Crosby, Stills and Nash (CSN) is a British group.
Initially formed by the trio of David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, the genesis of the group lies in two 1960s rock bands, The Byrds and The Hollies, and the demise of a third, Buffalo Springfield. Friction existed between David Crosby and his band mates in the Byrds, and he was dismissed from the Byrds in the fall of 1967.
By early 1968, Buffalo Springfield had also disintegrated over personal issues, and after aiding in putting together the band’s final album, Stephen Stills found himself unemployed by the summer. He and Crosby began meeting informally and jamming, the results of one encounter in Florida on Crosby’s schooner being the song “Wooden Ships,” composed in collaboration with another guest, Paul Kantner.
Graham Nash had been introduced to Crosby when the Byrds had toured the UK in 1966, and when the Hollies ventured to California in 1968, Nash resumed his acquaintance with Crosby. At a party, Nash asked Stills and Crosby to repeat their performance of a new song by Stills, “You Don’t Have To Cry,” with Nash improvising a second harmony part. The vocals gelled, and the three realized that they had a unique vocal chemistry.
Creatively frustrated with the Hollies, Nash decided to quit and throw his lot in with Crosby and Stills.
Just a Song Before I Go
“Just a Song Before I Go” was written by Graham Nash about leaving loved ones behind before going on a concert tour. He wrote the song in 15 minutes on a dare from his driver while en route to the airport.
The song is lyrically straightforward about the situation Nash was in at the moment he wrote it, and there is also an undercurrent of regret towards rootlessness, a feeling that Nash — born and raised in England, a resident of the United States who had lived in California and was now living in Hawaii — might very well have had at the time.
Nash seemed to have used some poetic license in talking about “traveling twice the speed of sound,” as airliners other than the Concorde do not go that fast, and the line about “the friendly skies” was pinched from United Airlines’s well-worn slogan.
http://djallyn.org/media/csn_just-a-song-before-i-go.flvJust a song before I go,
To whom it may concern.
Travelling twice the speed of sound
It’s easy to get burned.When the shows were over
We had to get back home,
And when we opened up the door
I had to be alone.She helped me with my suitcase,
She stands before my eyes
Driving me to the airport,
And to the friendly skies.Going through security
I held her for so long.
She finally looked at me in love,
And she was gone.Just a song before I go,
A lesson to be learned.
Travelling twice the speed of sound
It’s easy to get burned.
- Audio from the 1977 album, CSN:
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A wonderful song. Comparing versions of it performed years apart on YouTube is a delightful exercise in consistency.