again. Now, it’s not a big concern of mine. Now, my life is focused on all kinds of different stuff—being a good parent, being a good musician, being a good sailor, and being a good pilot. I learned how to fly about six years ago. I’m flying a little twin around. That’s the stuff that I do and I’m not wasting a damn minute.
Mt: It’s wonderful that guys like yourself and Phil Lesh, who also received a successful liver transplant, are so thankful.
DC: Well, you know, everybody reacts to it differently. I can think of one well-known person who got a liver transplant and said, "Oh, man, I got a new one. Now I can go back to drinking," and went right out and did. And it did us all a lot of harm. But I think most people, like Phil and myself, that get a chance, man, we take it and really run with it. Phil hasn’t stopped playing for more than about twenty minutes since his. He’s just working his butt off and making fantastic music. I admire him immensely for it.
Mt: With regard to Phil, let’s talk about your 1971 solo effort, If I Could Only Remember My Name. You recorded that album with a loose assemblage of San Francisco Bay area musicians that became known as the "Planet Earth Rock & Roll Orchestra," including members of the Dead, Jefferson Airplane, CSN, and others.
DC: Well, actually, (Paul) Kantner started calling it that after awhile. It was really just an extension of the sessions that produced that solo album. We just stayed in there because we were having a lot of fun. (Jerry) Garcia, myself, and Phil were there almost every night. Garcia was there every night and (Graham) Nash a lot of the nights, and we just were having fun. We’d come up with a song and mess with it. There were no rules and we liked that. [Laughs] It appealed, particularly, to Garcia and me. We loved screwing around.
Mt: Just to think about everyone involved with those sessions—Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Grace Slick, Jack Casady, Jorma Kaukonen—it seems that every one of them is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or will be.
DC: [Laughs] I guess I really don’t take the Hall of Fame that seriously. It was just a bunch of really good people. Good folks, really fine people and fine players And the other guys, (Billy) Kruetzman and Mickey (Hart), both played drums on it. They were wonderful to me, everyone was.
Mt: Tell us about your son James and CPR, the band you play in with him. Let’s start when you first met in ‘95.
DC: Well, he was kind of like a lightning bolt hitting my life. I knew that there was a kid out there, but they don’t let you track from the parent down, only from the kid up—then, only if the file has been opened; but his mom had opened it. When he went to look and see who his birth parents were and saw my name on there…he had been a musician for twenty years already, without knowing who I was. So it was a shock to him, and when I heard him play, it was shock to me! He’s brilliant. He’s a better musician than I’ll ever be. He’s an astounding musician and he and I gel very well. We write really good songs together. He’s a wonderful cat, too, man. He’s an immensely sensitive and intelligent guy. He’s more grown up than I am. He’s more like my little brother than he is my son, because we both have six-year-old kids and we’re raising them at an arms length away from each other. It’s been good and hopefully it’s only getting better.
Mt: Let’s bring it back to CSNY. Any future plans after the tour?
DC: You got me, chief. I’m so concerned with doing well right now, that I don’t try to figure out what’s going to come down the road. And, of course, a lot of it is largely up to Neil. CSNY is largely up to Neil. Neil, in popular terms, in terms of his draw, is bigger by himself than the three of us are. And we know that. But, CSNY is bigger than either, and he knows that. You know, he’ll do it, only when he wants to do it. He really only does what he wants to do, and you can’t make Neil do anything he doesn’t want to. I’m pretty much the same way [laughs]. Because it’s music, man, and you have to want to do it well. If you just want to do a mediocre level and crank out your hits exactly like the record, anybody can do that. But, if you want to go for peaks and moments where you electrify people—which is what we’re after—you got to want to. It’ll happen again, if we all want it to. If it’s very good this time, I think it’ll happen again.
Mt: Your ever evolving relationship with Graham (Nash) and Stephen (Stills): How does it stand today?
DC: It’s working wonderfully. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for it. It’s a great relationship. Nash is certainly the best male friend I’ve ever had in my life—my wife being my best female friend. It couldn’t be better. Stephen has been absolutely wonderful and working his butt off to do the very best he can. I think all of us are bringing that to this.
Mt: One last thing. What is the cost of freedom, and do you think we’re ever going to find it?
DC: Yes. I think we know what the cost of freedom is. It’s commitment, sacrifice, and hard work. Sometimes, the tree of liberty has to get watered with the blood of patriots. That, I think, is Alexander Hamilton’s line, but it’s absolutely the truth. I think that freedom doesn’t come for free. It requires the hard work and dedication and sacrifice of the people who want to earn it. Freedom has to be earned and it takes courage and it takes work and it takes the willingness to keep working at it. I think, overall in America, we’re doing the very best we can. We definitely have some problems, in terms of the government being up for sale—and we need to work on that—but I think we’re doing pretty well.
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