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 bandmates 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.
Our House
The song refers to Nash’s brief affair with Joni Mitchell at the time Crosby, Stills Nash and Young recorded the Déjà Vu album. What is interesting about this song is the underlying complex moral struggle Nash was facing between the hippy era free love mentality and the desire for a monogamous relationship. While other songs on the seminal album explore the hippy notion of free love, this is the song of a man who yearns for stability in his relationship, house-ownership, and family life.
Graham Nash shares the story behind the song in an audio interview recorded in conjunction with Michael Walker’s book Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock-and-Roll’s Legendary Neighborhood
“…once you walked into that front door, everything disappeared …and then I started to think, you know, God, that’s an incredibly domestic scene, you know, here we are, Joni Mitchell and Graham Nash, and I’m, you know, put flowers in the vase and light the fire and stuff, and I thought, but you know, I love this woman, and this moment is a very grounded moment… in our relationship, and… I sat down at the piano and, an hour later, ‘Our House’ was done.”
http://djallyn.org/media/csny-our-house.flvI’ll light the fire, while
You place the flowers in the vase
That you bought todayStaring at the fire
For hours and hours
While I listen to you
Play your love songs
All night long for me
Only for meCome to me now
And rest your head for just five minutes
Everything is doneSuch a cozy room
The windows are illuminated
By the evening sunshine through them
Fiery gems for you
Only for youOur house is a very, very, very fine house
With two cats in the yard
Life used to be so hard
Now everything is easy
‘Cause of you
And our
la la lala la la la lala la la lala lala la lala lala lala la la lala la la la la lala la lala la la la lala la la lala lala la lala lala la lala
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
‘Cause of you
And ourI’ll light the fire
While you place the flowers in the vase
That you bought today
- Audio from the 1970 album, Déjà Vu:
(2748)