Some years ago, David Crosby lamented a lack of outlets for his songs.
“I’ve written so many things,” he explained while promoting in the early 2000s, when he felt he was experiencing a creative renaissance. “When you’re in a band they got tossed in with everybody else’s songs. And no record company wants to release as much music as I’m ready to. It’s a struggle, man — but I just keep writing and keep creating, and one day hopefully everything that I want to will come out.”
Despite that, we’ve heard plenty of songs over the years from Crosby, who died Thursday at 81.
Whether on his own or with The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash (& Young), CPR and, most recently, the Lighthouse Band, Crosby’s idiosyncratic touch with a melody and a lyric was showcased in abundance. Intimate and personal, confounding and meaningful, he was a craftsman guided by a wide array of muses, stylistically and topically. He channeled Woody Guthrie and John Coltrane, Pete Seeger and Ravi Shankar, Bach and The Beatles. He made memorable music from political and social commentary, romantic longing (and, occasionally, fulfillment) and from the well-chronicled struggles with substances that periodically derailed his life.
Taken in total, Crosby’s body of work offered a lot to take in, but was always worth the effort. And from that big stash, these are 10 of the best, in alphabetical order
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"Delta" (1982)
This often overlooked paean was Crosby’s only contribution to CSN’s Daylight Again album, as he wasn’t in the best shape at the time. He made it count, though; “Delta” is romantic and soulful, and somewhat surprisingly straightforward, with a gently dynamic ebb and flow rich with subtleties and enriched by the trio’s lush harmonies. There are elements of self-awareness, too; when Crosby, the avid sailor, sang, “I love the child that steers this riverboat/ But lately he’s crazy for the deep,” he may have been drawing from a source very close to home. -
"Deja Vu" (1970)
In many ways the title track from the first CSNY album is the prototypical Crosby cut — intricate, idiosyncratic, metaphysical, experimental and unclassifiable. It’s an aural adventure that seems neither linear nor completely composed, and with its seemingly random vocal and instrumental nuances, “Deja Vu” feels like it may fall apart at any moment. It doesn’t, however, and the fact that it feels longer than its 4 minutes and 12 seconds is in this case a good thing, especially as delivered by kindred spirits who either A) clearly understood what Crosby was getting at or B) didn’t but were certainly enjoying the ride. -
"Eight Miles High"/"Why?" (1966)
Forgive us for cheating a bit here and getting in an extra song. Crosby was part of the triumvirate, with Gene Clark and Jim “Roger” McGuinn, that wrote The Byrds’ psychedelic A-side classic — though the late Clark maintained that Crosby’s contribution was just one line: “rain gray town/ known for its sound” (a reference to London). That said, the track’s careening rhythms and Eastern textures certainly hail from Crosby’s wheelhouse. The B-side and Fifth Dimension album track “Why?,” meanwhile, is all him, inspired by Indian ragas and particularly sitar master Ravi Shankar (not yet widely known in the pop world). McGuinn deserves props, too, for his taut, sitar-referencing guitar solo. -
"Everybody's Been Burned" (1967)
On the A side, The Byrds were singing about wanting to be rock ‘n’ roll stars; flip it over and you had Crosby cautioning about “why you shouldn’t try to love someone” — a far cry from the later “Triad,” in which he expounded the virtues of loving more than one at a time. McGuinn’s slinky guitar and Michael Clarke’s hollow drums accent the Younger Than Yesterday track’s Eastern flavor, and Crosby’s vocal proves how effective and evocative he can be on his own, sans harmonies. -
"Guinnevere" (1969)
Crosby drew on three key relationships in his life — with Joni Mitchell, the late Christine Hinton and Nancy Ross — for this airy love song from the Crosby, Stills & Nash debut album that he often referred to as his best ever. The minimal instrumentation allows the trio’s harmonies to soar front and center, and its odd tuning and time signatures, like so many of Crosby’s best songs, display his creative knack for making beauty out of the most unexpected sources. -
"Laughing" (1971)
A signature track from Crosby’s first solo album, If Only I Could Remember My Name, “Laughing” is a beautifully sung ode to LSD trips, couched in lyrical language that conveys multiple meanings — especially if listened to while under the influence of something. A tremendous band, with Jerry Garcia on pedal steel and Nash and Joni Mitchell harmonizing, makes this as fully realized a song as Crosby ever released. -
"Long Time Gone" (1969)
All three of Crosby’s songs for the Crosby, Stills & Nash debut album became deserved classics, and this ferocious protest anthem demonstrated the muscle that complemented the more artful stylings of his songcraft. It’s urgent admonition to “speak out against the madness” and “speak your mind, if you dare” offered abundant encouragement to anti-war and civil rights demonstrators, and it’s inclusion during the opening of the Woodstock documentary the following year perfectly captured the tone of those particular times. -
"Shadow Captain" (1977)
Crosby loved his boats and loves being on the open sea — the cover of 1977’s CSN album, in fact, shows he, Stills and Nash windswept and relaxing on a schooner. “Shadow Captain” opens that set as a kind of sunrise chanty, set by a moody, spare instrumentation, a haunting piano figure and the trio’s trademark harmonies before switching tempos during the bridge as the sails catch the wind and the ship picks up speed. The cinematic track also announced CSN’s return seven years after its last studio outing (with Young) on Deja Vu. -
"Triad" (1967)
The history of this track puts it on any list simply because of its significance in Crosby’s career — and it doesn’t hurt that his celebration of menage a trois is an understated but melodically strong tune in the Crosby tradition. It scared the other Byrds, who refused to put it on The Notorious Byrds Brothers but included it on the Never Before compilation a decade later. Jefferson Airplane grabbed it for its first recorded airing on 1968’s Crown of Creation, while Crosby made it part of his solo acoustic selections for CSN/CSNY concerts, captured on 4 Way Street in 1971. -
"Wooden Ships" (1969)
From both Crosby, Stills & Nash’s debut album and Jefferson Airplane’s Volunteers, this started life as a Crosby demo inspired by a sailing trip he took shortly after leaving The Byrds. Stills and the Airplane’s Paul Kantner brought their touches, including lyrics, crafting a wise commentary and utopian vision as two soldiers from opposite sides encounter each other and, adrift as they are, wonder “who won the war.” Crosby and Stills create the dialogue with their shared lead vocals, while Stills’ light-fingered guitar breaks elevate the song to an anthemic level. Kanter, by the way, could not initially be credited due to a battle with his band’s manager.